The human body is an astonishing thing, and the more we learn about it, the more questions we have. For example, researchers have known that electricity powers the human body for centuries, but much more recently we learned the human body emits low amounts of light. Yet this concept of the body creating and emanating certain types of energy, isn't at all a recent notion.
It predates the harnessing of electricity dating back to ancient times. Could it be possible that human beings are capable of much more than emitting light, heat, electricity, and electromagnetic fields? What is this thing called Qi? And can people really use it as a weapon? Here's where it gets crazy. The concept of Qi is often misunderstood in the west. But for centuries it's been a fundamental concept in traditional Chinese medicine.
In Chinese philosophy the term Qi means air. It is a vital force existing everywhere throughout the universe. It is intangible, invisible and unique, often interpreted as some sort of energy. This belief in an ubiquitous permeating energy is not unique to Chinese philosophy. Hinduism has a similar concept called Prana. Greek culture also believed in the concept of Pneuma, meaning the breath or the soul. Many advocates of Qi see it as part of a larger, medicinal philosophy in opposition to western medicine.
And it's true that this concept is divisive, especially when it comes to the claims Qigong masters, several of whom have stated they possess seemingly superhuman abilities. Starting fires with Qi power, inhuman resistance to injury or pain, and perhaps most controversially, the ability to knock a person to the ground with nothing but the focused power of their Qi. So what happens? Clearly something is causing numerous people to fall when they believe they are being hit with a blast of Qi power.
According to numerous studies, the victims of these so called no-touch knockouts, are succumbing to a suggestion, much the same way that a person under hypnosis might. They're not attempting to deceive anyone. They genuinely, sincerely believe they're being punched with an invisible force. Yet nonbelievers don't have the same reaction. To skeptics like Derren Brown this proves that Qi punches are a state of mind rather than matter. A trick rather than a technique. So what's the secret of the no-touch knockout punch? To many of the Qi masters, there is no secret. But to the skeptics, there's definitely something going on.