Healing as a Way of Life | Qigong, Meridians, and the Science of Qi at Harvard

What if healing isn't something that happens to you — but something you're always doing for yourself? That question sits at the heart of Qigong, and this episode. Anne Hering has practiced every day for over twenty-five years. Her doctor told her at 22 she'd spend the rest of her life in pain. But he was wrong, and she'll tell you it wasn't a treatment that changed things. It was a practice. At Harvard, researchers Andrew Ahn and Peter Wayne have spent years trying to understand what Qi actually is — and whether the body's energy pathways, called meridians, have any physical basis. When Dr. Ahn injected fluorescent dye at an acupuncture point on the wrist, it traveled up the arm through no known vessel and arrived exactly where the ancient maps said it would. Two Harvard scientists and a Qigong teacher in the Netherlands arrived at nearly the same definition of Qi from completely different directions. What they found might change how you think about your own health.