my tip -"Turtle and water buffalo" position also is a yichuan posture?

-- can be practic
ed on a pillow - see picture
========
Yiquan is modern style of Chinese internal martial art. It was created during th
e last centrury by the legendary master Wang Xiangzhai. It consists of several m
ain training methods - zhan zhuang (pole standing), shi li (testing of strength)
, fa li (release of power), moca bu (friction steps), shi sheng (testing of voic
e) , tui shou (pushing hands) and san shou (free fighting).
-----Yang Chengfu was an unrivaled martial artist, and one of his secret practices was
thought to
be the wu ji shi qi gong. The use of tai ji quan and yi quan as martial arts req
uires a great deal of
training and diligent practice. This can lead to internal strength, as opposed t
o external strength. This
has to do with learning how to shift one's weight, use one's central equilibrium
, and expand the body in
every direction as if a sphere.
==========
With the arms and shoulders, I find it much more effective to simply turn the el
bows outward. This opens the armpits and instantly increases qi flow. The actual
motion occurs in the shoulder joint. At first the palms will face to the rear,
but then you turn the palms inward, careful not to close the armpits or pull the
elbows inward or point them to the rear, and.... Wuji :-)
----------If I understand this video correctly, we are talking about Wuji pillar and stabi
lizing center pillar, and anything where the hands are not at the sides is not W
uji standing, but rather stabilizing center/Zhongding standing; however, they ar
e both zhan zhuang.
See especially at 5:44 when Chen Xiaowang takes the zhongding posture. He certa
inly appears to follow the points I mentioned earlier.
Chen Xiao Wang teaches standing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KxjA8fOJZ0
-----I asked Lam Kam Chen if I should be holding Huiyin up while standing and he repli
ed, "don't do anything with huiyin. You Westerners, hahahaha".
==========
One of the most difficult breathing techniques is the embryonic breathing , the es
sence of which is to ensure that the practitioner ceases to breathe with his lun
gs, while his heart starts to beat very much slower, and may eventually stop com
pletely. This type of breathing is needed for high levels of practice, when you
want to stay in a deep state of meditation for many days or weeks.
No, the moving standing part of my chi kung has absolutely no breathing exercise
s, except once in a while, as part of a certain movement, we will breath out wit
h the heart healing sound. I always breath with abdominal breathing, it's part

of life, not chi kung, but somehow my chi kung trained me to do it. Everyone sh
ould breath like Darth Vader except without all the noise.
===========
In Wong Kiew Kits book "the complete book of tai chi chuan" he attributes knee i
njury as a western phenomenon. He claims that in china knee injury is extremely
rare. He claims that the fundamental difference is that in traditional practice
the feet are always parallel. In many western traditions the the foot placement
is at 45 degree angles outwards. This is an addition from western medical scienc
e.
I verified this in my practices and placing the feet parallel seems to align the
knee and leg bones. It feels much better.
----------Wu taiji has parallel feet. Yang taiji does not.
---------------Sorry, I should be more specific.
In the taichi forms ones feet will end up in different directions based on the p
articular move.
However for the purpose of wuchi or horse stance In the Wong Kiew kit indicated
that they should be held with feet parallel. I believe that this is even practic
ed in yang style taichi. In Terrence Dunns video "Tai chi for health" he teaches
the yang forms. In the warmup exercises such as horse and wuchi stances, circli
ng and snake creeps through grass he indicates that the feet should be parallel.
========
Taikiken == the Japanese version of Yiquan
A brief history of Taikiken.
Kenichi Sawai's teacher, Wang Xiangzhai the founder of Yiquan, traveled througho
ut China in his younger years. He visited many masters along the way, including
Kuo Yun-shen who taught him Hsing-I.
Later on, Wang Xiangzhai combined all of his knowledge and skills to create Yiqu
an. It is often said that Yiquan or Taikiken, is one of most recently developed
forms of real combat.
Taikiken is the Japanese version of Yiquan, enriched with essential techniques a
nd principles of the different budo disciplines.
The founder of Taikiken, Master Kenichi Sawai was a direct student of Wang Xiang
zhai. After his return to Japan, Sawai sensei changed the Chinese name Yiquan in
to Taikiken (Taiki-ken, Taiki, I-Ken).
========
I was instructed in standing by my tai chi instructor,
he explained to line the acupoint's in the centre of the palm's with any of the
three energy centre's , navel,heart and brow,this stimulate's the flow of energy
through the meridian's therefore increasing the body's ability to absorb energy
from the enviroment.
I was also told to do vase breathing at the same time.
I remember doing standing for an hour a day for two month's and after only two w
eek's I noticed I was getting more static shock's than normal.

