The correlation in energy healing between shiatsu and Zhan Zhuang practice. An interesting read to mentally compost…
Entering the Heart of Trees
Bibliography, Links, Resources
@ Green Way Research
Zhan Zhuang & The Search of Wu
By Yu Yong Nian
http://tinyurl.com/yh4otgv
(Thanks to Harry E.)
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- A great blog find, check it out. Also, “ZZ&the Search for Wu” is one of the rarest books on Zhang Zhuang out there. Been trying to find a copy for a few years. The tome is the most scientific treatment of standing practice and its connection to health, meditation and martial arts I have ever read.
Zhan zhuang for the Development of Martial Power
Original Source: http://www.geocities.com/donjitsu2/zhanzhuangarticle.html
The simplest is always the most profound.
Many are familiar with this expression, but how many put the wisdom of these words to good use? One of the primary considerations of a martial artist is the development of power. There are quite a few methods of power development available for martial artists. Most choose a complicated approach. Lifting weights, devising workouts and circuits, counting reps, sets, pounds, tonnage, ect… While the methods have their merits and can be quite useful, I feel that the use of a much more simple approach will be just as beneficial (if not more). The simple act of standing can develop extreme power. In the internal martial arts the preferred method of standing of power is called Zhan Zhuang.
Zhan Zhuang (pronounced “Jan Ju-ang”, literally “standing on a stake”) is essentially standing meditation. During zhan zhuang practice one assumes a specific posture for what ever purpose he/she is training for. There are many different postures, each used for different purposes. However, all are based on the same principles and must follow the same postural guidelines to be effective. The only difference in in the placement of the feet and hands. Since the goal is to obtain martial power the postures this article will focus on are: “Embracing a Tree” and Xingyiquan’s San Ti posture.
The “Embracing a Tree” posture (also called holding a ball, embracing a balloon, the immortal post, and the universal post, ect…) is the standard zhan zhuang posture most learn when training in the internal martial arts. Embracing the Tree posture is beneficial for developing proper body alignment, health, and martial power (if done for a long enough period of time).
- To get into proper posture stand with your feet shoulder width apart (or slightly further if your tough) and bend your knees slightly. At first you will only bend your knees a bit but as you progress your stance will get deeper and deeper (just make sure not too deep).
- Make sure your feet and knees are pointing in the same direction (straight ahead). Make sure, also not to allow your knees to buckle inward or stick out. Try to maintain a straight, solid “line” from your knees to your ankle joint and feet. It should feel as though they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Do not allow your knees to protrude forward out beyond your toes.
- Flatten you lower back by tucking in your hips and butt as if sitting in a chair. Sitting in a chair is a good analogy as to how it should actually feel. You should relax your lower back and hips to the point that when you flatten your lower back it will feel as though you are sitting on your legs. When you get it right you’ll know the feeling and all the weight from your upper body will “fall” upon your legs. When you do that your arms and upper body will feel light as a feather.
- Slightly round your back by hollowing (tucking in) your chest.
- Now, imagine as if your head were being pulled upward by an imaginary string attached to the top of your head, stretch you spine upwards and “suspend” your head upon this imaginary string. Make sure to tuck your chin in a bit and relax your shoulders. This will help to further stretch your spine.
- Now, with your palms facing your body, raise your hands to chest level making sure to sink your elbows and hollow out your armpit (as if a golf ball were tucked in them). It should look as though you were hugging (or embracing) a tree. Place your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind you front teeth and close your eyes.
- When done you should look something like me in figures 1 & 2. Get a friend to check the posture or use a mirror.
- Remember to breathe through your nose in the Buddhist style (upon inhalation the lower abdomen extends and returns to is normal position upon exhalation. the chest doesn’t move).
- Finally, the most important point: RELAX as much as possible while still maintaining correct posture.
Exercise Schedule
First thing in the morning:
- 30 mins sitting meditation while being stimulated with theta waves (functions brainwaves)
- 05 mins rub down (gathering heavens, balancing, etc…)
After work:
- 10 mins warm up for meditation (stretching, tai chi, push/pull hands, etc…)
- 30 mins Zhan zhuang meditation (brain wave stimulation is optional)
- 45 mins sitting meditation (brain wave stimulation is optional)
- 05 mins rub down
- 25 mins applications (projections, PK, sensing) - Only apply after 1 month of standing meditation
Other Sources
Mantak Chia on Guided Standing Meditation. Not so sure about how comfortable the testicle massage might be, but the alignment and heating breath (like the fire breath in pranayama) seems good.
- “Thinking of pre-form exercises it is obvious that the zhan zhuang is just indispensable. Also known as standing like a tree, post standing, standing like a stake, etc.
- Performing these gongs or exercises promotes or creates the “Three Treasures” or San Bao.
- The Three Treasures are known as Jing, Qi and Shen and can be loosely translated as Essence, Vitality and Spirit…
- Extreme yin generates yang, so extreme stillness as in zhan zhuang may create heat sensations, trembling and/or spontaneous contractions. At all times stay alert.”
