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What is the difference in effects between standing in wuji (i don’t mean primordial qigong, but the posture with hands resting on the side), and “hugging the tree”?
I searched the internet but did not find much except for this:
THE WUJI POSTURE: THE QUICKEST ACCESS TO THE SPINE
By leaving our arms relaxed at our sides as we do in the Wuji standing posture, our attention more naturally stays inside the torso. Test this for yourself. First, stand with your hands at your sides for a minute or so. Then raise your arms and form the embracing the tree/holding the ball posture and maintain that for a minute. Notice that as soon as your raise your hands, your conscious attention naturally tends to shift to the arms and upper body. Finally, return your arms to the sides of the body and notice what happens. Your feeling attention begins to leave the arms and return to the torso.
In addition to this, the width of the feet can influence our ability to be aware of the spine. When we stand in a wide stance (shoulder width or wider) just as with the arms, our feeling attention tends to move to the outsides of the body. On the other hand, when we position the feet at hip width or narrower, of necessity we must stand taller, that is, stretch the body more vertically. This of itself brings greater awareness of the spine.from https://www.facebook.com/SunshineCoastTaiChiChuan/posts/326001387566630
from this it would seem that wuji is more grounding?
I also searched for images of wuji zhanzhuang and found that most if not all of the people in the pictures had their legs straight…… can wuji be done with knees bent like the other yiquan postures? what would the energetic difference be?
Thank you
I disagree with much of this.
While I could launch into a full lecture here, let me just give you a few soundbites.Wuji is sort of a resting and preparation posture. It is a nice posture for helping one to transition from being in the world of movement to the world of standing meditation . . . a nice still point from which other postures can have as a reference point. However, beyond that, other Yiquan postures are more beneficial.
By being in simple tree, you bring more structure to your body, and consequently become more embodied. Think about it. Where is your mind? Clearly any discomfort you feel from being in simple tree due to holding patterns of tension, brings your mind INTO your body. Not so in Wuji. You can be completely lost in your mind in Wuji and there is no presence that forces you back into your body. Moreover any structure in your upper body in simple tree connects to your spine through your shoulders and into the back. Disconnection to the spine is felt via pain in the mid-back between the shoulder blades and is due to a weak psoas muscle (lower back) . . . something not observable in Wuji posture, where a weak psoas muscle can keep your spine completely disconnected and you are not even aware of it. Most folks have a weak psoas and are completely ignorant of it.
This whole discussion doesn’t even count rooting (which typically is not an emphasis in Yiquan standing meditation). But if we include this aspect, it is much more difficult to root when your upper body has no structure. If the lower body has structure for rooting, it needs to be supported by structure from above. Otherwise there is a discontinuity of energy, and there is weakness where the structure is broken.
In all ways, simple tree is far more grounding, and Wuji is inferior.
Steven
Thanks for the response. What about the other yiquan postures, such as with hands a few inches over dantian, or another with arms perpendicular to the body, by its side and palms pointing down…. I found on the Internet that there were around 5 basic postures…. I can give a link if you like…. Which do you think would be more beneficial, doing all those postures for say 5 min each or just spending more time in simple tree?
The three “standing-in-stillness” postures that Michael teaches in QF4 are Yiquan postures also. There are a lot of different Yiquan standing postures out there, not just 5. There are an absolute ton of them.
In any case, it is good to some variance; sometimes certain postures have a synergy and work well together. In particular, my morning practice is a 20-min Yiquan standing set that has 6 different postures to it. I actually teach this in my coursework at the retreats.
If you had to pick one, pick simple tree.
If you want to add on a few others, then make simple tree the most important (i.e. devote the most time to it).S
Sorry, but I would suggest to consider using that wuji form not only physicallly as preparation and resting posture.
So when this wuji stance is not anymore too stressful one could start to use it as position where one tries to have one’s body stabilized, but also one is various ways mentally active.
So for example one could try to analyze is still something missing, if one daily works with M. Chia’s Embracing the Tree, Holding the Golden Urn, Golden Turtle Immersing in Water, Water Buffalo Emerging from Water, Golden Phoenix Washes It’s Feathers, Iron Bridge, Iron Bar sequence, but many other things also.
So that system would seem to be quite perfect especially if one learns to transform each of it’s items set-up when right time has come.
Sorry for my broken English.
HOWDY
Ps. I have twice taken in Finland introductory Capoeira course and I noticed that though those Brazilain guys where strong as long they moved I also noticed they got quite shaky when they tried to be still. So what about that?(raenggioolnaal)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVnm2SmZ6Cs (singlelegstancebalanceexercises)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pXxq4oMlCU (whydoflamingosstandononeleg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRbe5xHGeDs (goldencockerelstandsononeleg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ-knBky6S0 (paranaueparana)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoQb8vb4blA (uniformedrussiandisco)
Yiquan is essentially formless, containing no fixed sets of fighting movements or techniques. Instead, focus is put on developing one’s natural movement and fighting abilities through a system of training methods and concepts, working to improve the perception of one’s body, its movement, and of force. Yiquan is also set apart from other eastern martial arts in that traditional concepts like qi, meridians, dantian etc., are omitted, the reason being that understanding one’s true nature happens in the present, and that preconceptions block this process.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiquan… can wuji be done with knees bent like the other yiquan postures?
It would seem that the development of the right state of the mind is not only extremely important but primary because with that one can look forward to become relatively self-contained.
This would seem to be very much in the same spirit as yiquan.
So not too many fixed rules or routines.
HOWDY
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