STANDING WORK'S !
============
Do You Make This Zhan Zhuang Mistake?
Tags: Posture, yiquan, zhan zhuang
9 Comments
Standing Like a Tree
Yao Chengguang performs zhan zhaung
Even an exercise as simple as zhan zhuang has its subtle points, the ignorance o
f which may hinder your progress in wushu. Wang Xiangzhai, the founder of Yiquan
and a master of zhanzhuang, said:
We must, first and foremost, avoid the use of clumsy force, in body and in m
ind. Using this force makes the qi stagnant. When the qi is stagnant, than the y
i stops; when the yi stops, than the spirit is broken.
To be sure, this is good advice, but even the greenest student is familiar with
this principle of no-force. So, instead of dwelling on that, I would like to exa
mine a more specific problem.
Zhan zhuang practice typically begins with wuji zhuang, a balanced posture with
arms down at the sides of the body. A transition into cheng bao zhuang ( Embracing
the Ball Stance) consists of raising the arms up and forward. This action shifts
your center of gravity forwards, and unless you compensate for this shift with
another part of your body, you will immediately topple over.
The easiest way to compensate for this forward shift is to move another part of
your body backwards: butt, back, or head. This type of adjustment may seem corre
ct, because you can thereby maintain your balance without much effort. But it is
wrong; it defies the basic requirement of a straight back and impairs circulati
on. Moreover, these adjustments make it difficult to receive and issue force.
'Taming the Tiger' stance
Fuhuzhuang
( Taming the Tiger Stance)
Instead, accept that when you adopt different postures with the arms, you must e
ngage different muscles in the legs and back to remain upright. At first, this w
ill feel uncomfortable, as it increases the load on your entire body; neverthele
ss, it is correct. This discomfort does not necessarily mean you have violated t
he principle of no-force; rather, it simply shows that your body is not yet stro
ng enough.
One of the signature benefits of zhan zhuang practice is development of hunyuan
li, or unified martial force. To gain this benefit to the fullest degree, be sur
e to practice with your whole body.
------

Great point to the Zhan Zhuang method of generating neijing.

The greater the extent one can achieve
release of Nei Jing force.

song and minize the use of

Li , the greater the

http://neigong.net/2009/07/08/the-way-to-nurture-the-force-of-nei-jing/
============
Speed Of Qi Flow Secret To Zhan Zhuang (self.taijiquan)
submitted 16 days ago by Mordriel-1
The secret to stillness in standing tree is not in standing still and trying to
think of nothing. It is actually in the speed of intent of moving the chi. Chi f
low must be fast and yet it must not be generated by imagining chi waves through
one's arms, for if one imagines a wave chi is dim before the wave and after the
wave. Use your intent to guide chi to a destination-intend it to flow but don't
push it, for mind pushes chi-want is the push. There is no effort.
Use this in a fight and find that your chi is flowing and sensing from the right
directions in absolute speed even in confusion in drill simulations. Your arms
should not be tired or your joints fidgety or sore or stagnant because what is m
oving and calm and sensing is the chi not the body.

Realization-try it yourself-do not focus on your physical organs-focus on your y

i directing your qi-and use this to put your physical limbs into relaxation. Rel
axation is not such that you are aware of your limb. Relaxation is such that you
are aware of the qi flowing through your limbs such that you do not have to str
ess mental concentration on your limbs. This qi is also the intention of the pro
trusion and direction the limb reaches out in. Focus on it, and it will show you
where to move qi.
==============
I have been practicing Pranayama and sitting meditation daily for three years no
w.
I noticed that for months on a row I kept entering into a mental slumber, sleepi
ness process, without alot of benefits.
After starting practicing Zhan Zhuang, everything changed. I practice standing m
editation for about 1hr - 1hr 30min at night and sitting meditation on the morni
ngs. The result is incredible, sometimes I need to stop the sitting meditation e
arlear due to excessive energy.
I feel very lucky to findout about the standing meditation. Really nice. A true
complementary practice to sitting meditation.
Sometimes after a good session, some frieds have said to me that they are able t
o see auras and even feel extre-physical entities. (He believed that he attracte
d the spirit because his energy got strong.)
Every day of practice is a new discovery. New energy patterns. New insights into
the practice and into my energetic nature.
I read master kam lam chuens books and videos on youtube.
I practice holding the belly, holding the ball on the chest, arms spread oon sid
es and holding um heaven. Will try other ones after some more weeks who knows.

I am still a newbie on zhan zhuang, but it is very powerful for me.

