Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics

ABSTRACT

This work reports that Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) meditation energy (1-2) enhances the biological activity of cardiac cells, as detected by a conventional muscle research technique (4-14, see Methods). The papillary cell isolated from a rat ventricular wall was exposed to the meditation energy field generated by an experienced Falun Dafa practitioner, who positioned and held his hands beside the cell at a physically non-influential distance (~30 cm away from the cell). This meditation energy increased the muscle cell contraction force by 75.4% on average, with repeatable result, providing direct scientific evidence of Falun Dafa's positive, energetic influence over a biological system, thereby verifying the existence of a Falun Dafa cultivation energy field. The intention of the present work is to substantiate Falun Dafa's significance to the discipline of science, thereby encouraging more people to learn this profound cultivation practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A small papillary muscle bundle (2-5 mm x 200-500 mm) was isolated from the right ventricular wall of a rat, mechanically, under microscope, in Krebs-Henseleit solution (K-H) saturated at 21 C with 95% O ₂ and 5% C O₂ (14, Wang et al., 1999). The tendon end of the muscle was attached with stainless steel tweezers of a liner motor and the other end was attached to the force transducer tweezers. A 3 mm diameter cylindrical cuvette was slipped over the preparation and perfused with 95% O ₂ and 5% C O₂ saturated Krebs-Henseleit solution. Guth Muscle Research System was used to simultaneously measure the muscle contraction force (13, Guth and Wojciechowski, 1986). The mechanical parts of the apparatus consisted of a force transducer, capable of measuring 1000 mg, with a response frequency of 800 Hz, a servo motor, feedback circuit, and power amplifier capable of making a 7 mm length change in 3 ms. The muscle was perfused with Krebs-Henseleit solution continuously throughout the experiment. The cell was stimulated at 1.0 Hz through the two tweezers attached to the ends of the preparation. Once the preparation was mounted in the apparatus, muscle length was adjusted, until maximum active twitch force was obtained. Each data record consisted of one control and one test run. The control record was taken over a 30 min period, before a test run, to ensure that the cell had a stable contractile activity.

After a 30 min stable control was recorded, the Falun Gong practitioner, (who had just done the five sets of Falun Gong exercises in a remote room), entered the experiment room, and held his hands beside the muscle cell, at a distance of ~30 cm away, without touching any part of the equipment or the preparation. While the experiment was being conducted, the practitioner sustained the meditation practice, in the posture of "holding Falun (Law Wheel)." The contraction force was directly recorded and digitized by a computer that interfaced with the Guth muscle research system.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

As shown in Fig. 1., after 30 min of constant amplitude of the cell contraction recorded as control, the practitioner applied the energy field, positioning and holding his hands beside the cell, after and during practicing Falun Gong exercises, resulting in a graduate increase in amplitude of the cardiac cell contraction. About 5 min after the application of the Falun Gong energy field, the cell contraction force increased by 35%, and stayed at a constant level for as long as the practitioner was present in the experiment room (note that the muscle cell had no additional biochemical substance such as ATP, enzymes or calcium ions (Ca2+) supplied artificially during the experiment). The practitioner had never physically touched the cell or the equipment, ensuring that there was no artifact interfering with the testing sample or with the recording system. The practitioner's hands were held at ~30 cm of distance away from the cell, which was saturated in a circulated solution at constant temperature control, therefore there was no temperature change caused by the influence of his hands. The recording was performed by another research associate, who is not a Falun Gong practitioner.

Fig. 1. The Falun Gong cultivation energy field increased the contraction force of cardiac papillary cells. The muscle cells were attached to a force transducer in the Guth Muscle Research System and placed in a chamber filled with circulated Krebs-Henseleit solution saturated at 21 C with 95% O2 and 5% CO2. An electrical stimulation at 1 Hz at a voltage 20% greater than threshold was continuously applied to the cell. After a 30 min recording of a stable contraction force in the absence of the energy field, as control, the Falun Gong practitioner, who had just practiced the 5 sets of Falun Gong exercises, applied the energy field with his hands by holding Falun (the Law Wheel) in front of the abdomen (practice set 2). His hands were kept ~30 cm away from the cell, and far enough away from the recording system to avoid influencing the temperature, which would cause artifacts in the recording. Compared to the regular practicing posture, the hands stayed away from the body, and the palms were facing each other beside the cell, ensuring that there was no physical contact to the cell by the practitioner. As shown, after the energy field was applied, the contraction twitch tension force started increasing up to 35%, compared to the control, and stayed at a stable level. The same experiment showed that no change was detected with other non-Falun Gong individuals. This type of experiment was repeated more than 5 times, with similar results, as shown in this figure. Extent of the increase in the cardiac cell contractile activity by the energy field was by 35% ~ 111%, depending on the physical size of the cell and its initial condition after cell isolation, and the practitioner's meditation state. No decrease in cell contraction by the energy field was detected.

In order to ensure that the effect shown in Fig. 1., is indeed due to the energy field of Falun Gong, after the practitioner had increased the muscle cell contraction up to 100% in a different experiment (Fig. 2), the practitioner left the room and stopped thinking about the cell to see if the cell contraction would change. As shown in Fig. 2, the cell contraction force gradually returned to the control level. This indicates that the increase in the contraction force was due to the practitioner's energy field. The experiment shown in Fig. 1. and Fig. 2. were repeated at least 5 times with similar patterns in results, showing a 35~111% increase in the contraction amplitude.

