Monday, December 24, 2007

The No-Touch Knockout

I was checking out some info on qigong (chi kung) when I came across this rather interesting albeit amusing footage of the no-touch KO trick. The real trick is finding willing participants who make the star of the show look like the real deal. There are all kinds of hucksters out there trying to sell their so-called ability to manipulate chi or ki at a distance. This clip features a top student of George Dillman performing the demo. Dillman's a big name in the martial arts world which gives these particular demonstrations far more credibility than they deserve.

The US government invested millions into researching "remote viewing" (clairvoyance) during the Cold War. Too bad the powers that be haven't seen this clip. I want to believe, but I just can't. You decide:

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12 Comments:

Blogger frotoe said...

That was very interesting. I do believe in the ability to use pressure points for knock outs, accupuncture, healing, etc.. but the no touch knockout? No..don't think so. Reminds me of one of those evangalists who go around "healing" their paying followers. I truely wish it was true...it would be fun to throw a ball of chi at someone. I would feel one step closer to being a jedi master. :)

6:53 AM  
Blogger Savage Baptist said...

The annoying thing about Mr. Dillman's activities in regard to the "no-touch" knockouts is that his promotion of this material has made other things he's associated with, like pressure points and tuite, "guilty by association," so to speak. That is, people look at the no-touch stuff, conclude that it's fakery (I don't blame them), and then conclude that pressure points and tuite must be a lot of hooey, too.

We use some pressure points and tuite in our training, and have found some of them practical and useful, but we would never dream of telling someone we could knock them out without touching them! And isn't it curious that the man who gave Mr.Dillman his introduction to kyusho-jutsu and tuite, Seiyu Oyata, says very clearly in his Ryu-Te no Michi, "In my 50 years of life protection study, I have never seen anyone who could extend their KI to stop someone in a life protection situation. My instructors never were able to extend their spirits to stop any attackers. They had to use their bodies for their protection."

8:17 AM  
Blogger BSM said...

He should do quite well in the UFC.

;-)

At least one would think.

~BCP

9:15 AM  
Blogger Silverstar said...

Seems like the power of suggestion to me. Highly suggestible individuals who want to believe so badly that it will work, make it work.
Pressure points are indeed affective, I know since I have used them and been the recipient of them, but 'no-touch' pressure points..bull!

P.S. Did you see the video where he tried to use this hocus pocus on Ju Jutsu students?

4:03 PM  
Blogger Patrick Parker said...

I think Dillman really had a good thing going in the 1980's and 1990's but he's gone over the edge with the no-touch stuff.

One of the most commonsense things that I've ever heard him talk about is the idea that you should train this pressure point stuff very lightly and delicately. The idea being that if you can do it with almost ephemeral force then when you are scared then all your training to generate great force will magnify the effect.

Dillman used to talk about looking for slight effects (like leg shakes, recovery steps, etc...) when you apply slight taps and taking that as validation that you could achieve great effects hitting these points with enough force to break a brick.

7:59 AM  
Blogger Mathieu said...

I had found this video a while ago.

not sure.

Not sure at all...

11:01 AM  
Blogger Mir said...

I leave those things that I am not interested into including onto my path to the side. Since I have no desire to use "no touch" knockouts in my training, I barely even look at videos trying to prove or disprove this claim.

I personally want to have total confidence that when I send my strike/technique at a person that it will work 100 percent of the time, and that it will not depend on whether or not that person's tongue is in a proper position, whether their feet are aligned, or how well they react to the energy waves of my chi.

11:12 AM  
Blogger Blackbeltmama said...

Dillman is a local practitioner where I live, and the stories about him are rampant. From the no-touch knock out to taking a bobcat with him into his dojo, there is no shortage of "info" about him out there.

I agree with Dan Paden when he says that this no-touch business takes away from legitimate tuite techniques and their believability.

The book you got for Christmas? Hayes' book? That man is amazing. He can hit you 10 times before you can even react and every spot he hits you is a pressure point. My instructor said that he once hit him at a spot on his neck, not even hard, and the lights started to go out for him.

4:42 PM  
Blogger Savage Baptist said...

In a mildly amusing note, I just found a photo of the Mr. Hayes BBM is referring to with the second-from-the-top guy in our association.

Small world.

8:53 AM  
Blogger MARKS said...

I think this is always going to be a very touchy subject with a lot of people. Pressue points being struck or manipulated to produce pain or knockout is possible. Everyone can do this, but knocking out without touching is something that is very hard to beleive. But if Mr Dillman really can do it then hey... good for him.

11:27 AM  
Blogger Michael said...

Anybody who claims they can knock somebody out or even down without touching them is engaging in flim-flam and hoax. This is exactly the same kind of deception as seen in faith healing, as frotoe notes.

I would encourage Mr. Dillman or any other "master" of such fakery to prove his ability under scientific, controlled conditions. He should take the James Randi Million Dollar challenge (www.randi.org) if he can truly accomplish such a miraculous feat.

The damage done by promoting this junk goes beyond just casting legitimate martial arts and their teachers into disrepute, but robbing people who fall for this stuff of their money and conceivably their health or life should they try to use their alleged training in a serious situation.

5:29 PM  
Blogger Charles James said...

The true crime here is that Mr. Dillman actually believes this himself.

Oh yea, I can cause you to get dizzy with my mind. Feel the dizziness :-)

5:19 PM  

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