As an overall formula though, I would first master breathing processes such as n
adi shodhana pranayama (on the morning) with high retention periods. That certai
nly will activate your energy. After that I would start to add on zhan zhuandg p
ractice at night. I recomend this because it is the way I did it.
I thought I was going insane, for months on a row everything was constantly spin
ning around me. I was totaly spaced out, I couldn't walk on a straing line, alwa
ys tilting to my left. I didn't know what was happening.
So I started practicing zhan zhuang at night, after some months I discovered how
to reallly STAY STILL, like a rock, a mountain, And a miracle happened. my body
stayed still, the spinning sensation stopped and all of a sudden a spiraling en
ergy current started moving round my body like a snake, i finaly separated the e
nergy from my body, and it was very pleasent. I ended up discovering also that t
houghts are formed by energy, a kind of subtle matter on top of the head, so I l
earned how to stop the thought process, so the "energy" ontop of my head to get
loose and start spiraling around my body in the most fantastic spiral moving pat
terns, often spirling down my left leg into the ground.
The Pranayama activated the energy currents and the standing meditation gave the
last "pull" to further unlock. Incredible.
those experiences are the latest ones I had, but every week or so I discover new
ones, truly amazing..
I agree with DAO rain tao... an empty mind is totally necessary for the new expe
riences. and.... STAND STILL, ROCK STEADY...
-------Lam Kam Chuen's books (the way of energy and The way of power) are my Zhang Zhua
ng bible with little adjustment based on my personal energetic structure.
Basically I work on each position until I can reach a certain level of mastery a
nd then I use that same position as "standard stance for meditation" (as full lo
tus is for traditional zenists).
The open secret is to cultivate zen mind in zhang zhuang. This gives faster and
deeper results than any other approach (except breath retention).
If you don't like zen mind because you claim to be a daoist, then you can probab
ly find an equivalent meditation in daoist tradition. :-)
----------Zhan Zhuang shouldn't be pulling your qi up to your head :blink: ???
I'm not sure which type you are practicing, but your qi will only be going up if
you are leading it up through subtle alignment and the way you hold the body.
A core and foundational energetic aspect of standing is that you want to maintai
n a central focus on dantian, with a light peripheral focus on baihui, and a str
onger peripheral focus on yongquan. This sounds more complicated than it is ;)
If you want to sink your qi, you want an awareness of yongquan, but if you lose
awareness of the other end it doesn't sink so well. A focus on dantian is neutra
l, and allows storage.

----------Muscle pain is okay, joint pain NEVER is.

Opening the knee joint is quite easy, and certainly easily shown, but is quite h
ard to describe in 'e-mail' format :( So please bear with me. First I want you t
o play with your hand, wrist and forearm and get a feeling for something. It wil
l be much easier to get this with the upper limb first ;).
Simply hold the forearm up vertically, slowly and gently move the wrist back and
forth and find a good neutral balance point to balance your hand on top of the
forearm. Once you've done that, slowly extend the fingers up towards the ceiling
. Don't stretch them, extend them from the palm. Then I want you to feel your fi
ngertips and feel the inside of each finger sinking and draining downwards. Feel
this drain into the hand, don't worry if certain parts don't want to get involv
ed. Continue this sinking feeling all the way down to your elbow. The arm should
not have moved. This is feeling an internal shift inside.
Once you can drain down to the elbow, move your awareness back from the elbow up
wards allowing the outside of the arm to open and extend slightly more, keep thi
s opening feeling going until you reach the fingertips, see how much easier your
arm, hand, and fingers extended. Play back and forth. Each benefits and aids in
the other.
Sit in a chair, put your feet as you would if you were standing. Do the same thi
ng but from your knees down to yongquan and your toes. Sink the weight downwards
, inside, feel it, don't visualise it or imagine it, feel it in your body. Once
drained down, press into the floor slightly, and allow an extension like you fel
t in the arm move up through the foot, ankle, shin and calf into and ideally thr
ough the knee. Then drain back down again. Play back and forth.
If you do this correctly you will begin to engage the natural 'lengthening' of t
he soft tissues of the body (eventually going into yin/yang tissues etc), and yo
u will begin to release open the joints properly. There is much more to it, but
this is stage 101.
Did you find your feet opened more? your ankles? It is easier to do this without
the whole body weight on them.
Now stand up. Same thing, from the knees drain down into and through the ankles
and feet. Allow the back of the heel to press slightly into the floor. Feel how
this sets up a reciprocal feeling in the back of the knee. You should feel an 'o
pening' or light 'stretch' in the back of the knee. Now gently circle the ankle
joint, search for the centre, where your body weight falls cleanly through, then
do the same for the knee. Repeat the back and forth extending with a slight pre
ss, draining/sinking down.
This is eventually done whole bodily and will lead to some interesting things.
-----------Raising qi is not the same as 'pulling qi' to or into the head.
It doesn't matter whether you are standing or sitting or whatever shape you take
. Your energy-body should FILL the space between heaven and earth. That means ri
sing and sinking, and or expanding, however you want to see it.

