Standing Like A Tree (Foundations Of Qigong Standing Meditation)

This course lays the foundations for the practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang (Qigong standing meditation in the basic posture of "Wuji"). It is appropriate for both beginners and experienced practitioners. While the name "standing meditation" may imply a limitation to standing, the practice and the course are accessible from a seated position as well.

The course is organized into seven weekly segments. Each week, I introduce a specific focus ranging from elements of posture, energy, and breath. Using an inquiry-based approach, I guide you to explore aspects of the practice. At the end of each session, I include a 5-minute guided practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang. My invitation to you is to spend one whole week with each segment: continuing daily with the Wuji Zhan Zhuang practice and bringing particular awareness to the focus of the week. In this way, you are not only developing a greater awareness of your body and energy but also a consistent daily practice that will serve you well beyond the course.

The benefits of Wuji Zhan Zhuang are far-reaching and include, to name a few, improved posture, relaxed alertness, greater physical/mental/emotional resilience, finding internal strength and energy, and feeling more balanced and less reactive in your life. Through Wuji Zhan Zhuang, we can access our original energy, unlocking the vast potential that lies within each one of us.

Leçon 1: Week 1: Begin Where You Are

We begin with an overview of the structure and intentions of the course and a brief history of Wuji Zhan Zhuang. In our exploratory practice, we meet ourselves where we are through an awareness practice of our habitual posture. This provides us with a background against which we can measure our progress throughout the course. I then offer a guided 5-minute practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang that you can use throughout the week, closing with tips as you begin to develop a consistent daily practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang.

Leçon 2: Week 2: Roots

This week we focus on growing awareness of the roots of our standing tree. In our body, it is the lower legs and feet that are considered roots. We will activate our feet through self-massage, learn about the only acupuncture point on the soles of our feet, and explore our sense of connection with the Earth through our feet. Nourishing our roots will allow us to connect more deeply with the Earth, so we may feel supported as we stand in Wuji Zhan Zhuang and in our life in general. As before, I offer a 5-minute guided practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang towards the end of the session that you can return to throughout the week.

Leçon 3: Week 3: Lower Trunk And The Role Of The Mind

I begin this week by speaking about the role of the mind in Zhan Zhuang's practice, addressing some common sensations that can arise such as boredom and resistance to practice. We then continue to travel up our standing tree, focusing on the area of the lower trunk: knees and pelvis. I guide you through an exploration of those areas to continue to grow your interoception (awareness of body) and fine-tune your alignment in Wuji Zhan Zhuang. I close as always with a 5-minute guided practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang.

Leçon 4: Week 4: Upper Trunk And Centering Between Earth And Sky

We continue our postural exploration of the upper trunk of the standing (or sitting) tree this week, focusing on the spine and continuing to the crown of the head. We then bring together the material from the last three weeks by aligning our whole vertical axis, allowing us to stand centered between Earth and Sky. I share about Earth and Sky as representations of yin and yang energies and offer that one of the core principles of Qigong practice is to find the balance between the two. As always, we close with a 5-minute guided practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang.

Leçon 5: Week 5: Branches And Fine-Tuning

This week we close out the exploration of the postural elements of Wuji Zhan Zhuang by focusing on the branches of the tree (our arms) as well as a few fine-tuning points. I share about another Qigong principle called Wu wei, “effortless effort”, applying it to finding the right effort level in our Wuji Zhan Zhuang practice. We close the session as always with a 5-minute guided practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang.

Leçon 6: Week 6: Breath And Letting Go Of Control

This week we begin to expand our practice from focusing mainly on postural elements to including the breath. With this process, we are taking the first steps to letting go of control in the practice, so we can experience its effects at a deeper level. We spend significant time this week letting go of being breathed down to the cellular level through a reclined (or seated) exploration. We then take what we find into our closing 5-minute guided practice of Wuji Zhan Zhuang.

Leçon 7: Week 7: Wuji Energy

We continue to dive deeper into our Wuji Zhan Zhuang practice by focusing on the felt sense of the Wuji energy. I begin by sharing what the Wuji state of energy refers to and how it is connected to the original energy that we are aiming to access with our practice. For our practice itself, we use a few simple Qigong warmup movements today, which help prepare the body to naturally move towards the Wuji Zhan Zhuang posture. They are also great movements that you can use in your daily life to reset yourself after having been in one posture for an extended time (for example sitting at your desk). We flow directly from the movements into our 5-minute Wuji Zhan Zhuang guided practice.

Leçon 8: Closure: Coming Full Circle

Arriving full circle at the closing session of our course, we return to where we started - to our habitual posture - and reflect on what may have shifted for us throughout the course. I share a reading from the Radiance Sutras (Radiance Sutra #7, transliteration and English translation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra by Lorin Roche). This sutra speaks to me of our progression through the course from focusing on aspects of physical posture to the more subtle layers of breath and energy. I then offer one simple Qigong practice to help you reflect on your own journey and become aware of what you are taking away from it. We close the session and the course with a practice of three bows borrowed from my teacher Mimi Kuo-Deemer, acknowledging our teachers, each other, and ourselves.

Reviews

This course is an excellent introduction to an essential aspect of qi gong practice. And an amazing deep dive into the details of how one goes about learning and truly feeling the meditative experience of guided standing.