Are Superhumans real? NG Tells us!

I first saw this while watching Inside 9/11 on National Geographic. It peaked my interest, so I took the time to go to the site and look up when it's coming on.

Is it possible for karate masters to zap each other with invisible energy, for Indian "miracle men" and Sufi mystics to mutilate their bodies and feel no pain, for masters of Hindu Transcendental Meditation to fly? Do superpowers really exist? From India to Iraq, from Italy to a sideshow in LA, Is It Real? investigates the claims of so-called "superhumans."

channel.nationalgeographic.com...

Above is the schedule and a link to information about this. I don't think it has been shown before, but maybe I'm wrong. It's going to be airing Monday, May 22, and Saturday, May 27 at 6PM in both cases. I think it's pretty interesting with all the talk on this site about 'artifically' created superhumans by the military; and how this is investigating natural superhumans, or at least those who claim to be them. Just from looking at the small clips featured in the commercials, it's very intriguing to watch the people use these "mystical forces" to make other fighters 'drop dead' so to speak, instantly KO'ed.

Though it might interest you guys; though I'm not sure I put this in the right section.

There are definitely people out there who can use "chi" or "qi" to affect others, either in combat or for healing purposes. I've met and been taught by t'ai chi people who can teach by transmission.

The idea is that while it's possible to teach the external form of a move through instruction and imitation, the only way truly to convey the movement of internal energy, or chi, through the body and beyond, is via transmission.

In other words, the instructor moves the chi inside the student's body for them.

I can tell you, it feels weird. And it's a real paradigm shifter. Once it happens, you really know that what biologists have to say is not the be-all and end-all.

I forgot to mention that there's a really good series from the BBC called "Mind, Body and Kick-Ass Moves". The presenter, Chris Crudelli I think his name is, is no mean martial artist himself and each programme includes a small demonstration of his own control of chi.

In one of them, he's talking to a bunch of guys (at a building site I think) and he gets one of them to stand about 20 feet away, facing away from him. He then concentrates for a short while, extends his hand as if grasping an invisible rope, and as he pulls, the subject staggers back slightly towards him.

I've had similar stuff -and more - pulled on me, so I don't have any problem believing this.

CC also goes round the world and meets some extraordinary people. He manages to retain a really nice Everyman quality about himself, and when real masters start pulling stuff on him, his reactions are great.


[edit on 30-4-2006 by rich23]

Sounds very interesting. Hopefully during my lifetime I'll encounter someone or some group of people that knows t'ai chi. One of the things I need to do before I die.

TOTAL SIDE NOTE: If any of the you have ever seen any episode of the Disney channel show, Kim Possible, you may of heard them mention something like T'ai chi [pek-wa]?? No idea how to spell the last part of that because I've never really read about it; just crossed my mind just now. I was wondering if that "ancient monkey t'ai chi" had any basis in fact since Disney seems to be notorious for introducing factual information covertly and even showing its significance.

I think you may be referring to Ba Gua (also sometimes spelled (Pa Kua).

Ba Gua is like t'ai chi with go-faster stripes.

There are three Taoist, fully internal, martial arts: t'ai chi, ba gua, and hsing-I. T'ai chi is the one everyone knows. Hsing-I is kind of like an internal version of karate. It's very linear, but the chi is used to, for example, make the arms incredibly strong and heavy, like clubs.

Ba gua is arguably the most sophisticated martial art there is: it is predicated on the idea that the most people who could attack one person without getting in each others' way (without using spears) is eight. It's therefore designed to deal with up to eight attackers. The training method consists of walking in a circle, but making changes of direction known as 'palm changes'. The method of walking is itself unusual: the knees are kept together (to guard against groin kicks) and the feet move forward under power from the spine. When you get the walk right, the spine downward from the ming men (in the lumbar area) downward, actually expands in a pumping action.

It's really difficult to explain, and much, much harder to do. I practise on and off and get little glimpses of how it works, but it's actually really easy to injure yourself doing ba gua without the proper preparation, so I take it very easy.

If you genuinely want to know about these martial arts, this is the guy. His books are really good, and he is, I believe, the only westerner to become a lineage master in Taoist martial arts. I studied with him for a week several years ago, and it changed my mind forever about what is possible for humans to do.

Oh, and about 'ancient monkey t'ai chi'.

The purely Taoist martial arts tend not to emphasize animal natures, as they regard the spiritual development of humans as fairly central. The study of animal natures tends to be more in the Shaolin tradition.