However no practice aims to PULL qi to the head causing highblood pressure. None
.
Dantian is a central focus point that does not cause qi to rise. However this is
NOT in contradiction to what you said above. It does however cause qi to sink,
and build in dantian, and yes as the channels open and the qi builds, the body f
ills up and the qi reaches both heaven and earth. And is also filled from heaven
and earth. This is different to focusing in the head and raising the qi from th
e feet upwards. When you have a central focus, the qi will still go up and down,
but overall is balanced. Like wise having the focal point at the feet draws the
qi all the way down.
You can't sink ALL your qi, it's impossible. You can't raise ALL your qi it is a
lso impossible. But you can create a dramatic difference between the two, and th
ere are times when this is advocated or used. But more common is the central foc
us. Clearing the qi downwards which opens the energy-body causing a reciprocal u
pward flow, is a very different way of getting qi to rise. The rise is 'natural'
.
However, this daoist neigong is not what most are putting within their standing
practice. Some martial artists do this, others do not.
----------How do you know when your LDT is filled?
You'll know ;)
But 'filled' always seems a bit erroneous to me. The Daoist neigong is to have y
our qi sink from above to pour into the field/dantian from above (it expands and
opens hence 'filling'), spill this out and down so that it pours into earth, wa
it, no wait, wait, ah there is is, it rises back up and pours into field/dantian
from below. Heaven and Earth and Man. As the dantian continues to be fed, it us
ually will kickstart the experience of various orbits or channels opening furthe
r and so forth as described by Turtle shell.
=============
"The tongue is placed into the roof of the mouth known as the 'Magpie Bridge', w
hich acts as a kind of switch which completes the energy circuit so that too muc
h energy cannot build up in the head which can lead to headaches or even halluci
nations."
========
If you're a brainy type and tend to anger, this is why you feel the qi rising to
your head. It is your tendency to be in your head and thoughts. Simply standing
still without the proper internal attitude will not be any different than what
you do the rest of your day. You will stay in your head. Since you are physicall
y still, the thoughts and energy in your head will be emphasized. No surprise yo
ur blood pressure rises. Daoist practices, as a rule, take you out of your head
(thoughts) and bring your awareness into the body (and eventually beyond but by
then beyond has lost it's meaning). A skillful standing practice could be a grea
t way to balance your tendency to be in your head but it's important to do it pr
operly.
If you're new to standing meditation, here is one approach. I find this works we
ll for most students.

