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Medical and Spiritual Qigong (Chi Kung)
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Home › Forum Online Discussion › Practice › The beginnings of standing practices
According to Bruce Frantzis
Over 4,000 years ago, the Taoists of China developed a system of 200 standing postures. When I was in China I learned all of these posturesfrom my teacher, Taoist Master Liu Hung Chieh.
These 200 original postures form the basis of virtually every movement that exists in the internal martial arts world.
Each has a specific purpose that is directly related to various energy bodies…and acupuncture lines of the body.
Hadn’t heard of these original 200 postures before.
Frantzis says that the I Chuan/Yiquan/Yi Chuan/Yichuan standing postures ultimately derive from these originals.
I don’t know the history and how accurate it is . . . many in Chinese martial arts, qigong, medicine, etc. make grandiose claims that are not historical fact. So it could be true, but it could also be an inflated claim.
However, there ARE a lot of Yiquan standing postures.
The Yiquan standing set that I teach at the retreats for the early morning practice is just a small sample of the number of postures there are. This is true regardless of whether there is some core set of 200 that all others follow from.
But I do agree with B.K.’s assessment in the pdf you linked, in that it is probably one of the most important and powerful ways to begin training in qi sensitivity. Standing practice is so vital for health, for vitality, for activating qi flow, and for grounding. It’s one of the reasons why I do it, to some degree, in every class I teach.
S
Thanks for your thoughts.
Re Yiquan, were all its many standing postures laid out by its founder, Wang Xiangzhai, or have postures continued to be added since his death?
I have no idea, but I suspect the latter.
Once people become very experienced in something, they tend to become creative.
Many of the potent qigong techniques we have today have arisen due to serendipity.