As I prepare to co-lead “Harvesting the Energy of Trees with Qigong” in a few weeks, I find myself returning to the simple, profound practice of Zhang Zhuang, or “standing like a tree”. Like much of Qigong, the origins of Zhang Zhuang are shrouded in the mists of time. An early reference dates back 2,600 years ago to the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. Even earlier, Neolithic pottery vessels dating back 7, 000 years are decorated with figures that appear to be doing standing meditation. The actual term Zhang Zhuang is traced to Wang Xiangzhai (1885-1963), who created Yiquan, a martial art based entirely on standing practice.
You may wonder “How the heck can standing still be the basis of a martial art?!” It’s all about being grounded, or rooted. It’s impossible to be strongly rooted – in martial applications this would mean stable enough that you can’t be knocked over by an opponent--if you are distracted by a racing mind, a troubled heart, or a tense, misaligned body. Applying the principle of being grounded while moving is challenge enough for a lifetime. Applying it to standing still for increasingly long periods is often even more challenging for us highly distractable types, but this is exactly what allows us to significantly strengthen our body, mind and spirit.
Now, I don’t think many of you get into hand-to-hand combat. But we’re all in combat at times with things that “attack” us with stress: i.e. life.Science shows how much better equipped we are to handle stress if, in the midst of “fighting” our way through traffic, uncertainty, argument, sleep disorders, or pain, we center ourselves, breathe, and get grounded. We can improve this skill by building the patience and stamina to stand quietly, gently aligned with gravity, for increasing lengths of time.
Standing practice can be quite challenging, but also fascinating; it shows us exactly where our energetic weaknesses are. For many, it’s our upper energy center: our mind grows quickly bored and distracted. Or we may, after a few moments of grounding and relaxing, discover an emotional disturbance in our heart center that we hadn’t noticed before. For everyone new to Zhang Zhuang, we start to feel our muscles tremble in fatigue as the minutes tick by. This is weakness leaving and strength building in our physical body. (Zhang Zhuang builds strong muscles, bones, fascia, proprioception, and circulation.)
Have I convinced you yet? If not, please give me another chance and join us online this week for Qigong practice. It’s a great way to keep moving without over-exertion during the predicted heat wave. Hope to see you and root with you soon!
