Standing meditation

[Greenwood]

Am doing more one-legged standing meditation. Notice tightness in weighted foot which leads to calf tension etc. Tension in toes gripping floor and outside edge of foot. Any thoughts on how to keep foot muscles soft in one-legged standing posture? Thanks for your help.

[Dave C.]

One legged postures like xingyi's santishi use a different kind of power than two-legged postures like the zhanzhuang "holding the ball" posture. The difference is in being single weighted versus double weighted. One is about stability and the other more directly leads to movement.

For single leg training, I would recommend lots of self-massage and stretching. Hamstrings, calves, and quads all need to be fairly flexible or you'll get lots of tightness out of the training.

I would also come up in your stance until you can relax more with it. Ease down only as much as your relaxation will allow.

But whatever you do, don't give it up. I think it's even better than double weighted stancework.

Hope that helps.

[joeblast]

relax your toes! one other thing that might help is some postures standing on the balls of your feet, that should help build the ankles a bit.

[Greenwood]

Thanks, David. Have realized that the tension originates in my ankles and is noticed in my feet. Going to try the massage idea before hand. Think you've got a good point there. Greenwood

[Lo Han]

Hello Greenwood,

I used to have the same problem. My problem was that in trying to keep my blance in the one-legged posture, that the muscles in my legs/ankles/etc were tightening up and being counter productive to the whole exercise. I was just trying too hard.

So...

1. relax and sink, especially the shoulders
2. focus on the dantien and sink, relax
3. I have found that you don't need to focus so much on the rooting and gripping of the Earth with the toes, too much mental activity in qigong practice leads to tension and problems. So if you just relax and sink the rooting and gripping will take place naturally.
4. correct posture and relaxing, then the rest will naturally fall into place, next thing you know you can go for an hour easy.
5. remember in relaxing that you should NOT go ragdoll. keep the body firm and steady, but let go of the excess muscular tension
6. I think that if you practice and adhere to the principles that you will go far.

-Lo Han

[je murin]

I have a different question.
Can we do wai dan (Da Mo's 12 forms for instance) concentrating on and lifting just one hand? I feel the chi (or at least I hope that's chi) in my right hand much more than in my left one, so I started, to do the standing forms with the left first, concentrate on that first and add later my right, so I can arrange the position better because the right overrules the left always. I feel this very unbalanced and I want to compenstae thisway.

thanks for your answer

[Lo Han]

Hello Je Murin,

I am not familiar with the exercises that you speak of, but in general,
having a stronger feeling of Chi on one side versus the other is very common and natural in the beginning. So I do not think that you should change the exercise (if I understand correctly that it what you mean) just to balance out energy flow. Just keep practicing the exercise as it is intented and gradually things will balance themselves out naturally.

p.s. doing the standing post of embrace the tree is a great exercise to balance out the sensations of chi that you are describing.

Keep practicing hard,
Lo han

[Dvivid]

Start using your left hand to do stuff, like unlocking doors, or writing. Its fun, and it builds up the right side of the brain and the connection between the hemispheres.

[je murin]

Yes, it should balancing out itself naturally, I'm a bit concerned though. There is an old saying: the weak goes weaker and the strong stronger.
the mouse is already in my left hand for a couple of months now anyway
I'm trying, but I'll have to try harder I presume

[joeblast]

Start using your left hand to do stuff, like unlocking doors, or writing. Its fun, and it builds up the right side of the brain and the connection between the hemispheres.

ya really want to make it interesting, start brushing your teeth and wiping your @$$ left handed

[Dvivid]

Among other things...

[joeblast]

like hitting a golf ball

[bruceg]

Hi

To kind of piggyback on this topic, I've never been very sure about the exact position of the feet (and for that matter the hips) when doing this type of standing meditation. I've studied the photo of Dr Yang doing it in the Back Pain Relief book but I'm still not clear. The way I do it the feet start off at 90 degrees to each other with the heels touching, then I move one foot forward about a foot length and rest the toes gently on the floor. Is this right?