1. ???? - qi chen dan tian - qi sinks to dan tian. This is the foundation. No ne
ed to worry about anything else but allowing the breath to gradually deepen and
lengthen and allow your qi/awareness to sink to the lower dan tian. It's a good
practice to link the sinking of the qi to dan tian to the exhalation in the begi
nning. Women need to be careful with this as it can bring too much focus to the
pelvis. I've been told that some of the masters have women focus more on the mid
dle dan tian, especially when they are menstruating.
2. Allow the body to move as needed to be comfortable and natural. Your posture
will gradually improve with time and the body will find itself through adjustmen
t. It's important to allow this adjustment to occur. Mostly the movement will be
subtle and small, sometimes big and dramatic. No need to force it or look for i
t but don't fight it either. Adjust your feet and knees as needed for comfort. I
f the knees get sore, grip the ground very lightly with the toes. You may experi
ence swaying, shudders, chills, yawning, belching, shaking, bending, jerking, sp
iraling, all kinds of stuff. It's not important, it's the body working through s
tuff, getting used to feeling itself and being the center of attention.
3. Don't fight the thoughts, don't try to force them out, notice when your atten
tion is on the thoughts and lovingly remind yourself to attend to the breath and
sink qi to dan tian. The mind will not be empty for long, watch the thoughts co
me and go, no need to add to them, no need to beat yourself up over their presen
ce, they are the nature of your thinking mind. When you find yourself on the tho
ught train, just return to the breath and sink qi to dan tian. I've come to than
k them for doing so much to try and keep me safe and happy when they crop up. Th
en I return to my practice.
Three qualities should be present when you stand - Song ?, Jing ?, and Zi Ran ??
They're generally mentioned when discussing Taiji forms but are important in st
anding. They mean relaxed, tranquil, and natural. Another aspect to qi cultivati
on that I find very helpful is to look at qi a bit differently. This is heresy t
o some and is a product of my own practice and experience. Most people use the a
nalogy of qi being something they can gather, gain, lose, store, use, and so on.
They speak of qi as if it were some quantity of stuff and the dan tian as a phy
sical bank for holding the stuff. Whether or not this is accurate, I find it to
bring a quality of mind that can be limiting or even counterproductive. I like t
o take the position that qi is always already there. It is what I am and what ev
erything already is. It already fully pervades and fills me and yet I can never
contain it. It moves freely through me like water through an eddy, I am that but
do not keep or store it. With this frame of mind, I approach qi cultivation as
a process of becoming progressively more sensitive to what I am and getting to k
now the fabric of my being at deeper levels through sensitivity and awareness. C
ertainly behaviors can affect the quality and intensity of "my qi" (clean air, p
ure water, and nutritious food have their benefits), but "having more qi" is abo
ut being more directly and thoroughly connected between awareness and manifestat
ion rather than filling an imaginary organ with an imaginary substance. Again, j
ust a different perspective you could find useful.
In my experience, most people can easily stand for 15 - 20 minutes. Beyond that
the physical body starts to complain. If you follow the method I outlined above,
it is fairly easy for most students to achieve 30 - 60 minutes of standing prac
tice in a matter of months. I think a consistent practice of modest, comfortable
duration (daily or nearly so) is more important than infrequent, uncomfortable,
marathon sessions. Over time you will work through a variety of different exper
iences and revelations. It is a very slow and painstaking process that requires
patience and diligence. It can't be forced. Forcing yourself to stand for an hou
r when you're not ready will cause physical pain, tension, and ultimately be cou
nterproductive. It needs to be a patient search for the mysterious and subtle...
not a forced march.

------------I never involved mental activity into ZZ, sometimes I'd just watch TV or a movie
and just standing ~ it was an experiment that proved that at least to me ZZ is
about standing (with the right adjustments though) period.
I remembered something I read in a book about a Taiji master's child, that would
confess: father makes me stand like this everyday for an hour, and I have to co
mply else he just beats me. Haha. Do you imagine that kid focusing of specific p
oints and breathing patterns? But his father knew, he just had to stand, as a tr
ee, and the inner strenght will grow with time.
I have reasons to suspect that is the way most of the grand masters of Taiji or
Wushu in China learned as kids :)
And as kids, their training would be measured Not in minutes, but in Chinese hou
rs, that is, cycles of two hours.
The idea of ?? in the Chinese tradition is really tough and harsh training, our
Western attitude is way way too mild.
Standing for 5 -20 minutes in ??, in China...? Is that a joke? But we here think
that's how we're 'training' to become immortals or have superpowers.
============
But standing meditation is a good way to build up qi right?
-----------When I started practicing Zhan Zhuang, my Shifu told me to do it from 5.00 until
l 7.00 a.m. every day.
I stood for 2 hours every day, and sometimes 3-4 hours pauseless.
I often stood outdoors, even when the temperature was below zero.
In the beginning, it was very hard to stand, but when the circulation of my Qi b
ecame better, my body never felt discomfort.

I don't recommend you to do the same as me, because I was practising with Shifu
and he told me how I must train.
----------Is it proper to practice zhan zhuang at Zi hour (part: 11 pm to midnight) or Hai
hour (9 pm to 11 pm)?

It's the best time for me (before midnight), but Hua-Ching Ni wrote that "All im
portant spiritual energy cultivation occurs during the yang part of the cycle" (
between midnight and noon) and "The best time for self-cultivation is in the ea
rly morning when yang energy is not yet too strong". Is it a waste of time to pr
acice zhan zhuang before midnight, before bedtime?
--------it will also be good, but the best time for Zhan zhuang from 5.00 till 7.00 a.m.
------I can vouch for the power of the Wu Chi stand. I have been practicing for 5 mont

