Dakota

the chi machine

This is a photo of my chi machine, wearing its cozy and smiling.

I first came upon the chi machine at a conference in Toronto. It was being demonstrated in the exhibit room at a conference about a theraputic technique, using bilateral brain stimulation, called EMDR, which I can do because -here it is again folks- I took Level I and Level II Training. The conference organizers must have allowed the demonstraters space because the machine went back and forth, like many of the other machines used for EMDR. The chi machine has nothing whatsoever to do with EMDR.

The literature that comes with the machine says that it was developed by a Doctor of Oxygen (we don't have those in this country) and is designed to help one simulate the movement of a goldfish with one's spine. There is also an amusing video which implies that using the chi machine is a good substitute for vigorous aerobic exercise. I did not purchase the machine for either of these purposes.

I was wiped at the conference, having visited with lively, small boys and attended my fortieth high school reunion the day before in Detroit. The demonstrators promised envigoration, so I hopped on. That is, I laid on my back with my ankles atop the machine. The machine moved back and forth for five minutes and, when it stopped, my entire body was suffused with the loveliest wave of delicate energy. I had to have one. They were not cheap, but they were tax deductible. The demonstrators even threw in a $25 sheepskin chi cozy to keep one's ankles from knocking and chafing while astride..

When I brought my machine home and showed my friends, some of them had to have one too. After referring a few to the demonstrators in Iowa, I was offered the opportunity to become a distributor of chi machines myself. It's like Amway. Pyramid marketing? That lasted for about three machines. I did buy a few chi cozies ahead of time, and have a few left over. They are probably on one of the piles I plan to photograph.

The chi machine was available in the Lifestyle Fascinations Catalog,last time I looked. It is heavily discounted to $139, because it is quite impossible to show its inner beauty in a photo, as you can see.

See entry "The Cluttered Nest" for information on use of the chi machine in Dakota's Double Dip meditation.

Posted by Dakota at November 19, 2003 04:22 PM