My zhan zhuang progress

Mike Sigman's post about seeing progress in people after just 3 months of consistent zhan zhuang ("standing like a post") practice - didn't matter how they actually stood -  inspired me to try practicing it more consistently.  His thoughts on zhan zhuang can be found here.

I am most familiar with the "tree hugger" version of zhan zhuang.  It was introduced to me as "standing meditation".  My biggest problem with this version is I'd never been able to get my shoulders to relax.  I could never make it to 10 minutes of standing without my shoulders getting sore. despite the instruction to "relax the shoulders".  I must be one of those people who are chronically unaware of just how much excess tension I carry in my shoulders.  Zhan zhuang practice mercilessly reveals this tension.  No matter how many times somebody tells me to relax the shoulders, I just couldn't make the tension leave my shoulders.  Saying out loud "Relax, dammit!" doesn't work either.

I finally started making progress after reading the Sigman article.  He says to bring Up jin (force vector) to the top of the head.  That does help.  I found what helps even more is to bring the Up jin to my hands too.  When my shoulders start aching from unwanted, excessive tension, the Up jin turns off the tension either completely, or reduces it considerably.  I also play with Down jin on the hands but it doesn't seem to be as essential.  In any case, telling somebody "Relax your shoulders!" is useless.  The instruction to "think about nothing" or "focus your thoughts on your breath" is not not much better.  it's better to show that person what Up jin is, and how to use it.  Then the practitioner can "meditate" on using jin and maintaining a decent posture - just those two things are enough to occupy one's attention and prevent boredom.

My new personal record in zhan zhuang is 15 minutes.  During that particular session, an uncontrollable trembling took over my body towards the end.  From what I can glean off the Internet, this is normal for those new to regular zhan zhuang practice.

So it looks like zhan zhuang is working for one of my goals, which is to eliminate excessive tension in the shoulders and anywhere else in the upper body, while practicing martial arts.