Wang Xiangzhai practices standing meditation
In 1939, Wang Xiangzhai issued a public challenge through a Beijing newspaper. His objective: to test and prove the new martial arts training system of Yiquan, a system that placed standing meditation (zhan zhuang) at its core.
Expert fighters from across China, Japan and even Europe traveled to answer Wang’s challenge. None could beat him or his senior students. His standing meditation training produced superior results in a shorter time period, when compared to methods used in boxing, Judo, and other styles of Kung Fu.
Considering the proven value of standing meditation, surprisingly few people undertake the practice today. Why is this? As Wang himself noted, the exercise is plagued by logical contradictions. Understandably, but unfortunately, martial artists reject the exercise because it cannot possibly work.
Sincere students, who are willing to suspend their disbelief for a few hours of introductory practice, will encounter and resolve these four paradoxes.
Standing still is good exercise. Wang Xiangzhai explained the unique health benefits of standing meditation in his essay, The Gain From Practicing Martial Art:
Appropriate exercises can positively affect every cell and every organ in the human body, improve the functioning of respiratory and vascular systems, and also improve metabolism. In other words, they activate the whole human organism.
In typical forms of exercise, before the body is tired, there are already problems with breathing and the heart is overburdened. So the exercise must be halted prematurely in order to let one’s heart rest, to catch one’s breath and return to a normal state.
Chinese combat science uses the opposite method. This is exercise of the muscular and vascular systems, exercise for all cells of the body. The principle is to stimulate every organ at the same time. Even if during exercise your muscles become tired, your pulse stays in the normal range, and breathing is natural. After the exercise, you feel that your breath is freer and more comfortable than before.
Because there are no complex sets of movements, the nervous system is not greatly stressed; you eliminate internal tension, achieving mental calm. This is one of the elements that make combat science different from typical forms of exercise.
Holding your arms up is relaxing. Many variations of standing meditation require that the arms be held up, as if holding a ball, for fifteen minutes or more. At first, such postures are unpleasant, and cause tension and soreness in the shoulders. However, the posture itself is not the problem, it only exposes the problem: an unhealthy lifestyle, so deficient in exercise that even your own arms seem oppressively heavy.
After a few weeks of regular practice, the soreness will give way to more pleasant sensations. You will be able to raise your arms up with no discernable effort, and your entire body will become warm. Your joints will feel well-lubricated; stiffness or arthritic conditions will be relieved.
Time flies when you’re doing nothing. A lack of upper-body strength is not the only obstacle to successful practice. After the soreness disappears, a succession of images will parade through your mind. Endlessly replaying the events of the past, and predicting those of the future, you should begin to recognize that you are addicted to distraction.
Starving the beast will weaken it. If you can disregard these distractions from within, do so; otherwise, remove them from your practice environment. Shut the windows and the doors. When your mind finally stops, your perception of time will change; instead of watching the clock, you’ll wish you had more time to spend in this calm and quiet state.
Static posture training promotes fluid and coordinated movement. The prevalence of these mental and physical discomforts illustrates that, although everyone can stand still, few people do it well.
Only after resolving these issues within yourself, will you discover how deeply they affect your performance. As you would expect, your balance will improve; you may be surprised to find that standing meditation also increases your sensitivity, explosive speed and power.
In his later years, Wang Xiangzhai nicknamed himself “Old Man of Contradictions”. Martial artists today cannot hope to match his great accomplishment, unless they are willing to stand first, and ask questions later.
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27 responses so far ↓
1 Rick Matz // Aug 8, 2007
One of the best things I’ve done for myself in recent years has been to take up the standing practice. When I’ve been practicing regularly, I find that my mind is more clear, my body is relaxed, my reaction time is increased, I sleep better, and I just function better in every possible way.
2 faik // Aug 12, 2007
Only standing in Zhan Zhuang will not make you faster or better in relaxation. First you have to find out whatever you are “relaxed” or not when you stand in that posititon. How do you verify that?
3 Chris // Aug 13, 2007
I presume you are referring to shi li, moca bu, fa li, tui shou, and other Yiquan exercises. No doubt those are beneficial, but it would be wrong to say that speed and relaxation cannot be cultivated without them.
We do not need to consult with others to know whether we are relaxed or not; the answer is always the same: not quite enough. Correctness of posture is a different matter.
4 faik // Aug 14, 2007
Chris says: “We do not need to consult with others to know whether we are relaxed or not; the answer is always the same: not quite enough.”
Well, Chris if you are not quite enough relaxed, then you have to work on that, or maybe you are not relaxed at all.
Each and one who talks about relaxation is saying that is very “easy” to learn to relax your muscles with some “postures” or “positions”, but nobody ever objectively explains how that relaxation should “feel” into your arms, legs, shoulders or the whole body
5 Chris // Aug 14, 2007
Have you attained perfect relaxation? If so, then you have definitely surpassed both Wang Xiangzhai and myself.
The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
6 Buddy // Aug 15, 2007
Hi Chris,
I got here from Steve Pavlina’s site. I know Rick Matz from Empty Flower. Nice post.
