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Interesting "muscle testing" experience

ORUgrad

Thinker
ORUgrad
Joined
Oct 14, 2009
Messages
141
I went into a new health store looking for a digestive enzyme. The owner of the small shop met me and he talked to me about how my body could tell me different things just by asking questions and noting my response to him pushing down on my arm. I already knew about this pseudoscience but thought it would be interesting to see how he reacted when it did not work. He started by having me keep my arm perpendicular to the ground and to resist his downward pressure on it after he asked me a question. He said we become weak when we lie. He demonstrated this by asking me my name. I was able to give it and resist his downward pressure. Then he said to say "My name is Bob" (my name is Don). So I complied. I was still able to resist his pressure on my arm. He looked perplexed and tried again. Same result. He said sometimes we have "blockages" that prevent it from working properly and suggested we have one of his employees who had just been through a "cleansing" to help us. I resisted the urge to ask how I could be stronger in resisting his pressure if I had some "blockage."

He told me to take the hand of his employee while the employee held his other arm out rigidly. Sure enough, he was "magically" not able to resist the downward resistance when he said my name was Bob. I said, "Wow that's amazing. How about you ask him a question he doesn't know the answer to?" To my surprise, he agreed to ask him how long I had been married and said the method will predict within one year the actual result. So he kept asking until he landed on 20 years. They looked surprised when I said they were only ten YEARS off. He then said I was "shutting the process down" by simply not believing in it. I told him if it is true, it should work regardless of my belief in it. I wasn't looking for a fight so I left. Before I fully de-converted from Christianity, I was often the only one still standing when one of the visiting "faith healers" at ORU would lay hands on lines of students. I was told the same thing- I didn't believe or have enough faith. Didn't realize I could thwart the power of God by simply not believing in it.
 
That is the process the "Power band" folks use to sell that thing.
I interrupted a lovely young lady who was going to take some members of the US Army for a ride. I told them that all that does is make your money their money... Feeling that ripping off members of our Armed Forces is a bad thing.
 
They call it Applied kinesiology. It's pretty scary when you realized it's used to diagnose conditions. I've seen a Naturopath use it to determine if you need supplements. By having you hold different bottles and see which one makes you react most.

Yes, they were all sealed glass bottles.
 
In these cases, one is being robbed with assault. Force should be allowed to be used to prevent the robbers from ever doing it again.
 
The thing I find so damned annoying about this "test" is that it is so completely subjective and people are completely unwilling to see that. They push on your arm with greater or less force, and more or less sharply, and of course, the subject is willing to comply because it takes a conscious effort on the part of the subject to overcome his instinctive (yes, instinctive) impulse to conform.
 
Y'know, if skeptics started reacting to having their arm pushed by smacking the pusher ("hey, that was amazing, it was like an involuntary reaction"), the people using pushing as a technique to fool people might start to get a lot more cautious. :)
 
xtifr said:
Y'know, if skeptics started reacting to having their arm pushed by smacking the pusher ("hey, that was amazing, it was like an involuntary reaction"), the people using pushing as a technique to fool people might start to get a lot more cautious. :)
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Not only do I like your idea, but Cheech W. could do that way better even!!!
 
It's all about the angle of the arm pulling or pushing, the balance of the subject, and their willingness to comply, I suppose.

When I practiced martial arts, I learned to connect, or transfer balance to larger muscles when smaller muscles of the body were in use. Like the way a boxer doesn't throw a cross with his arm, he's really got quads, back, and abs in that punch if he needs it.
 
joesixpack said:
The thing I find so damned annoying about this "test" is that it is so completely subjective and people are completely unwilling to see that. They push on your arm with greater or less force, and more or less sharply, and of course, the subject is willing to comply because it takes a conscious effort on the part of the subject to overcome his instinctive (yes, instinctive) impulse to conform.
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the way they get you off balance is actually very clever
you stand on one leg arms out then all they do is either push down and towards your body which actually makes your balance better the harder you push
or the push down and away from your body which you can do with 1 finger and you will lose balance immediately
the best part is the person being tested cant tell the difference because the change is so subtle

it actually has nothing to do with the persons willingness to comply or the person doing the test using more or less force
 
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I Ratant said:
That is the process the "Power band" folks use to sell that thing.
I interrupted a lovely young lady who was going to take some members of the US Army for a ride. I told them that all that does is make your money their money... Feeling that ripping off members of our Armed Forces is a bad thing.
Click to expand...

Never do this.
The army can take care of themselves.
 
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