On Wed, 24 Sep 1997, Jorge A. Pratt wrote:

	Excellent explanation of chi, BTW... better than I could've 
managed, anyway (especially with my rather limited knowledge of the 
subject).  However...

When you channel this energy properly, you can avoid many illnesses and/or
cure others (as it has been scientifically proved). You can also perform

	...I'm not so sure about the 'scientifically proved' statement, 
there.  Personally, I'm inclined to believe (or at least, I'd like to) 
that's it's possible - but, gee, it's kinda hard to prove that the proper 
usage of chi can aid in healing, when the existance of chi itself hasn't 
been proved (well, not by Western science, anyway).

small "healing" feats on other people. With proper training, you can even
develop what is known as the "Golden Bell" technique which acts as a
*real*, solid shield around your body --just this Saturday, at a Taijiquan
tournament, a Chinese Qi Gong master showed us this technique when three
of his assistants pushed a spear (with full force) towards his neck --the
master *bent* the spear in half just by walking forward. So, in a way,
"aura shields" and chi-barriers are more or less real --to a certain
degree, of course.

	Again, I'm a bit dubious.  I've seen some of these 
'chi-techniques', and I'm not willing to assign their possibility to chi, 
and especially not to 'aura shields'.  My sifu can take full out kicks in 
the groin.  His sifu can do the bendy-spear thing.  Is it chi?  Seems 
more like training to me - do enough Qi Gong and Iron Body training, and 
learn the various little and wonderful tricks that the body is capable 
of, and you can accomplish some pretty amazing stuff.
	Basically, I'm not sure if techniques like you mentioned above 
are legitimate examples of the existance of chi...
 

Hope this helped, and maybe it will serve for future 'fics! ^_^

	Yup!  One difference, though, between Chinese and Japanese takes 
on the subject, seems to be that the Chinese system is a hell of 
a lot more complicated...

	-Mike

***
Homepage and Fanfiction at:
http://aix2.uottawa.ca/~s669330/
***