Power within

A few posts back we mentioned the Neigong master with psychokinetic abilities that healed one of the Blair brothers on their Indonesian Odyssey. His name was John Chang, aka Dynamo Jack. We’re going to (try) to get into how he did it, but first, see for yourself.

Impossible? The ability is closer to you than you think - with caveats.

First, what is Neigong? A series of internal practices on the path to Dao, that emphasizes training the coordination of the body, breath, and internal energy (qi). The fundamental purpose is to develop internal power/strength.

Practices involve cultivating physical stillness, conscious relaxation, and specialized breathing techniques to move and circulate qi (vital energy) throughout the body.

“Neigong is seen as an "inner work" that requires consistent effort and practice to develop real, tangible skills - it's not just intellectual understanding. Authentic Neigong training is usually only passed down from experienced internal arts teachers, as the practices can be quite advanced and potentially risky if not properly prepared for.” (caveat)

Knowing zero internal arts teachers, we went down the rabbit hole alone to see what we could (superficially) learn.

We started by listening to what John said in videos and cobbled together what felt like key points; he practiced rigorous meditation and yoga since childhood (caveat). He said you must have iron control over your emotions (caveat). You must learn how to tell apart yin and yang qi in your body. Then how to pool it in your navel chakra. Then how to project it. The proportionate mixture of yin and yang qi used will account for different effects - pulling, pushing, igniting objects etc. Flexing your perineum is involved!

Next we focused the search on how to tell apart yin and yang qi in the body - and settled on Embryonic Breathing. We tried, but quickly became confused (mingmen! false dantian! small heavenly cycle!) and understood why a teacher was so important. That said, embryonic breathing definitely felt like a good start. We reckon with thousands of hours practice, hardcore discipline, mastery of technique (and a teacher) we too could be like John Chang.

The power is within us all - John said himself, anyone can do what he does (and there seems to be different ways to access it) but no matter which path you take there are no shortcuts. You will need to put in the work.

(Interesting relevant postnote: “psychic phenomena has been accepted in Chinese culture from earliest times to the present day. In Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine, the development of psionic facilities by practitioners in meditative practice is taken as a given.”)