7 faik // Aug 15, 2007
Chris, I’ve never said that I surpassed anyone or attained perfect relaxation. Relaxation is matter of correct practice (which means objectively verifying the state of relaxation). Only after that you can say that you have mastered relaxation and can deepen it in every “posture” or “position”. But who knows, maybe you have already found out that after “correct posture standing”.
Mr. Wang Xiangzhai’s articles are not dogma which you must follow strictly. You have to find your own way of thinking. If you just follow blindly without asking the question WHY, then you’ll never gain anything. There is a saying for that. “Follow like a sheep.”
8 Chris // Aug 15, 2007
This article is focused on the question, “WHY do so few people practice standing meditation?” See paragraph 3.
Have you seen the elephant? Provide your objective description and criteria for verification.
9 Buddy // Aug 16, 2007
When I first began learning xingyi from Kumar Frantzis, for the first year ALL we did was santi and piquan. Each posture of piquan was held for nine breaths. The more relaxed we got the longer our breaths became…and the more miserable we were. Of course after twenty minutes or so it became sublime. Hard burning but it was a fruitful fire.
10 faik // Aug 16, 2007
Ok Chriss. This is my objective description of relaxation. Its all written here:
http://martialartscience.blogspot.com/2007/05/mystification-of-martial-art-called.html
11 ginkgo // Aug 16, 2007
Interesting article. I used to be heavily into martial arts and never heard of that. Does that guy do other training for fighting or is that his only training?
Jet Li says that Americans do not train hard. He would have to put his leg against the wall and keep it there for 3 hours. That was the whole lesson.
12 Chris // Aug 16, 2007
ginkgo,
Standing meditation is only one part of I-Chuan training (maybe the most important part).
faik,
Here is a common definition of objectivity: “judgment based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices.” I was surprised to see that none of the tests on your page meet this standard. Adding a table or even a second person to the equation can be helpful, but helpful does not equal objective.
I asked if you have seen the elephant. This is, at best, fondling the elephant.
13 Faik Bilalovic // Aug 17, 2007
Well, if your elephant is a “standing in postures” then you are quite away from the objectivity or the properness of your method. We can take this to another level where you could examine objectivness of boths method with EMG in the lab. I’m sure that then you’ll probably “feel” the difference.
14 Chris // Aug 18, 2007
I get the distinct impression that you like to argue, and don’t much care what, how or why.
I will concede: I am not as talented as you wish I had claimed to be. Nevertheless, the contents of this article are correct. On more personal or unrelated topics, I have no further comment.
15 Patricia - Spiritual Journey Of A Lightworker // Aug 24, 2007
Chris, thanks for sharing this standing meditation with us.
16 Chris // Aug 25, 2007
Featured in the Carnival of Healing.
17 Gerg // Sep 20, 2007
“Have you attained perfect relaxation? If so, then you have definitely surpassed both Wang Xiangzhai and myself.”
I think ‘perfectly relaxed’ is usually called ‘dead’. So by that logic many billions have surpassed most of us (assuming most of us are still alive).
18 Uli // Dec 25, 2007
Myself practising the standing meditation or the walking meditation. Its very good to combine it together. The results are fine, supporting or better said complementing my taji quan practise. As it is known by wang xiang-zhai, it is good and very intersting to experiment with energy and movement. Standing meditation is just one more great possibility to improve the body-mind.
The discussion between you guys, chris and faik seems a bit waste of time for me. Better you practise and enjoy to relax by experiencing it rather to ask for the perfect relaxation.
Stay cool.
19 Ramza // Jan 30, 2008
If you are having a hard time relaxing or defining what it means to be relaxed, then you are most likely putting too much thought into it. Our natural tendency seems to be to “do something” while relaxation is really more about “not doing anything”. I think that knowing what it means to feel relaxed is innate in most people; part of the trick to doing it is to not worry about whether or not you are doing it properly.
20 Chris // Jan 31, 2008
I agree that there is no use in worrying, but there is also no use in doing it improperly!
For example, leaning backwards is sub-optimal practice from a martial arts perspective.
21 dr.k.conor foxx // Mar 15, 2008
Discussion website, such as this, can be an opportunity for
exchange and learning; usually, they issue only philosophy and vanity: do it ‘faithfully’ do it as ‘my teacher said’ and disfaith ‘who could believe it’. Standing exercise, zhan zhuang, is simple, is not a meditation, and subtly prompts intrinsic responses, development, and leads to motion and walking. It can be a start, the middle course, and the return to begin again. In the standing position, the body will alter itself between position and intensities, it will rock, rotate, rise, and sink on its’ own. The series of ‘other’ exercises associated with it: mo ca bu, shi li…can each be practiced and each can be concocted, but each evolves naturally from the standing…without any objective of meditation or martial use.
This, in itself, is not profound, profound is humankinds’ surprise, nature is neither profound nor has intent. Unfortunally, development with intent of martial use is development-level limited and health-benefit limited.
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