Do synthetic fabrics prevent chi gathering ?

[Anonymous]

Hello, I had read in a book about dowsing (house health) that synthetic beddings could prevent the body from regenerating.
I’m thus wondering if the same is true for qi gong practice regarding clothing and shoes.

[Anonymous]

Of course.
However, science cannot detect Qi.

Nevertheless, I’m superstitious,
so I maximize wool and cotton
(not a silk guy).

Qigong was developed in pre-industrial times,
probably on grass, probably barefooted.
(Otzi, the 5,300 year-old iceman mummy, wore leather boots stuffed with hay.)

Bill Ryan, in his Dragon and Tiger Qigong online course,
takes off his shoes and practices on a wood floor.
He says that you can do the movements while sitting
(he stands beside a metal chair with synthetic pad.)

Natural organic materials are easier on our ecology.

[Anonymous]

Hi Jean,

I can’t give you a definitive answer on this. My experience over the years, not scientifically verified , with doing qigong/tai chi/bagua in various different types of clothing and shoes suggests that it doesn’t make much difference.

If you can feel qi then you can run your own experiments to see if it makes a difference for you. There certainly seem to be people that do feel a difference but I’m not convinced you can generalize that to make a definitive statement.

Bear in mind that synthetic fabrics have only been around for less that 100 years so they aren’t something that Taoists have had to worry about! Most modern outdoor clothing and yoga stuff is synthetic and work by millions of people.

It’s also interesting to speculate why combing carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen one way or another – in a plant (cotton) vs in a machine (nylon, rayon, polyester, etc.) would cause the human body to behave differently.

[Author]

Posts