We have seen that most aspects of Asian martial arts also existed in Europe, doubtless for the simple reason that human beings, with identical faculties of reasoning, and similar direct experiences would logically come to the same basic conclusions.
In Asia, martial arts were also heavily associated with theories and practices concerning the manipulation of Chi.
Now, Chi Kung (the Chinese name for the whole science of Chi practices) spread with Buddhism, and later Taoism, which obviously were not present in Medieval or Renaissance Europe.
However, Chi Kung, stripped of it's religious overtones, is merely the use of visualization to manipulate the electromagnetic energy fields of the body, and use of breathing excercises to control the Ph balance of the blood. In these to guises it has been in the present day scientifically studied and measured, leading to the increased use of Asian medical practices in modern Western medicine, and to the discovery of such techniques as the use of electrical stimulation to cuase broken bones to knit faster.
Renaissance and Medieval Europeans obviously had many esoteric traditions of their own, several of which involved visualization. And, clearly they had the same inherent capacity to control their breathing if they so desired. Further, if we assume that European culture was at least the equal of Asian culture in sophistication (and I think few here would dispute that), then it seems logical to assume their esoteric and/or scientific practices were equal in sophistication.
I know that in the early 19th century Dr. Mesmer of Austria developed a body of practices which seem identical to parts of Asian Chi-based medical practices, without the religious flavour.
Given all of that, here is my question: Is anyone aware of any equivelent body of visualization and breathing techniques, used to increase lethality, improve physical and mental capabilities, or overall fitness and health, be it developed in the context of a European esoteric tradition (whether Christian, Hermatic, Gnostic, Rosicrucian, or Alchemical in origin), or simply one developed secularly as a scientific or practical system, which was associated with any European martial arts in the way that it was in Asia?
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