hs and I am up to 30 minutes. I am a 62 year old man weighing 345 pounds

honest
but I feel 20 years younger. My tendonitis is getting better and my sex drive is
much stronger. I m hooked for life.
I learned the basics from Bruce Frantzis's I Chuan DVD set, part of his Xing-I d
ocumentation. Lam Kam Chuen's books and DVD are basically the same thing. You do
not need to be excruciatingly correct, in my experience, to get great benefits
from this. All I do is the most basic stand, hands at sides. Following Bruce's l
ead, at first I focussed obsessively on my internal state, body feelings, chi mo
vement, etc. Then I broke down and watched X-Men movies. No difference I can fee
l/see. But try watching Vanilla Sky - *that* should wake you up.
Take my advice and don t wait until you re a fat old man like me
start standing toda
y, and keep it up, every single day, even if it s only five minutes. You WILL feel
your chi move and your sinking will improve like crazy, until you feel somethin
g like the Amazon river running from your head to your feet. Do it!!!
================
The human body "opens and closes" like tao. ZZ is a "closed" externally, "open"
internally posture. To accomplish its goal, i.e. the opening of the inner real
ms, you use the yin principle on the level of "subtle energetics" and this is ac
complished by providing the correct yin structure at the level of gross anatomy.
The major regulator of the opening-closing of "subtle energetics" is the mingm
en, at the back and center of the human body. Anatomically, it is the area of t
he spine with major nerves connecting to all major internal organs of the body.
Now, the somatic awareness of this opening-closing master gate, known as The Ga
te of Life, is generally impossible to acquire unless the area is first brought
into awareness as capable of opening and closing.

THIS is accomplished with the aid and guidance of the tailbone. The moving of t
he tailbone forward opens the mingmen, the pointing down keeps it in a position
that can be likened to the "mysterious border" separating yin and yang, ready to
go either way without committing; and pointing it slightly back closes the ming
men. In MA, this is used to return and store the qi before the next move. (Als
o in correct walking, when the tailbone is subtly back-forward mobile at every s
tep, like a fish tail.) In ZZ, pointing it slightly back closes the whole yin s
tructure, closes the mingmen so there's no leaking of qi and it can start accumu
lating and moving inside. If it's kept open, i.e. with the tailbone pointing fo
rward, it will leak. In fact, it leaks continuously from that point because Wes
terners sleep on soft surfaces -- but that's for another discussion... the poin
t being that this is part of the fundamentals and applicable to everything -- MA
, qigong, walking, sleeping, sitting, or as the sage put it, "to be human, you n
eed to master four things -- stand like a human, walk like a human, sit like a h
uman, lie down like a human." :)
In Ken Cohen's book on qigong, there's a picture comparing the posture of ZZ to
the posture of a soldier in the army, and there's a very good explanation of the
differences. Both involve discipline and control, but the body is arranged and
used in completely different, opposite ways, because ZZ trains your self-contro
l toward your internally set goals, while the army pose closes you to yourself a
nd opens you to external control.
When I used to stand ZZ, I found the correct dynamics by doing a funky exercise
on the side -- you can safely try this at home. Take a raw egg and stand it on
end.

Don't use the glue. :D You have to find the subtle balance -- it will be loo
king for it via those very tiny motions in its "tailbone" SC is talking about -but that's stage one. Stage two -- perfect balance -- is what stops the extern
al motions completely, however subtle -- and that's when the internal motion kic
ks in.
-------only have a moment but I want to to jump in and clarify something -- when I "rea
lly" practice standing still, ZZ, i'm not really still. I was taught that the pe
lvis is always in motion, softly, so subtle as to be imperceivable to an observe
r, and that movement moves migmen through the yin and yang cycles that Tm mentio
ns, and the wave motion that was mentioned previously. Lam Kam Chen does this, to
o, but doesn't talk about it or write about it. It isn't really the tailbone, it
's weil that is active. The idea of the tailbone is just a way of making it easie
r to grasp, and integrate.
You can do the same thing by pulling the pelvic bone upward via the abdominal mu
scles (as a training method, a way of activating the motion, but not as a perman
ent situation).
This is one of the htings that, as Chang indicated, really goes too far for text
descriptions
One last thing before bed... The subtle movement I described dissolves at some p
oint into the purely energetic. It's a progression. The smaller the physical mov
ement the bigger the energetic. Like observing a mountain from base to peak. The
less base there is, the more light you see. But the mountain is there even when
all you can is sky. I'm sure Taomeow can describe it more competently, and I ho
pe she does :-)
---------This is fantastic! TM, you have explained something I have been noticing concern
ing the MingMen. Not to put things too off topic, this region moves with breathi
ng, opening/closing, and should be doing the same during sex. The orgasmic refle
x as reich said.
During reverse breathing, we switch when we open and close. [my tip>>> SO IN ZH
AN ZHUANG IF THE TAIL BONE IS TUCKED IN, HAVE TO DO REVERSE BREATHING??]
When I work with sexual energy during sex, the closing of the MingMen is what tr
uly moves that substance inwards. If my MingMen is open, say by bending forward,
its a struggle. If it is closed, like in yoga's cobra posture, its near effortl
ess.
I do not have much experience with ZZ, I wanted to point out the wide applicatio
ns of this fundamental..
----------------If I understand this video correctly, we are talking about Wuji pillar and stabi
lizing center pillar, and anything where the hands are not at the sides is not W
uji standing, but rather stabilizing center/Zhongding standing; however, they ar
e both zhan zhuang.
See especially at 5:44 when Chen Xiaowang takes the zhongding posture. He certa

inly appears to follow the points I mentioned earlier.

