Thursday, May 16, 2013

Trees and Qi

As I mentioned in a recent article, scientists have uncovered that plants emit inaudible acoustic signals that can help to encourage the growth of other plants. This is significant to energy work practice in light of ongoing Chinese research on Qigong, which has found that Qigong masters emit infrasonic waves that seem to encourage healing in the cells of their patients. I recently came across this article discussing a new book called Blinded by Science by Matthew Silverstone. In the book, Silverstone compiles studies that seem to indicate vibrations produced by trees are also beneficial to human health.

The author points to a number of studies that have shown that children show significant psychological and physiological improvement in terms of their health and well being when they interact with plants and trees. Specifically, the research indicates that children function better cognitively and emotionally in green environments and have more creative play in green areas. Also, he quotes a major public health report that investigated the association between green spaces and mental health concluded that "access to nature can significantly contribute to our mental capital and wellbeing".

So what is it about nature that can have these significant effects? Up until now it has been thought to be the open green spaces that cause this effect. However, Matthew Silverstone, shows that it is nothing to do with this by proving scientifically that it is the vibrational properties of trees and plants that give us the health benefits and not the open green spaces.


The answer to how plants and trees affect us physiologically turns out to be very simple. It is all to do with the fact that everything vibrates in a subtle manner, and different vibrations affect biological behaviours. One research experiment showed that if you drink a glass of water that has been treated with a "10Hz vibration" your blood coagulation rates will change immediately on ingesting the treated water. It is the same with trees, when touching a tree its different vibrational pattern will affect various biological behaviours within your body.

A little research into the book shows that its conclusions are speculative and less scientific than this article makes them out to be. Still, in conjunction with the study I previously referenced on plant vibrations this suggests a straightforward hypothesis that should be subject to straightforward scientific testing and validation. What researchers need to be put together is a simple double-blind trial that tests exposure to vibrations of particular frequencies in the ranges emitted by both Qigong masters and plants.

The vibrations are inaudible in that range so there's no problem with tipping off the subjects, and the trials could be randomized by a computer to eliminate experimenter bias. The apparatus could consist of a simple acoustic chamber with emitters configurable for these low frequencies, and for each subject a computer control system could randomly determine whether the emitters are on or off. Then the health data for each subject could be compiled and matched to the treatment and control groups. That would pretty much do it as far as the experiment goes, just like what you would do for a regular drug trial.

If this effect can be demonstrated in a clear fashion it may provide a mechanism by which the various forms of energy work function and also explain some other effects that have been regarded as paranormal in the past, such as the way in which music seems to influence both plants and developing infants. Perhaps the sounds that work the best are simply those that resonate with or include undertones of these particular frequencies. Another interesting avenue for research could be identifying which frequencies work the best for facilitating health. It may be that there's a vibration range out there beyond those that living things can produce but which is even more conducive to good health.

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2 comments:

Vigilius said...

My QiGong teachers taught us that after treating people with acupuncture, you should go out to a tree at the end of the day and hold out your hands, dumping the turbid "pathological" qi from the patients into the tree and down into the earth.

George Lakhovsky did some very interesting work on frequencies and their effect on health. I'm doing a book on his work right now with a colleague, taking Lakhovsky's work and interpreting it from the standpoint of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Scott Stenwick said...

It certainly would make sense that if trees emit healthy frequencies and your own vibrations get "off" when exposed to patients who are ill, taking advantage of tree vibrations makes a lot of sense.

As a Qigong practitioner I'd be very interested in reading more about the relationship between frequencies and health. When your book is available, please let me know.