Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

We Lost an Important Critical Thinker: James Randi Dies at Age 92

$5000 chi challenge chi challenge critical thinking in martial arts Oct 22, 2020

James Randi has passed away. He was a magician and a critical thinker who inspired many of us as he debunked supernatural BS, including chi powers. He had one million dollars in escrow that he offered to anyone who could prove, in a double-blind setting, that they could perform any supernatural acts that they claimed to do.

Richard Mooney was one of the martial artists who claimed to knock people down without touching them. He was featured in a martial arts magazine many years ago now, with photos showing his students falling to the ground without being touched.

Mooney tried to claim Randi's million dollars, but it was a double-blind test. Around 18 people were chosen, and none of them knew what Richard was going to do. One by one, they stood behind a screen as Mooney tried to knock them down without touching them. None of them even flinched.

In a double-blind trial, video of the event was given to judges who also did not know what Mooney was attempting to do....

The $5,000 Chi Challenge and Some Emails from Richard Clear's School

chi challenge chi powers qi powers Jul 04, 2018

I first launched the $5,000 Chi Challenge around 2002. It was published in Inside Kung-Fu magazine in 2003 (see the headline halfway down the left side of the magazine cover in the photo).

To date, no one has accepted the challenge. The most recent teacher to receive my challenge was Richard Clear, but after an initial acceptance in messages (he said he would be "happy" to take my money), when it was time to sign an agreement, it fell through.

After it fell through, I began to receive messages and emails from his Business Manager with what I considered veiled threats to "visit" me.

Here is what happened, boiled down as simply and accurately as I can do it:

On the Fajin Project Facebook page -- I am a member of the page -- we look at videos by martial artists who appear, whether stated or not, that they possess "chi" powers that defy physics. Often, these are teachers who pretend to knock their students down without touching them, or they touch them lightly with push hands, for exa...

Are My Health Issues Related to Bad Qigong?

chi challenge chi kung qi challenge qigong Oct 05, 2009

I received a very nice email this morning from a man in Rio who suggested that I've been having breathing problems due to performing chi kung improperly.

I certainly appreciated his concern and the fact that he reached out, and I understand he has good intentions (he has worked with chi kung for 30 years) but -- it will come as no surprise to those who know me -- I couldn't let this go by without a challenge. Don't blame me. I'm a stickler for facts and critical thinking.

Here's another way to look at it. Perhaps my condition hasn't gotten a lot worse because I do chi kung properly.

In my reply to this nice guy in Rio, I asked him if he could supply me with any clinical evidence to back up his theory. I prefer, of course, peer-reviewed trials, preferably double-blind but at least something that can be duplicated by other medical trials.

I would like to issue this challenge to anyone reading this. Can you supply me with valid, objective clinical trial evidence, peer-reviewed, that ...

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

We Lost an Important Critical Thinker: James Randi Dies at Age 92

The $5,000 Chi Challenge and Some Emails from Richard Clear's School

Are My Health Issues Related to Bad Qigong?

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