A non-Falun Gong practitioner then imitated what the practitioner had done. The result was that the non-Falun Gong practitioner was not able to change the cell contractile activity, indicating that Falun Gong energy from cultivation practice is essential for significant increase in cell contraction force to occur.

Fig. 2. Cardiac cell contractile force was increased by 100% by the Falun Gong energy field, and returned to the control level, after the practitioner left the experiment room and stopped thinking about the cell. Except for the following modifications, all experiment conditions and procedures were the same as described in Fig. 1. After the cell contraction force was increased by 100% with the energy field applied to the cell, the practitioner stopped holding his hands beside the cell, but kept sitting in the room at a distance of ~3 feet away from the cell. The contraction force remained at the increased level. Interestingly, when the practitioner left the room and stopped thinking about the cell, the cell contraction force gradually returned to the control level, indicating that the energy field applied by the practitioner is essential for the increase of the cell contractile activity. This experiment was repeated more than 5 times, with similar results, as shown in this figure. The first arrow indicates the time point when the practitioner positioned his hands beside the cell, and the second one indicates the time point when he left the room.

Fig. 3. Cardiac cell contractile force was increased by (75.4 + 17.34)% in average by the Falun Gong energy field. As a summary of experiments described in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the increase in the papillary cell contraction force was averaged over 10 different individual cell preparations (numbers from 1 to 10 labeled in horizontal axis). The control for each isolated cell preparation was normalized to 100%, and plotted in a bar to the left for the corresponding sample indicated by each of the numbers (1 to 10). The contraction force in percentage of the control (after the Falun Gong energy field was applied) was plotted in a bar to the right for the corresponding sample. The averaged percentage values were illustrated by the pair of bars to the extreme right in the figure, for the averaged control (left bar. 100%) and increased force (right bar, 175.4%), respectively, as labeled "average." The standard error for the averaged percentage of contraction force was + 17.34.

In summary of experiments shown in Fig. 1. and Fig. 2., Fig. 3 shows that the Falun Gong energy field increased the papillary cell contraction force by 75.4% on average over 10 individual experiments, using different isolated cells. The significant increase in the cell contractile activity by this meditation energy was repeatable over an increasing range from 35%-111% depending upon the initial condition of the cell and variables with regard to the practitioner. From the viewpoint of muscle research, muscle contraction is involved in many complicated cellular and molecular processes of excitation-contraction coupling, such as calcium transport from the cytoplasmic pool, calcium release from the intracellular calcium store sarcoplasmic reticulum through the ryanodine receptor/calcium channel (4-12). Which step(s) among those processes Falun Gong energy interacts with, is still unknown, leaving the subject open to future investigation. The real intention of the present work is to evidence Falun Gong's scientific significance, to tell people that this cultivation meditation is not superstition and it is most profound science for spiritual enlightenment and mind-body health.

From general knowledge of the field, we know that an enhancement of muscle cell contractile activity requires supplementation with a biochemical energy source, such as ATP, enzymes, calcium ions, or some other physical energy source, such as heat, or electrical or magnetic energy added to the cell. In the present experiment, however, there were no such means used, with the exception of the practitioner positioning his hands beside the cell, while he practiced Falun Gong exercises. Obviously, the energy substance of an unknown content, responsible for such a dramatic increase in the contraction force of the cell, must have a correlative relationship to the energy field transmitted by the Falun Gong practitioner. This raises various questions: From what source was the energy substance transformed? Why does this energy have such a dramatic and beneficial influence over the biological activity of the cardiac cells? How has this energy been cultivated by a Falun Gong practitioner? To help answer these questions, the author recommends Falun Gong's guide book, Zhuan Falun (1), and suggests that readers try to experience this exercise and meditation by themselves, finding the way reaching the peace, health and the truth of the universe.

This work provides scientific evidence for the healing benefit of Falun Gong meditation, and also help scientific open mind to discover the new field. Although there are still many unanswered questions regarding the mechanism of Falun Gong-enhanced cardiac cell biological activity, this research could prove beneficial to non-Falun Gong practitioners, for the purpose of encouraging people to seriously explore cultivation practice for themselves. This could also prove helpful for those who have misunderstood Falun Dafa, enabling them to reconsider this practice, or correct their misguided activities towards Falun Dafa. The author is also sincerely hopeful that this work would provide many thanks and encouragement to the people who show their understanding, support, and help to Falun Gong practitioners in China who have been and are being badly persecuted.

Science will never completely explain the profound Buddha Law. Contrary to what the scientific world may think, Buddha Law can enlighten people, and enable science to discover the truth. "The Buddha Fa is most profound; among all the theories in the world, it is the most intricate and extraordinary science. In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking. Otherwise, the truth of the universe will forever remain a mystery to humankind, and everyday people will forever crawl within the boundary, delimited by their own ignorance." Li Hongzhi (1).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Author is grateful to Ms. Estelle C. Morgan for English corrections.

* Guohua Liu, Ph.D., scientist in the field of biophysics and biochemistry of molecular and cellular muscle research (4-12), biomedical software engineer, healing music composer, and a genuine Falun Dafa practitioner (since 1994). He graduated with B.S. in physics and computer science from China, Ph.D. in Biophysics and Physiology from Japan, and trained through medical schools in the United States, with more than 10 years experience in the research field. He and his research associates have carefully developed this experiment in the medical school's laboratory to investigate how the Falun Gong energy field affects a living cardiac cell. They have succeeded in finding evidence of the beneficial influence of this meditation practice in cardiac cell biological activity.

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http://www.wkap.nl/art.pdf?issn=0142-4319&volume=20&page=645