As the interest and availability of Chinese Medicine, martial arts, and Eastern philosophies and religions increases in the West, more people are choosing to explore various associated arts such as Tai Ji/T’ai Chi, Qi Gong/Chi Kung, and various forms of meditation. Much of the material available on these topics is incomplete or biased in its explanations. While I don’t claim to know everything, my experiences and discoveries may shed some further light on these often highly mystified practices.

It may be helpful for the reader to have some background on me: I’ve been studying various forms of Qi Gong, meditation, and related practices such as Yoga, martial arts, and self-hypnosis for over 10 years. During this time I also formally studied Chinese Medicine for over 4 years, which included basic Western anatomy and physiology. I have looked into various religious teachings from ancient Buddhism and Taoism/Daoism to the fringe of the New Age Religions. I’d like to share some of my findings and opinions in this essay.

From the start, I’d like to state that I’m not a devoted follower of any particular religion, sect, teacher, etc. My special area of interest is currently Taoism/Daoism (I usually use the more systematic PinYin method of romanizing Chinese words, but will often include the already known older romanization methods for certain words and titles which have already been absorbed into English). Daoist Qi Gong, often called Inner Alchemy (literally, Nei Dan means Inner Elixir, specifically referring to red cinnabar), combined with Taoist philosophy (as in the Tao Te Ching/Dao De Jing) has attracted my appreciation for its non-dogmatic simplicity and detailed techniques. Still, my foundation rests in scientific inquiry. I feel that the scientific process is true to the Daoist traditions. The great Daoists were more likely to be found experimenting in moutain laboratories than kneeling before statues. Logic, testing, and a healthy dose of skeptical inquiry are therefore essential for understanding the effects of Qi Gong, meditation, and Inner Alchemy. Since Qi Gong is difficult to pronounce for many people, and meditation generally only refers to still sitting and not the dynamic moving forms of Qi Gong, I’ll often use the term Inner Alchemy for this essay.

Alchemy also brings to mind strange and sketchy things--medieval attempts to turn lead into gold, etc. Well, how were they to know whether or not they could turn lead into gold if they didn’t try? Scientists have finally been able to turn one element into a different element--through nuclear fission. Gold would be a better end product than spent uranium! People also laugh and shake their heads when they hear of some practitioners of Daoist External Alchemy who died of mercury poisoning or ended up killing an emperor with their ‘Elixir of Immortality.’ There have certainly been many lethal mistakes in pharmacological research, ancient and modern. Personally, I feel much more understanding of an Alchemist from 300 A.D. who was brave enough to try out his own preparation and pay the consequences than I do of a drug company in the year 2000 who continues to sell and promote drugs which they know kill thousands of people a year. I guess the drug companies have figured out how to have their consequences pay them! Mercury poisoning was something they still didn’t know much about in 700 A.D. when Chinese doctors first filled a cavity with a mercury amalgam. Now we have tremendous documentation on mercury poisoning, yet dentists are still putting mercury amalgams in people’s teeth! So who’s to laugh at for being silly?

Inner Alchemy refers to the use of meditation, massage, and movement to create a change in consciousness and to slow aging. To turn physical and psychological ‘lead’ into ‘gold.’ In other words, to maximize your potential health and well-being. Meditation raises the issue of spirituality and enlightenment, which are traditional descriptions of the results of successful meditation practice. This will be discussed below.

The logical approach to investigating the effects of Qi Gong and meditation is to first examine various traditions to find similarities and differences, second, look to simple, scientific explanations for the claimed results of the practices, and third, to adopt or create practices from that research which can be tested and verified through personal practice.

There are many claimed and reported effects from Qi Gong and meditation practices. Examining various traditions, we can divide the claims into physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual categories. Physically, these practices are said to increase fitness and health, cure various diseases, prevent degeneration, and, ultimately, to lengthen life. Modern research has revealed many physical effects of these practices. Emotionally, Inner Alchemy is said to purify and balance the emotions. Emotions, of course, are largely regulated by the body’s hormonal and neurochemical fluctuations. Mentally, these practices entail increasing one’s powers concentration and focus. By maintaining healthy circulation and hormonal production, many Qi Gong practices which lead towards longevity also would preserve mental function and memory. Increased visualization abilities are gained through practice. Various paranormal mental abilities are also claimed in various schools, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. Of the spiritual claims, enlightenment is the most common. Spiritual immortality is mentioned. Because the spiritual is the most tricky to discuss, with it I shall begin. I will leave the issue of life after death until I have direct experience of the latter. If possible, I’ll post my findings on the Internet.

