James Boelter
11-05-2003, 11:33 PM
In his recent book, "Unified Fitness", long time martial artist and chi kung teacher John Alton has proposed an interesting idea, born of his collaborative efforts with Traditional Chinese Medicine practioners to explain the effects of chi kung training in a model that Western medicine experts can fit into the Western model. It's darned interesting...at the risk of oversimplifying 120+ pages into a wrong-headed summation, Alton proposes that chi kung/TCM/acupuncture etc essentially accomplishes several aims:
1) It establishes neurovascular pathways (educated capillaries) along which elements of the immune system (lymphocytes, NKCs, T helper cells, etc) can more easily travel and amass at critical points where the body is vulnerable to infection (what TCM would call 'outside evil').
2) It enhances the peptide chains and receptors in those immune system elements so that they are 'smarter', quicker to react, and more potent and selective in their actions.
3) It enhances the practioner's mind/body link with those elements, allowing the expert to direct those elements (and other rejuvenating elements, including the 'latent oxygen' proposed by Frolov and others)
as needed.
Along with this, of course, are the traditional proposed beneficial effects of this kind of training - enhancing the action of the parasympathetics, better ROM, etc.
Why is this important? Well, the other part of Alton's proposal is that 'germs' have a kind of intelligence of their own, and will tend to evolve in a direction we would call 'virulent' to our own needs if not keep under a concerted 'pressure' (in other words, you can't wipe 'em out, but you CAN keep them relatively benign, and you DEFINITELY can't afford to ignore 'em). Alton goes on to propose (and remember, he is speaking as a collaborator with a large group of healers in Mainland China) that many of our modern degenerative maladies might actually be the result of infectious agents that our immune systems don't recognize as harmful. (Stomach ulcers would be one example of this, and some people would already point to some kinds of heart disease and juvenile diabetes, etc.) A chi kung adept's immune system may be 'smarter' than that of a typical person, and will tend to react to these 'stealth' infections in more effective ways than the typical person (especially when it comes to autoimmune disorders where the immune system turns on the body's own tissues.)
Alton makes a pretty good case for this idea, and I think it is worth exploring. And yes, I can tie this into CST. To whit: Fear Reactivity compromises us on many levels, and some of them are energetic and immunological. Learning to move with freedom is learning to let the body-mind roam free and unimpeded...and I would be willing to bet that at least one aspect of this freedom would be the enhanced neurovascular pathways along which the body-mind transmits/enacts information and intent.
Anyway, the book is 'Unified Fitness' by John Alton. I'm not all that impressed by the fitness and chi kung program he proposes, but I'm hardcore I Chuan/"18 Buddha Hands", which is far more than most people are willing to do. I can see that it is a nicely balanced program that would benefit the health and wellness of anyone who was trying to get a grasp on 'real world' fitness that actually enhances the quality of your life instead of just being another way of wrecking it.
1) It establishes neurovascular pathways (educated capillaries) along which elements of the immune system (lymphocytes, NKCs, T helper cells, etc) can more easily travel and amass at critical points where the body is vulnerable to infection (what TCM would call 'outside evil').
2) It enhances the peptide chains and receptors in those immune system elements so that they are 'smarter', quicker to react, and more potent and selective in their actions.
3) It enhances the practioner's mind/body link with those elements, allowing the expert to direct those elements (and other rejuvenating elements, including the 'latent oxygen' proposed by Frolov and others)
as needed.
Along with this, of course, are the traditional proposed beneficial effects of this kind of training - enhancing the action of the parasympathetics, better ROM, etc.
Why is this important? Well, the other part of Alton's proposal is that 'germs' have a kind of intelligence of their own, and will tend to evolve in a direction we would call 'virulent' to our own needs if not keep under a concerted 'pressure' (in other words, you can't wipe 'em out, but you CAN keep them relatively benign, and you DEFINITELY can't afford to ignore 'em). Alton goes on to propose (and remember, he is speaking as a collaborator with a large group of healers in Mainland China) that many of our modern degenerative maladies might actually be the result of infectious agents that our immune systems don't recognize as harmful. (Stomach ulcers would be one example of this, and some people would already point to some kinds of heart disease and juvenile diabetes, etc.) A chi kung adept's immune system may be 'smarter' than that of a typical person, and will tend to react to these 'stealth' infections in more effective ways than the typical person (especially when it comes to autoimmune disorders where the immune system turns on the body's own tissues.)
Alton makes a pretty good case for this idea, and I think it is worth exploring. And yes, I can tie this into CST. To whit: Fear Reactivity compromises us on many levels, and some of them are energetic and immunological. Learning to move with freedom is learning to let the body-mind roam free and unimpeded...and I would be willing to bet that at least one aspect of this freedom would be the enhanced neurovascular pathways along which the body-mind transmits/enacts information and intent.
Anyway, the book is 'Unified Fitness' by John Alton. I'm not all that impressed by the fitness and chi kung program he proposes, but I'm hardcore I Chuan/"18 Buddha Hands", which is far more than most people are willing to do. I can see that it is a nicely balanced program that would benefit the health and wellness of anyone who was trying to get a grasp on 'real world' fitness that actually enhances the quality of your life instead of just being another way of wrecking it.