Chen Xiao Wang teaches standing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KxjA8fOJZ0
----------Well, the subtitles go too fast and I don't want to dedicate any more time to th
is, but no, he's not grabbing the ground with his toes, he specifically shows ho
w not to point the tailbone forward at 1:29, he most definitely is not pulling t
he buttocks in and up, he tells the student not to lower his eyes, and so on and
so forth. I guess the only point of dispute, which is not worth disputing howe
ver, could be the name -- the term ZZ doubles up as the generic one which can ap
ply to many standing meditations, besides referring specifically to the wuji pil
lar. I thought we were talking about the latter and had the same pose in mind - if not, well, I'm still talking fundamentals, for which there's multiple appli
cations, and I still believe they are pretty much the same for all applications.
As for assorted applications -- e.g., a Longmen Pai instructor in Beijing taug
ht me a harder version of this one (for which I couldn't find a pic, nor anyone
in the US who's ever seen it):
-------Well, he says not to push the entire hips forward, creating a lopsided posture w
here the back is leaning backwards. This disconnects the flow. Everything shou
ld be straight, which it still can, perhaps even more so, when tucking in the co
ccyx.
The students eyes are closed, so if they are open a little bit, they've got to b
e lowered, I would say.
Also, the part I was referring to is all after about 5:25 when he talks about zo
ngding zhuan in contrast to Wuji zhuan. This is where things begin to change.
In the "sunken posture," which is more moving, "Taiji follows Wuji.. dantien rev
olves back and forth, fold and move the chest to shape the core of the dantien."
Their shoulders appear to be pulled slightly forward as well. By slightly for
ward, I mean that in a loose stance, the angle of the shoulders from the chest g
oes slightly back. When you relax the trapezius muscles, they come forward a bi
t, making them more perpendicular to the chest.
Earlier I said bringing the shoulders forward relaxes these muscles, but the rev
erse order works too, relaxing the muscles to let the shoulder fall forward a bi
t. I can see how this would be tough on the heart though, while useful for comb
at purposes.
-------I asked Lam Kam Chen if I should be holding Huiyin up while standing and he repli
ed, "don't do anything with huiyin. You Westerners, hahahaha".

===========
Bagua zhan zhuang practice:
New York Internal Arts - 12 Posture Zhan Zhuang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMBkz6b1h9E

============
Try incorporating hyper slow movement in your routine. If you have 20 min availa
ble, then down 10 min to a deep horse stance posture with arms embracing tree an
d up 10 min. Build it up because this exercise is very, very tough on the mind.
You can start with one minute down and one up.
Use a timer to help you with this (and also avoid cheating).
Another variation would be going down and up doing pistol squats if you can mana
ge doing them or near pistol, no need to go that deep. It works wonders on the W
ood and Water meridians (and corresponding organs), which are typically bogged w
ith mental detritus.
Note: Borrowed from the book "Opening the Dragon Gate."
=============
Oh, and you don't want to lower your eyes. And you don't want to do anything wi
th your lower dantien. ZZ is a wuwei type meditation, you just do nothing at al
l.
======
"open crotch bend knee" -- means, opening the crotch causes the knees to bend. W
ell, that's how my teachers would explain it anyway.
=========
If you do "hugging the tree," it helps to imagine literally giving some love
to a tree with a nice big hug when you take position.

edit: plus trees deserve some love. I have yet to learn "tree gong," but p
erhaps it's in my future.
========
You talk about remaining active. One of the ways I do that (I think) is fee
ling a rubber band connected to the back of head (& spine) gently and continual
ly lifting up. One at my spines base, gently and continually pulling down. Tw
o by my shoulders gently pulling them apart, which expands my chest and keeps my
arms a little out, away from my body.
Does that make sense?

