Zhan Zhuang - Beginner Questions

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Auntie Antei, modified 1 Month ago at 12/23/24 11:04 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 12/20/24 12:27 PM

Zhan Zhuang - Beginner Questions

Posts: 43 Join Date: 12/20/24 Recent Posts
Inspired by conal and Linda "Polly Ester" Ö I got a copy of The Way of Energy, by Lam Kam Chuen. I've been practicing daily for a week now and I'm already feeling some things going on. I tend to follow instructions as carefully as I can with a new practice so I'm hoping anyone with more experience can help me clarify --

Chuen says the best time and place to practice is outdoors (near a big tree with the sun at your back) before eating breakfast in the morning, and not to practice outdoors if it's raining or foggy. Is it still safe to practice outdoors if it's still dark outside before breakfast? How about if it's freezing cold? What if it's later in the day? I would like to go outside for practice but as you may imagine where I am it is freezing cold and dark outside until after breakfast time, so I can practice indoors before breakfast or outdoors later in the day. Any difference?

Also, Chuen seems pretty serious about very gradually increasing the time spent in the postures but it's kind of easy for me to do 5 minutes of each and I'd like to extend my times without waiting another two weeks. Any thoughts on that?

Finally, from what I could gather, here is the routine he prescribes in the book, including warmup and cooldown:

30-60 knee circles each direction
30-40 arm circles
Wu Chi 5 min first three weeks, then 10 for three weeks, 15, 20
Balloon same as Wu Chi above
Another 3 min Wu Chi
Shake arms and legs gently
20 arm circles
Walk around slowly for a couple minutes
Rub hands over face as if washing

I'd love to hear any variations or additions people here have found beneficial, as well as any personal accounts of any results the practice has provided or ways it has impacted your meditation practice.

Also, hi! I'm new here and I have so much admiration and gratitude for everyone contributing to and moderating this forum. I hope to introduce myself more properly and contribute more in the coming months, I have a lot I'd like to share.
Andrew Young, modified 1 Month ago at 12/24/24 11:39 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 12/24/24 11:39 AM

RE: Zhan Zhuang - Beginner Questions

Posts: 4 Join Date: 7/31/24 Recent Posts
I'm also a beginner, so you can feel free to ignore me and others are welcome to correct me.

I think that what we're trying to understand in the early stages of standing practice is how to release tension in the body and stand using the least amount of effort possible. If we balance well it can feel like we're weightless, floating.

Towards that end I would not choose to practice outside in freezing cold because that would not aid in releasing tension.

Length of sessions I would go by feel. If you already have a sitting meditation practice I think standing in Wu Chi/Wuji for 20 minutes is fine. For the balloon posture maybe start with 5 minutes and add a minute at a time as you learn how to relax into it. You can learn a lot from being slightly uncomfortable for the last minute or so, but don't overdo it at first.

I think the guiding principles are getting to know your body, learning what releasing tension feels like, and learning to accept that most things happening in your body aren't directly controllable by the ego part of your mind.

Watch the process, be curious about what's happening. Let the details of your practice develop from your curiosity.
Conal, modified 1 Month ago at 12/26/24 2:01 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 12/26/24 2:01 AM

RE: Zhan Zhuang - Beginner Questions

Posts: 87 Join Date: 6/3/17 Recent Posts
My "official" answer would be to stick with the advice in the book, but I also take a pragmatic approach like Andrew does. After being attacked by mosquitoes and other insects a few times, I retreated indoors and now very rarely practice outside. 

I totally agree with what Andrew says about the ego too.  I find meditation and Zhan Zhuang complement each other very well in that sense.

Welcome to the list Auntie.

Conal
Eric Abrahamsen, modified 1 Month ago at 12/28/24 11:57 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 12/28/24 11:57 AM

RE: Zhan Zhuang - Beginner Questions

Posts: 76 Join Date: 6/9/21 Recent Posts
Hi there!

I've been practicing taiji pretty seriously for about seven years, and a big part of that practice is zhan zhuang. An important disclaimer here is that the taiji approach is fairly different from the qigong approach, and while I haven't read Lam Kam Chuen, that book looks pretty squarely qigong. Taiji (in particular Chen style, which I practice) is much more of a martial art, and zhan zhuang is used to unlock the physical coherence which provides power and balance in martial applications. Yes, we also work towards achieving the microcosmic orbit, and the spiritual benefits, but zhan zhuang is first and foremost about training the body, so you can imagine that "five minutes and not in the rain" wouldn't fly. emoticon

Every taiji class starts with fifteen minutes of standing: first a few minutes to let people limber up, then the teacher goes around and does manual corrections of posture, then we stand for a while longer, then on to "turning the dantian", then formwork. Zhan zhuang is considered equal to the formwork in importance. Interestingly, though, I believe taiji borrowed zhan zhuang from qigong, and actually relatively recently, though I've had a hard time figuring out the timelines.

My teacher has literally said "five minutes of standing meditation is useless"! Apparently 15 minutes is the minimum to get into the groove, so actually 20 minutes is the minimum in order to make some progress, but "40 minutes would be good."

I absolutely believe that zhan zhuang is relevant to meditation (I have also posted a couple of things on potential correspondences between meditation and taiji on this site, in the Physical Practices section). The working out of habitual physical tensions is I think a prerequisite for some experiences, notably the jhanas.

More importantly self-related emotions like fear and defensiveness are nearly always coded in the body somehow. Those emotions are an obstacle to early-stage progress (or rather, relinquishing those emotions *is* early-stage progress in a sense), and I believe the best approach is to attack them from all sides at once: the working out of physical tension, the facing of psychological bugaboos, and the releasing of self-views through vipassana meditation.

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