Thanks.

[lilman]

The positioning of the feet is not that important, its the quality of the practice itself and the time practicing it. The more you can practice the better. I personally ussually have my feet at 45 degree angles to my center, depending on the posture. Whatever makes your legs more comfortable.
At the beginning you will be developing your legs so in order to concentrate on the practice, you need to find your comfortable positioning, and the best posture for your practice. Also your wieght should be evenly distributed over your feet/rooted foot, and your root must come from your bubbling well. I also suggest clearing your mind and putting your attention at your Lower Dan Tian and just stand. Do not try to lead Qi. Also use more than one posture.
Some good books that mention more than one posture are Empty Force by Paul Dong, and The Ultimate Guide to Tai Chi, which was made by inside kung fu. The Tao of Tai Chi Chuan by Jou Tsung Hua touches on the subject. It also mentions EVERY taiji posture can be used for Standing on Stake. As a matter of fact, some masters make thier students pause during the form at every posture for a few minutes, to develop jing in that posture, and root and stability for every movement. Of course it will greatly increase the time you spend on the form, but it will definately be beneficial.
Then on the issue of one side feeling Qi more than the other, it may be that one of your balances are off. We all have 2 balances, a physical and a mental. Some say we have a physical and a spiritual. First I would suggest standing in a small horse stance where legs are a little over shoulder width apart. try to line up your nose, solar plexus and Lower Dan Tian, and the exact center of both feet. It will take a little while, but once you get it perfect, this will give you your physical center, and correct some postural imbalances. Then you have to find your spiritual center which is a LOT harder. Imagine your 3 Dan Tian's as dots, try to line them up, then imagine a straight line from your Bai Hui, to your Upper Dan Tian, down to your Middle Dan Tian, down your your Lower Dan Tian, out your Hui Yin, and to the center of both your feet. Try to hold this for about 5 minutes. Sometimes youll notice the line will move slightly from left to right in a diagnal line throwing off your center. Just hold firm to it. When you can do 5 minutes easy, then you should be well centered. This will help balance Qi, build root, and help to develop one point awareness which is VERY important to meditation.

[MethodMike]

I agree that foot positioning will make or break your stance. Also, the ankles are stabilized by small INVERTOR and EVERTOR muscles that keep the foot balanced from left to right. Any imbalances caused by lack of muscular strength or endurance will show up in your stances, especially on a single legged stance.
If the soles of your shoes wear more on the INSIDE edge, your INVERTORS are stronger. If your shoes wear more on the OUTSIDE edge, it's your EVERTORS. You can fix it through light training with resistance bands along with your standing practice. Keep Training!!!

[styrofoamdog]

The Tao of Tai Chi Chuan by Jou Tsung Hua touches on the subject. It also mentions EVERY taiji posture can be used for Standing on Stake.

On a side note, Cheng Man-ching and Yang Chengfu both had students use different taijiquan postures as zhan zhuang training. And I know that Yang Chengfu used "single whip" and "strumming the lute" quite a bit.

[lilman]

Also on another sidenote styrooam dog, Strumming the lute or play pipa, or whatever you wanna call it... was used as and "alert" posture. What that is, in the higher levels of standing on stake, when your jing gets really strong, it helps develop jing further. You stand in the posture, Strumming the lute just like you normally do in standing on stake. The only difference is you try to really develop a sense of enemy. But not only a sense of enemy, but something serious, like a bull, or a rhino, or a tiger. The more vital you can conjure up a sense of danger and alertness the better. But it shouldnt be fear, but relaxed alertness. This will help develop "spontanious" jing and constant relaxed alertness...

[joeblast]

for zz the feet should be parallel and roughly shoulder width. with your feet splayed wide angled, its virtually impossible to stand relaxed with the knees bent, spine straight, open gua.

[bruceg]

Thanks to everyone for those replies! I'd forgotten about using parts of the form for standing meditation - have to give it a try.