Enlightenment is a term often interpreted as “spiritual awakening,” after which one is never the same, or has some deeper understanding of “the meaning of life.” While some people still think that after an enlightenment experience, the enlightened person lives in perfect bliss forever, most teachers of traditions which seek enlightenment make it clear that it’s more of a temporary experience which leads to a deep change in the personality. While the experience itself is said to be beyond the ability of language to communicate, “Divine Ecstasy,” “Spiritual Bliss,” and other descriptions tend to catch one’s eye. For my research purposes, I will focus on this event as being a change in consciousness as opposed to describing it as a spiritual experience. Spiritual is an ambiguous concept for many people, and is often associated with dogmatic religious teachings. Even if enlightenment begins in a non-material spiritual realm, it manifests as a change in consciousness. Since our consciousness is mostly electro-chemical in nature, we’re likely to gain more understanding of the physical, mental, and emotional effects of meditation by studying the mind, brain, and body than by adopting a purely religious or spiritual lingo. I’m not saying people don’t have spiritual experiences with meditation, but that it’s more useful to look at them as chemical changes in consciousness brought about by specific reproducible techniques. In this essay, en-light-enment shall be taken literally as “the experience of light flooding the consciousness” which leads to physical and psychological change. The most respected Yoga texts available (the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) are very clear in referring to a blissful light flooding the consciousness.

Most people have heard of a ‘tunnel of light’ associated with a Near Death Experience (NDE). In investigating this phenomenon, I found the following:

Skeptics believe that NDEs can be explained by neurochemistry and are the result
of brain states that occur due to a dying brain. For example, "neural noise"
and "retino-cortical mapping" explain the common experience of passage
down a tunnel from darkness into a bright light. According to Susan
Blackmore, vision researcher Dr. Tomasz S. Troscianko of the University
of Bristol speculated:

If you started with very little neural noise and it
gradually increased, the effect would be of a light
at the centre getting larger and larger and hence
closer and closer....the tunnel would appear to
move as the noise levels increased and the central
light got larger and larger....If the whole cortex
became so noisy that all the cells were firing fast,
the whole area would appear light. [p. 85]

Blackmore attributes the feelings of extreme peacefulness of the NDE to
the release of endorphins in response to the extreme stress of the situation.
The buzzing or ringing sound is attributed to anoxia and consequent effects
upon the connections between brain cells. [p. 64]

Dr. Karl Jansen has reproduced NDEs with ketamine, a short-acting,
hallucinogenic, 'dissociative' anaesthetic....
According to Dr. Jansen, ketamine can reproduce all the main features of
the NDE, including travel through a dark tunnel into the light, the feeling
that one is dead, communing with God, hallucinations, out-of-body
experiences, strange noises, etc. This does not prove that there is no life
after death, but it does prove that an NDE is not proof of an afterlife. In
any case, the so-called "typical" NDE is not typical of anything, except the
tendency of parapsychologists to selectively isolate features of a wide array
of experiences and fit them to a paranormal or supernatural hypothesis.
...

©copyright 1998 Robert Todd Carroll (www.skepdic.com)

While the light and bliss reported from meditation with deep diaphragmatic breathing are more likely to be associated with increased oxygen in the brain than the anoxia the above article mentions, the role of endorphins described above is important. Other research into endorphins and Qi Gong has been done:

Title
Acute effect of qigong training on stress hormonal levels in man.
Author
Ryu H; Lee HS; Shin YS; Chung SM; Lee MS; Kim HM; Chung HT
Address
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wonkwang University School
of Medicine, Chonbuk, Republic of Korea.
Source
Am J Chin Med, 1996, 24:2, 193-8
Abstract
We observed the acute effects of Qigong training on the levels of human
endogenous opioid peptides, such as beta-endorphin, and other stress
hormones [adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and
dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S)] in a group of ChunDoSunBup
Qigong trainees. At pre (-10 min), mid (40 min) and post (70 min) time
of training, blood was taken for the determination of plasma level of
hormones. The level of beta-endorphin was significantly increased
during the mid-time of training while the level of ACTH declined at the
mid- and post-time of training. Cortisol and DHEA-S were not
significantly changed during training. This result suggests that Qigong
training, as a stress coping method, affects and plays a role in
hormonal regulation related to the maintenance of homeostasis in man.
Language of Publication
English
Unique Identifier
97028664

