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Hi Tao Bum's, About 15 years ago I brought 'The Way of Energy' and diligently practised ZZ for around a year. At some point, and I can't remember why, I gave up, it was possibly down to a particularly bad hang over and a lack of discipline for my age (22 at the time). I then dabbled with various spiritual practices and eventually settled on the sitting practice of 'Silent Illumination' for a few years and even went on a retreat where I made good progress. At some point I ended up giving that up too, but it was very useful while I did it. I've now found I've returned to ZZ and am getting a great deal from it, both in terms of the meditative aspect and the physical too. And here is my question. While I was practising 'Silent Illumination' I could easily find the motivation to sit every day with out fail. ZZ for me, however, requires a bit more will power and I am very concious of pushing myself too much and then giving up at some point in the future. Therefore, I've been going very gently, never putting myself through too much pain and so always kind of looking forward to it each day. I'm now at the point, 4 months in, where, after warming up my knees, hips and shoulders, as per 'The Way of Energy', I stand for 15 min twice a day and all is going well. I know this because just in the last week, when the timer goes off, I'm quite happy to stand a little bit longer. But - I'm not sure what is the best way to continue my practice with out using up too much will power, and therefore motivation. I can tell that around the 15 min mark, many new energies are now moving round my body and my legs are almost standing without effort. My thoughts are, should I start increasing the duration of my morning stand, pushing myself more, maybe much more, and then start doing the Ba Duan Jin in the evening. The idea here is that if I'm only standing once a day, I will have will power to push my self more. - Or - just slowly increase the duration of both stands, say by one minute a week. This is because I actually like an evening stand where I can let go of the stresses of the day and I can lose myself / clear my mind better standing then I can by doing the Ba Duan Jin. i.e. Is it better to stand twice a day, or, stand once a day in the morning and do the Ba Duan Jin in the evening? Thanks for any advice you can give. MiffyMog.

Hi all, Just wondered if anyone could send over recommendations for brief zhan zhuang routines. I've got some time freed up at lunchtime and would like ideas for a c.20minute ZZ session. Goals would be to complement my existing nei gong/meditation/qi gong practices i.e. gathering, feeling, directing qi, LDT work etc. I don't have any experience with ZZ, but imagine it's simple to learn and practice but challenging to perfect. If anyone has any suggestions for forms that would fit into this slot (With brief warm up/down if possible) I'd very much appreciate it. Thanks