Bob wrote:Wang peisheng - old issues of a defunct journal - talks about standing in 7 Star posture
...
http://www.ycgf.org/Articles/7Stars/arti_7star.htmAppledog wrote:Hi, I just did an index of all my stuff to try and find a quote on standing and I just can't find it. Maybe someone here will know where to find it.
Does anyone have a source for the notion that you can just pick any "tai chi" posture for standing? I seem to remember quite a few sources for this but when I went to look I couldn't locate them.
It almost seems like this notion should be obvious so why can't I find a single source for it? I wonder.
Thxz
Yes, in fact there's a saying in Taiji - every step [in the form] can be a zhuang (standing post) 一步一桩. This is a classic example of reason that to reach mastery, we can't just do what our teacher tell us, but think and investigate on our own. In the end certain things are very hard for an outsider to identify, that only we know our feelings. So check how you feel in each movement, does it feel weak, awkward? Very often if the upper body is uncomfortable, it's because the lower body cannot provide all the strength needed, and the upper body is exerting a counter-balancing force to keep the overall body in neutral position. As the classic saying goes, "keep the effort in the legs". Is this because we lack flexibility, strength, or motor control in a particular direction (for example you had left ankle injury, the outside of that foot is weak, whenever you sprain your ankle it's always in that direction). So whatever movement or position we're uncomfortable in, we need to practice that.
Also, take a look at how you exit a position. You should be able to exit from a pose/posture as easily as you got in. If exiting requires greater effort, that means you're going too low in the pose. As the saying going "you can pick it up, but can you put it down?" Are you so exhausted the foot just drop to the ground with a big sound? One of the hardest movement quality is achieve is "lightness". One aspect of that is control, and control requires strength, not just from major muscles, but from small supporting ones that help with balancing. So next time when you practice, act as if there's a sleeping baby in the room you don't want to wake up: can you do all the movements in the form without making any sounds with your footwork - even on hardwood floor?
So traditionally, when people find they have particular posture they have problem with, outside of regular forms practice, they would hold that posture like in Zhan Zhuang.
Everything starts from the ground, if there are any issues with the foot, it will be reflected above. Try balancing on one foot just one portion of the foot - front, back, inside, outside. If any part feel weak, do more of that.
And we shouldn't limit our supplementary practice to just static ones. Because often it's problem with movement. For example one thing I've doing a lot recently is footwork in all 8 directions (forward - back, left - right, 2 diagonal forward-back). You can check if for any of those, you can go further powered by one leg than the other. Then the other is weaker. We can also check if our shoulder and legs are flexible in all the planes. A lot of times when our movement is not easeful, it's because we lack flexibility, and we try to compensate by using more force (ex. hamstring tight, cannot raise leg high, so we kick harder, trying to get there using momentum).
Overall we'll know we're in a good shape in any position when the lower body has the quality of earth - solid and stable, the mid-body has the quality of water - heavy but fluid, and upper body has the quality of air - light and free.