This study, found on MedLine, found that opium-like endorphins (which induce relaxation, pain-relief, and bliss) increase with Qi Gong practice. This has also been found to occur with acupuncture treaments. At the same time, adrenaline-like stress hormones are decreased. For a deeper understanding of the chemistry of meditation, the pineal gland must be discussed at length.
The pineal gland, situated in the center of the brain, behind the eyes/forehead a few inches, shares similar location with the “Third Eye” point which so many traditions refer to in writings, paintings, and statues.
The pineal gland, previously called the epiphysis, is about the size of a grain of rice. It was first recognized as an endocrine gland associated with puberty by Dr. Otto Heubner in 1898. He studied people with pineal tumors who either had early or delayed sexual maturation.
In 1918 a Swiss anatomist, Nils Homgren, studied pineal glands from frogs and sharks, and noticed cells very similar to the eye’s cone cells which detect colors in light. He may have been the first modern scientist to describe the pineal as the “Third Eye.” However, mammalian pineal glands don’t have these distinctive cells.
In 1958, Dr. Lerner at Yale University of Medicine extracted melatonin from mammalian pineal glands. Melatonin, recently popular as a health supplement, is important in regulating the body’s circadian rythym of wakefulness and sleepiness.
(Reference: http://serendipity.magnet.ch/mcclay/pineal.html)

The pineal is now recognized as a commander of the endocrine organs, which create and secrete various hormones. Other endocrine organs include the pituitary in the brain, the thyroid and parathyroid glands in the throat, the thymus behind the sternum, the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys, and the gonads--ovaries and testicles. These glands are located in the areas of the chakras described in Indian yoga, as well as major ‘Elixir Fields’ and acupuncture points in Taoist Inner Alchemy and acupuncture.
The pineal secretes substances other than melatonin, such as pinoline. Pinoline, in combination with other brain chemicals, creates a powerful substance called 5-methoxy-dimethyl-tryptamine, or DMT (melatonin’s chemical name is N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine). This substance is also found in some very powerful hallucinogenic drugs. Ayahuasca is a main preparation it’s found in, which has been used by Amazonian shamans since prehistory. Like LSD, this substance can cause extreme changes in consciousness in minute amounts. Various cultures which have used hallucinogens report psychic experiences, spiritual healing, contact with other worlds/realities, visions, dissolution of sense of a separate self, conversations with God, etc. There is much overlap with the claims of many meditation traditions.
The pineal also secretes serotonin (5-methoxytryptamine), one of the most common neurotransmitters. To understand the role of serotonin in mental and emotional health, one only need contemplate the category of drugs referred to as SSRIs--Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. These include Prozac, Zoloft, and other antidepressants. By recycling the available serotonin in the brain SSRIs drastically alter mood and mental function.
With this scientific and medical background, one can begin to look at Qi Gong and meditation “in a new light.” The following dialogue is from Taoist Yoga by Lu, Kuan Yu, which is translated from the notes of a Taoist master born in 1860. Much of Taoist Internal Alchemy has to do with concentrating on various points in the body and consciously moving the point of focus along with deep, slow breathing. The third eye has been called the “Heavenly Eye” or, in this writing, the “Original Cavity of the Spirit.” Lu writes:

“Question: Will you please give me the exact position of the original cavity of the spirit?

Answer: It is (in the center of the brain behind) the spot between the eyes. Lao Tzu called it 'the gateway to heaven and earth'; hence he urged people to concentrate on the center in order to realize the oneness (of all things). In this center is a pearl of the size of a grain of rice, which is the center between heaven and earth in the human body (i.e., the microcosm); it is the cavity of prenatal vitality. To know where it lies is not enough, for it does not include the wondrous light of (essential) nature... He who knows this cavity can prepare the elixir of immortality. Hence it is said: 'When the One is attained, all problems are solved.'

Therefore, during the training both eyes should turn inward to the center (between and behind them) in order to hold on to this One which be held in the original cavity of spirit (tsu ch'iao) with neither strain nor relaxation; this is called fixing spirit in the original cavity which should be where (essential) nature is cultivated and the root from which (eternal) life emerges.” (p. 3-4)

What is beginning to emerge from these investigations is that meditation and associated practices tap into the body’s own pharmacy, altering the chemical secretions of the endocrine glands through relaxation and concentration. This eventually produces a natural “high” similar to that produced by powerful hallucinogenic drugs, or a general sense of emotional well-being as produced by antidepressant drugs. While it will undoubtably upset some people to demystify meditation in this way, others may look at it as another example of the genius of the Creator who made all of these chemicals in the first place. It is regrettable that research on these substances has been outlawed in the United States, a country whose founding fathers made freedom of religion and freedom of speech top priority. Freedom of scientific inquiry probably seemed so obvious to them that they didn’t bother to put it into the Bill of Rights.
The idea that meditation and Qi Gong may lead to extreme chemical alterations in consciousness may dissuade some people from practicing them. That may be a wise thing for those who are mentally unstable or not looking to create changes in their way of seeing the world. There are some reports of adverse effects from Qi Gong. A recognized term in China is “Qi Gong Deviation.” Another abstract from MedLine describes this syndrome:


