From: Esalen Center for Theory and Research
Date: 1/21/2001
Time: 2:45:32 PM
Remote Name: 204.116.134.62
Source: Esalen Center for Theory and Research "Subtle Energies and Uncharted Realms of the Mind": an Esalen Invitational Conference, July 2nd to 7th, 2000
Distant Intentionality, Qi Gong Masters and DNA - Garret Yount

The premise discussed in this presentation was the link between human gene expression and intentionality, and its profound implications on biomedical science.

Dr. Yount's latest research for the California Pacific Medical Center focused on a series of experiments in which cell growth rates have been measured before and after Qi Gong practitioners intentionally directed their Qi toward cells in petri dishes. There were three groups: cells that received no Qi Gong treatment (baseline group); cells that the Qi Gong practitioners intended to kill off (kill group); and cells that the Qi Gong masters meditated in front of (neutral group).

Yount tracked the rate of cell death over time, and discovered that, although all three groups of cells began to die after three weeks, the neutral group showed accelerated death. Even more interesting, however, was the fact that, during subsequent replications of this protocol, the difference between the three groups began to diminish, until the effect of chi kung became negligible (an outcome that other psycho-energetic researchers in the audience confirmed).

In a second series of experiments, Yount decided to measure cell growth instead of death: using a typical chemotherapy study protocol, he used both tumor cells and normal human brain cells, quantifying their ability to replicate and form colonies. After 8 trials, the overall results showed "a 10% increase in the ability of normal brain cells to make colonies when treated by Qi Gong practitioners in comparison to brain cells that received no treatment."

One very interesting comment was made by Barbara Brennan on the reason for the observed diminishing effectiveness of Qi Gong treatment in the course of several trials: she postulated that the cells possess a shared "mind field" and are "communicating and learning from each other", so that "when one cell starts to benefit from the Qi Gong treatment, it can then share that information with other cells".
(L.S. note: although his name was not mentioned in the write-up, this is strongly reminiscent of Sheldrake's morphic resonance and theory of evolution.)

(Synopsis by L. Sidorov. For more details on this presentation, see original write-up at www.esalenctr.org)
Last changed: August 17, 2002