I tried to 'install" your rubber bands for a moment and found that I would adjus
t them a bit. You don't want the vertical one to be angled backward, so don't p
ut it at the back of the head -- instead, let it pass inside and emerge at the t
op of the head. Your body settles grounding into the earth, while your spirit se
ttles grounding into heaven -- the spirit is uplifted. So your rubber band pull
s down and up from the mingmen, and that's where your "heaven and earth" separat
e and unite (and create space for "life" to dwell).
The horizontal one shoulder to shoulder may interfere with the rounding of the s
tructure -- which is rounded at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, back, etc.
-- although not necessarily visibly -- so if you want to go with rubber bands,
you may want to install them at every joint, one inside the shoulder, one inside

the elbow, one inside the wrist. Instead of pulling shoulder to shoulder horiz
ontally, you want a pull that separates each joint in a way similar to what you
did with the spine -- into "heaven and earth," creating space in between, the he
ad of each joint pulling slightly away from the socket. When this extends all t
he way to every joint of every finger, qi flows and circulates like water, unimp
eded.
=========
For posture, like TM says, all good except make sure your chin isn't rising and
your shoulders are relaxed. I don't think 'rounded' shoulders is a good goal in
itself. To find shoulder position, go through the extremes of pushing them forwa
rd, and pulling them back, then settle into the comfortable middle. Let the arms
hang loosely and turn the points of the elbows gently outward. Attach your rubb
er bands to the tips of the elbows. Don't think about the shoulders, you'll only
tense them up.
There's an exercise (I learned during a a few "Shaolin White Crane" workshops) t
hat really helps to settle things with the shoulders. Kind of too much to go int
o here but basically, roll the arms to the front, briging the backs of the hands
together. You'll feel the shoulder blades open, and the shoulder themselves wil
l be shifted unnaturally forward, extremely rounded, you could say.
Then open the hands, roll the arms outward so the palm are facing outward or eve
n angled to the rear. The chest will open, the shoulder blades will pinch togeth
er, and make sure that the shoulders are going downward (you should maintain a l
ong neck, like a ballerina).
Those are the extremes.
Move fluidly from one to the other. Breathe through the movemt. Let the movement
become gentler and gentler, until it settles in the middle. Make note of that p
osition, and of that feeling. Call it up at will (but then do the elbows outward
thing, to opent the armpit kuas).
There are a lot of small details missing in my description, but I think you can
get them sorted out.
Migmen/Qihai play a central role in the movement, btw. That's a clue :-)
=========
Folks who made this (20 mins/day) their staple practice always demonstrated high
ly robust health to me, and a lesser need for sleep than other people.
======
Master Han whose father was one of Wang Xiangzhai most long standing students (s
orry pun intended) has also come to the insight that people need more movement a
nd rather than stressing holding postures for long stretches puts emphasis on be
ing able to stand holding the body's "natural state". That if you stand while n
ot being in the natural state it doesn't do much good. The natural state is one
of condensing and combing the upper and lower body into the dan tien area while
also being aware and expanded from the center to the fingers. It may be that s
omeone can hold that state only for a few minutes so then one moves to the next
of the eight postures and hold the state there and so on also trying to hold it
in the movement. Having touched hands with Master Han and some of his advanced s
tudents I can attest to their very skilled level in expressing jin.

===========
walker, if something doesn't work for you, drop it and find a method that does.
Standing meditation never did it for me (after 8 years of practice, sure I manag
ed to stand for 1 hour but nothing compared to Bagua). Other practitioners have
their own meditation and practice systems which work quite well for them. Stick
to what it works for you and with patience and determination, you shall succeed.

The OP is asking for how to increase the duration of his practice, this means he
has encountered an internal block. The best method to dissolve it is by incorpo
rating external movement, let it be IMA, walking meditation or anything else tha
t might inspire him. Carrying on with the same thing over and over again won't d
issolve the block.
============
I believe sitting, standing, and moving are all important, for different reasons
. Personally I find standing to be quite profound, for I feel more firmly rooted
between heaven and earth, and my four limbs are more engaged than I am able to
accomplish with sitting at this point. It is the depth of my standing and sittin
g that most directly results in transformation within my moving work.
The moving work however is most helpful (for me) in not just dissolving blockage
s, but in getting the energy to move in a natural circular way. But perhaps I ju
st don't stand enough. I believe blockages can be dissolved via standing on a de
ep level, especially when different arm positions are used, and taiji post stanc
es, and that moving can dissolve them more quickly but on a surface level, less
deeply, but without as much mental perseverance/patience required. Silk reeling
exercises are incredibly effective at opening the joints and getting the qi to s
piral from the limbs to the center. The spiraling, invisible feel of my energy s
ometimes after circle walking and bagua is just unlike anything else.
Ultimately everything must connect to wuji, and it is very difficult to achieve
this in movement. Mostly because in movement it is difficult to maintain stillne
ss. Stillness strengthens the mind. And even where the moving may help with diss
olving blockages it may not be as effective at sealing leaks as standing.
=============