Wednesday, February 12, 1997BOOK:
Dr. Hong Liu’s ‘Mastering Miracles’ explains the healing powers
of Qi GongBy Kristin Fiore
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Do modern miracles exist? Many of the practical-minded among us
would say no  everything can be explained through the
religion of 20th century science. But while Western conceptions of
science and religion seem contradictory, many Eastern practices
mesh these institutions of body and spirit to explain the
unexplainable and conquer the unconquerable.
Qi Gong, a healing art practiced by the Chinese for 3,000 years,
has performed "miracles" more impressive than changing water to
wine. Through the healing hands of masters like Dr. Hong Liu, it
has changed death to life  after all Western medicine has
failed.
Liu’s new book, "Mastering Miracles," delivers what it promises.
It is a home guide to curing and strengthening one’s mind, body and
spirit. The first half details Liu’s road to becoming a Qi Gong
master and the amazing feats of healing he has witnessed and
performed. His examples will convince the skeptical and enlighten
the confused. The second half explains how to adopt these practices
into your own life  how to eat, exercise and live a healthier
life. He also gives specific remedies like time-tested Chinese
exercises and herbs for treating everything from heart attacks to
headaches.
In support of his book, Liu will be in Ackerman at noon today
with one of his biggest fans, REM’s Michael Stipe. He may not have
the time to cure your trick knee, but he will be signing copies of
his book.
Liu is the perfect ambassador of Qi Gong for those who balk at
ideas like universal energy, Qi Gong and the body’s ability to
absorb it for better health. He is a respected doctor as well as a
Qi Gong master, and his incredible stories of healing are supported
by the hard evidence that so many require before dropping words
like "hokey" and "hippie" from their vocabulary of alternative or
ancient medicines.
His book proves he is also an adept writer  clear, concise
and engrossing, with none of the technical jargon or spiritual
hocus pocus so common in other books on medicine and philosophy
 and Qi Gong incorporates both.
Liu diagnoses patients with everything from a sprained ankle to
kidney disease by sight only, noting where the body’s 12 meridians
that distribute the Qi Gong energy through the body are blocked. He
has treated more than 5,000 cancer patients, as well as heads of
the Chinese government.
Many of his patients came to him as "hopeless cases," terminal
cancer and AIDS patients given months to live by doctors. One of
them, possibly a former prostate cancer patient, may be
rollerblading by your window right now, not only feeling better,
but completely cured.
How is this possible? How do x-ray machines and the gods of
Western medicine fail where Liu succeeds? The answer may lie in the
differing conceptions of the body and its ability to fight disease,
stress, even allergies. It appears the Western concept of "divide
and conquer" is not nearly as effective as Qi Gong’s "unite and
conquer."
Instead of dissecting, probing and zapping our bodies with
chemicals that make us sicker in order to cure us, Qi Gong treats
our bodies as the whole entities they are, strengthening the body
and spirit naturally so that chemicals are not necessary to fight
disease, or at least are more effective in doing so. Liu feels the
best cures involve both Western medicine, which attacks the disease
specifically, and Qi Gong, which strengthens the body so that the
disease does not return. Qi Gong also gives patients a more active
role in fighting disease; preparing herbs and doing exercises makes
patients feel more in control of their disease and their body, a
key element in remission.
The West has long ignored practices that get in touch with the
unconscious or the mystical, believing that a bottle of pills or an
expensive hospital treatment is a more valid way of fighting
disease. These methods are explainable and make sense, the way
science should, supposedly. Only lately have some of the more
liberal areas of this country taken a chance on herbal medicine,
meditation and yoga, Taoism and Qi Gong, hoping to find a sense of
complete health lacking in other treatments.
Though even the few extant Qi Gong masters cannot fully explain
how it works, the important thing is that it does. Wary doctors and
patients have put it to the same tests that other treatments have
been subject to, and it has passed with flying colors. Liu has sent
Qi Gong energy into animals and petri dishes with cancer cells, and
their numbers dropped considerably when compared to control groups.
Patients with sprained ankles or arthritis have been able to walk
and move freely after a few minutes of Qi Gong energy was focused
on the afflicted areas.
Skeptics may take issue with "meridian mumbo jumbo" or "energy
fields," but they cannot argue with cold, hard facts. In an age
when AIDS and many forms of cancer are largely incurable and
insufferable, Qi Gong may provide the missing ingredient that leads
to longer, healthier lives for their victims.
Dr. Hong Liu’s master knew he would fill a void in America and
introduce Qi Gong to a culture that needs its healing power and
more balanced approach (spiritual and physical) to medicine and
life. Liu’s book will hopefully spur America’s acceptance and
incorporation of Qi Gong practices into Western techniques. It’s
modern miracles await.
"Mastering Miracles" by Dr. Hong Liu (Warner Books) is available
at Bookzone in Ackerman Union and other stores for $24. Dr. Hong
Liu and Michael Stipe will be at Ackerman’s B-level signing books
and whatever else you bring at noon today. Dr. Hong Liu also has a
website at http://www.Qimaster.com.