Thanks for the enlightenment rich23. I'm becoming more and more interested with this superhuman powers and complex martial arts. I think I'm going to begin research on them after I finish my AP exams this week.

actually, too, the power behind bagua lies in its spontaneity. cirle walking also helps in that, in u learn to attack explosively and at full power from anywhere, at any angle, even at the oddest positions, and often times looking unbalanced to the casual observer, but you are centered the whole time.

a lot of the super human 'powers' also associated w/ the chinese martial arts is just conditioning. i was privately trained in chen taiji and yin baguazhang for 2.5 years, in the old martial traditions. which involved holding out bricks, which eventually lead to supporting a cinder block on each shoulder while i did the circle walk...and the same w/ bow stance (youre really low in chen taiji for about 15 min. at a time). but in chinese ma's you condition yourself slowly over years to reach levels that eventually look super human to the casual observer w/ no training.

as for the monkey taiji forms...there is a monkey taiji form, but its a remote branch of a branch of a branch, etc. the original forms of taiji, and even the subsequent diff schools were straightforward, and though the movements sometimes had animal names, it was not centered around a particular animal.

for bagua though, there are numerous animals involved in the COMPLETE system. but each practictioner is supposed to be matched w/ his particular fighting style, body type, stamina, and strenghts (aka bear form for those who were big and powerful) and the FULL system of ALL animal forms was only supposed to be passed down to the the next master. but usually the practitioner was taught his particular animal form, and its direct opposite, so as to know how to defend against it.

Yin_Yang, thanks for your reply. Can I get any recommendations of good teachers of Ba Gua that are in America, more precisely, the United States?

what state are you in? bagua is a difficult art to find an instructor for...and even when surrounded by lots of places that might teach it, one still needs to be very careful, because a lot of chinese martial arts schools are run by con artists (schools referred to as mcdojos), fueled by the demand of the public for yang taiji. some will just throw in bagua in there, w/out knowing it fully, just to try to make their school seem more credible. Before visiting schools, i suggest doing a lot of reading on the subject first, so u have a general idea of what to look for from the instructors, and the class. and when you have gained some knowledge, only then should u start visiting schools. never commit to one until youve seen all that you can. which is just wise advise, regardless of what martial art path one follows.

especially w/ the chinese internal martial arts, a great deal of patience is required. it scares a lot of western practitioners away a lot of the times, because you dont get into the actual action (punching, kicking, forms, etc) right away. internal martial arts tend to focus first on the, well, internals lol. feeling the energy inside you, noticing how it works within you, and outside y our body, knowing what it feels like in stillness and movement, etc. in my case it was 3 months of meditation, various forms of qigong, before i even began learning forms...but like i said i was trained very traditionally...where most schools will probably start with little bits of everything from the beginning.

just 'warning' u about what you plan to undertake. let me know what state youre in, and ill see if i can find anything for u.

oh, and if u wish to read up on it, via the internet u can search the following (there are a couple of translation spelling versions):

bagua
baguazhang
pakua
pakua chang
pakua chuan

Yes. They are,but there are very few. If you see one don't doubt their apperance.They are special. I am one myself.

There is some evidence that something odd is going on wrt some types of paranormal events, but we don't yet understand what is happening.

For instance the History Channel had a show in which they hooked people up to sensors and showed them random pictures and measured their responses.

I don't know how well the experiment was controlled, but preliminary data -seem- to show that -some- people are able to react -before- they are shown the relevant picture.

Some subjects seem to be able to exhibit a 'positive' response to positive pictures, and a negative response to negative pictures -before- the image actually comes on screen.

Now I think such experiments should be viewed cautiously, because it's important to rule out any experimenter bias. There's always the possibility that the scientist is unwittingly giving subtle cues to the subject. It may be that some subjects can memorize large quantities of information and be able to 'predict' or 'guess' well enough that it initially fools even very careful people. (I'm not saying the subject or experimenter is -trying- to hoax anything, just that we are not always sure what is happening).

In addition there was an interview with a jet pilot who said that it is a common belief through out the ranks of the Top Guns that some pilots are able to see a few seconds into the future, their performance and reactions are just a notch above even the very best and most talented fighter pilots. (again, we need to judge what is really happening cautiously).

As far as the Tai Ji instructors and the use of 'chi' or 'Qi' to cause any action at a distance, it's very likely that this is done through the power of suggestion and not through propagating any special energy through the air.

It's good to have studied with real Chinese instructors, but top Western martial artists will tell you that the Chinese will NEVER give out the 'real stuff' to any Westerner. I spoke to a direct disciple of Chen Xiao Wang, the top practitioner of Chen Tai Ji and he made this comment to me in email.

So view any such information or effects you may be perceiving with a measure of caution.

Remember stage magicians all know that the -easiest- people to fool are scientists who are trying to validate these paranormal effects because of their inexperience and gullibility. They are not as good at understanding the principles of misdirection and subterfuge and the power of suggestion (and even the use of planted stooges).





[edit on 20-6-2008 by Badge01]

Update:

I found the papers involved in the apparent (and I emphasize 'apparent') time reversal experiments that I discussed in my previous post.

(PDF file)
Time-Reversed Human Experience: Expermental Evidence and Implications

Note, this is NOT a peer-reviewed paper, but merely speculation and some well-designed experiments which seem to support this theory.

The Discovery Science TV channel, Sunday June 15 , at 9 PM eastern, a show entitled "Foolproof Equations for a Perfect Life" was aired which discussed Dean Radin's work. Check local channels for repeat showings.

Here's a listing for upcoming rebroadcasts if you get that channel:

Foolproof Equations for a Perfect Life

HTH.