Title
Psychophysiological reactions associated with qigong therapy.
Author
Xu SH
Address
Shanghai Mental Health Center, Psychiatric Department, Shanghai Medical
University.
Source
Chin Med J (Engl), 1994 Mar, 107:3, 230-3
Abstract
Qigong as a part of the traditional Chinese medicine is similar to
western "meditation", Indian "Yoga" or Japanese "Zen", which can all be
included in the category of traditional psychotherapy. A series of
physiological and psychological effects occur in the course of Qigong
training, but inappropriate training can lead to physical and mental
disturbances. Physiological effects include changes in EEG, EMG,
respiratory movement, heart rate, skin potential, skin temperature and
finger tip volume, sympathetic nerve function, function in stomach and
intestine, metabolism, endocrine and immunity systems. Psychological
effects are motor phenomena and perceptual changes: patients
experienced warmness, chilliness, itching sensation in the skin,
numbness, soreness, bloatedness, relaxation, tenseness, floating,
dropping, enlargement or constriction of the body image, a sensation of
rising to the sky, falling off, standing upside down, playing on the
swing following respiration, circulation of the intrinsic Qi, electric
shock, [or sexual arousal] during Qigong exercise. Some patients experienced
dreamland illusions, unreality and pseudohallucination. These phenomena
were transient and vanished as the exercise terminated. Qigong
deviation syndrome has become a diagnostic term and is now used widely
in China.
Language of Publication
English
Unique Identifier
94374200

Aside from the occasional extreme states which can be produced by meditation, there is the subtle, long-term aspect which is the search for longevity. The pineal gland is also a key factor in aging:

"Circadian chronic administration of Melatonin and young-to-old pineal grafting into the thymus have provided evidence for the existence of an endogenous, primary and central "Aging Clock" in the pineal gland. The new model described here serves to definitely demonstrate that the replacement of the pineal gland of an old mouse with the pineal gland from a young, syngeneic donor mouse remarkably prolongs its life span, conversely, the "old" pineal transplanted into a younger mouse will considerably shorten its life span. Pineal cross-transplantation thus provides clear-cut evidence for the central role of the pineal gland in the initiation and progression of senescence (the state of being old). It offers a novel basis for interventions into the aging process."
--Valadimir A. Lesnikov, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Russian Academy of Medical Science: Pineal Cross-Transplantation as Evidence For an Endogenous "Aging Clock". (http://www.lifex.com/immune.html)

Certain herbs, foods, and exercises including regular concentration on the pineal gland may maintain and optimize the secretion of melatonin and other pineal chemicals, thereby slowing aging and extending the life-span. The alchemical description of creating an Inner Elixir through these practices may be the most accurate description yet.

Our body is made up of many systems. We have largely been discussing the endocrine system and nervous system. These are the main systems which sitting meditation appears to affect. However, Qi Gong also encompasses moving exercises which affect the muscles, joints, tendons, and bones. Breathing exercises affect the lungs and heart. Various massage techniques affect the internal organs, as well as muscles, fasciae which separate the muscles and organs, and bones. Slow movement encourages healthy circulation in the lymphatic system as well as the circulatory system.
Intense workouts or exercises sometimes put too much stress on the heart, joints, and other systems of the body. Marathon runners often develop arthritis in their knees and ankles. Some weight lifters have died at a young age from heart attacks, apparently due to the tremendous strains they place themselves under. On the other hand, no exercise leads to many diseases as well. The ‘middle way’ is mostly gentle exercises, hiking in the mountains, and ample relaxation. Qi Gong’s exercises gently stretch and strengthen muscles and tendons, keep the joints lubricated and moving in their full range, and oxygenate the body through deep breathing and techniques which enhance blood circulation to areas which are often deprived of full blood flow.

By giving the right type of attention to all the systems of the body, Qi Gong and meditation can increase health and fitness, improve mood and mental function, slow aging and prevent degenerative diseases, and create intense states of bliss, light, and transcendence. If done with proper instruction and understanding, Qi Gong is a safe and reliable collection of time-tested techniques. Most of the reported results of Qi Gong have ample basis in basic science. I see no need to posit the existence of a wholly non-physical reality to explain them. I find it more mysterious to wonder at the marvels of the human body and the people who made these discoveries long before our modern scientists began to investigate them. Even now, in the 2000s, we are only beginning to focus medical research on prevention, longevity, and maximizing physical and mental well-being. We still have a lot to learn from the ancient way of Qi Gong and meditation. The practices have been the same for thousands of years, but our understanding continues to increase.