Anomalous Organization of Random Events During an International Qigong Meeting: Evidence for Group Consciousness or Accumulated Qi Fields?

Research has documented anomalous organization of random events generated by an electronic random events generator (REG) during various group situations that promote group consciousness experiences. A group situation hypothesized to promote an intense group consciousness experience was an international Qigong conference. Over 2500 invited guests, scientists and practitioners from many countries attended the 1997 International Yan Xin Qigong Practice and Research Conference in New York City on August 30-September 1. Three basic REG predictions were evaluated: (1) the null hypothesis, (2) deviations from randomness would be observed during the days and would disappear during the nights, and (3) deviations from randomness would be observed during the days and continue during the nights (predicted by Chinese scientists YX, ZS, and LS to reflect 'accumulating Qi over the entire meeting'). Three days and two nights of FieldREG data were collected prior to, during, and following the conference. During the conference, a total of 234,412 trials of 200 samples per second reflecting I's and O's (100 I's would be expected to occur by chance per second on the average) were collected using a PEAR computerized FieldREG system and stored for later analysis. When the 3 days and 2 nights were analyzed in terms of trials above versus below 100, all five segments showed relative increases (p = .023). These patterns were not observed during the pre and post conference control days and nights. The data provide tentative support for the hypothesis that an intense group experience that continues over a three day period may create a consciousness or Qi field that can be discerned using the FieldREG paradigm.