For those who weren’t able to join us online last week, here’s exciting news: Zhang Zhuang is a hit! Please forgive my Fire Monkey enthusiasm in describing what is, at its heart, the most serene, powerful, and energy-freeing technique in Qigong, but the reactions I heard from you after the brief standing meditations we did, thrilled me.
Here's why standing meditation is so effective: it gives our constantly planning, assessing, worrying, dreaming, back to planning, oops-what-about- that- thing- I-said etc. mind a place to land. Now, an active mind isn’t a bad thing. Our brains are built for activity, they’re meant to think: Standing meditation doesn’t fight this natural process, it simply directs it inward, to the body’s sensations. As we explore with gentle curiosity where we are unconsciously holding tension in our bodies, our monkey mind becomes engaged and begins to settle down.
It’s an interesting challenge. Maybe we weren’t aware that our shoulders were tightening unnecessarily. Once we sense it, we can then relax the area more deeply, and that’s when the reward kicks in as we feel warm, enlivening energy flow through the previously blocked area. The spots of tension may change from day to day (or moment to moment), and this is what prevents Zhang Zhuang standing meditations from becoming rote, predictable, or boring.
True confession: I don’t often do Zhang Zhuang by myself (yet), and so appreciate the companionship of having you learn the practice along with me. It helps me stay focused, and from what you’re telling me, the same is true for many of you. It will be fascinating to discover together how this practice will infuse into our daily lives. Will it help our insomnia? Chronic low back tension? Our ability to let go of annoyance or worry? My guess is, yes. Please keep me posted with what you discover! Thanks again for your unique and important contributions toward keeping our Qigong class evergreen and growing.
