Chi Kung practices are an enormous grab bag encompassing 6,000 years of Chinese history and tradition. Some Chi Kung practices are for physical health and emotional stability, some are medicinal and scientific in nature, some have the goal of achieving enlightenment or immortality, others are for improving martial arts skills, some are nothing more than stage magic and some Chi Kung practitioners are outright frauds. Being a skeptic by nature and an engineer by training, I find many claims made by Chi Kung literature to be of dubious value. However, clearly something is happening in at least some of the phenomena the Chinese attribute to Chi. Acupuncture claims to heal by removing Chi blockage through the mechanism of inserting needles at specific points in the human body.
Acupuncture works on humans and animals.
Chi Kung practitioners have demonstrated, under controlled conditions, the ability to regulate breathing, body temperature and blood pressure at will. Some research demonstrates a weak correlation between changes in electric potential at acupuncture points. The claims of Chi Kung practitioners are currently under study at the National Institute for Health in Washington and in Japan. Tai Chi is considered an excellent Chi Kung practice for improving health, emotional stability, overall physical conditioning and martial arts skill. Traditional Chinese medicine teaches, if the meridians are blocked and Chi can't flow or if overall Chi levels drop below some threshold value the body becomes vulnerable to disease and deterioration.