Yiquan from Warriors of China Movie. Empty Mind Films (via emptymindfilms)
A clip featuring Yiquan or Mind Fist Chinese Martial Art. This is the remote training center of Cui Rui Bin, a famous Yiquan master.This is part of the Warriors of China DVD, available at emptymindfilms.com
(via theworldpulse)
The simplicity of zhan zhuang and its connection to the opening stance of the sun salutation yoga practice has been interesting to me for some time now. In ZZ practice it is often the case you are fidgeting around, attempting to find “perfect” balance, spiritedness and body alignment. One thing I’ve found useful is really going “BLANK” during the standing. Good progressive relaxation and letting go of thoughts and enjoying your embodiment is as important as anything else.
You can start your relaxation progression from the top of the head. Focus your awareness there and release any tension you may find, then move to the forehead, eyebrows, nose, mouth and jaw and onto the rest of the entire body front down and up the back, releasing tension on every part of your body with an exhale. End with a few rounds of focusing on your entire structure releasing all tension on exhales. You can then run another round of full body relaxation if you wish. The body should feel much lighter and you can continue to stand, just being. If thoughts arrive, just let them go, including any of your “perfect practice”. An alternate to this standing cessation practice is to do a mantra, but I do recommend the progressive relaxation portion first.
(ps- notice the smile- if you really can release and relax, a small smile should appear.)
Martial Art Training for Swordsmen- Sword Zhang Zhuang
- Sword zhan zhuang, the best martial art training for Chinese swordsmanship, is also known as standing meditation in tai chi exercise. Since our swordsmanship is part of a taiji system, the same principles apply through basic exercises, empty hand forms and applications, tui shou, san shou, and weapons training. Everything applies to everything else.
- Sword zhan zhuan is performed in basic jian stance. It involves holding the sword correctly and standing without moving for a length of time. But that is only the beginning. This page will give an outline and enough information to get started. Future pages may expand on technique.
“Chinese Swords Guide” on the whole is a truly interesting website for learning about jian or chinese sword (and other weapons). Some nice training materials, pictures, video, and links out to swordsmiths of both the metal and wooden variety.
- So anyway, I was working on the zhan zhuang, and feeling pretty comfortable and relaxed. As I settled into it, I was aware of the clean air, of the birdsong and grasshoppers, and slowly my mind became clear and still. And then something odd happened: I began to hear chanting. It was clear, but I couldn’t quite place where it was coming from. It seemed to last for a minute, and was several voices, in some language that didn’t seem to be Chinese or Sanskrit/Pali, but more… well it seemed Mongolian, though I’m not sure why I would think that. As I started to look around, trying to place it, it abruptly cut off. I stayed there for a while longer, but didn’t hear it again.
- I’d walked around the whole area before I’d started the zhan zhuang, and there were a couple of individual farmers nearby in their fields, but no groups. It wasn’t amplified music, such as from a radio – and there are few enough of those in the village anyway.
- Now, I’m not sure that I would even credit myself as even “a minor precognitive” – generally speaking, I don’t do psychic. However, even I have had my moments. During my teen years, I found that I when I was shaking dice, if I visualized the result I wanted I would usually get it – which was a great asset in board games! I’ve had my precog moments as well, though I probably wouldn’t need two hands to count them; these are moments when I simply knew that something would happen – usually jobs, once knowing that I was going to live in a place that I hadn’t ever visited, in one case a relationship. It’s hard to describe the sensation; I knew it in the way that day is light and night is dark, in a way where you wouldn’t even consider an alternative to be conceivable – except that it was a future event. Plus of course, I’ve met people whose world is very different to my own (that’s a link to an earlier version of this blog). Enough, in short, to wonder what on earth I had just experienced.
- Later, I asked my host whether there are any ghost stories connected with the village – it’s stood there for 3000 years, after all! He told us about the village’s origin story, which involves two dragons fighting over a pearl, and an intervention by the King of Heaven. It didn’t seem to anything to do with the chanting, so I asked him whether there had ever been a temple to the north-west of the village. That surprised him. Apparently, there had indeed been a temple, to those same dragons and Heaven King. It was several hours’ walk from the village, from where its location is not visible. I’m not sure when it was built, but it was destroyed during the wars that preceded the Ming dynasty. It was rebuilt during the Qing dynasty, but destroyed again during the Cultural Revolution. More recently, several villages had collaborated to rebuild it once more. My host thought that to have heard the chanting, I must have some kind of connection with the temple, and told some other stories about it, which suggest that it is a powerful location. He’ll take me there on my next visit, he said, which I am very much looking forward to.
- Sorry if this sounds weird or unexpected to you; I’m simply telling you what happened.
(original link above has a nice video of the spot of the practice)
A very intriguing discussion on the TaoBums forum linking up zhan zhuang and various bodywork systems involving the fascia. I am not sure if just focusing on the fascia will be a panacea to physical problems in practice, but certainly it can help out.
It is very important to see the connection between weak points across the entire body, a weak knee could lead to a neck problem, etc. Also the fascia system will work for those who have trouble believing in Meridians.
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