Zhang zhuang

[Ramon25]

So basically the question here is there sometjing about zhang zuang which makes emotions harder to control? Whenever I do zhang zhuang for more that 5-10 min, the next day my temper is nuts, I feel anger so much more easily, to ythe point where I can control it. I do believe my posture is good so I dont know what to think....

[Aetherous]

I've noticed that anger is stored in the calves. When you stimulate the calves, it can release.

 

If you focus on practicing breathing when you feel angry, it will help. If you feel too angry for breathing to help, then just do what you think is best to release it, and know that after some time the intensity will balance out.

[JohnC]

So basically the question here is there sometjing about zhang zuang which makes emotions harder to control? Whenever I do zhang zhuang for more that 5-10 min, the next day my temper is nuts, I feel anger so much more easily, to ythe point where I can control it. I do believe my posture is good so I dont know what to think....

 

Releasing!

 

Continue.

 

Watch your assumptions, that just because something is happening, that it is what the practice does.... in fact just watch your assumptions in general.

 

When I do Zhan Zhuang, my emotions get grounded, and I gain more awareness in my body. As well as a host of other things.

 

John

[Pablo]

It could be one or many things even if your posture is good:

 

Do you do any low (edit: slow) warm up before ZZ?

Are you going too deep into the posture?

Are you staring at the front very intensively?

Are you breathing from the tantien, and let it really drop?

Are you too focused on chi sensations?

Does your ZZ practice have a martial goal?

Any noice bothering you while ZZ?

 

Best,

Edited September 6, 2010 by Pablo

[Maddie]

So basically the question here is there sometjing about zhang zuang which makes emotions harder to control? Whenever I do zhang zhuang for more that 5-10 min, the next day my temper is nuts, I feel anger so much more easily, to ythe point where I can control it. I do believe my posture is good so I dont know what to think....

 

I had a very similar problem. I would work my way up to 15 min and yea same thing, be very tempermental. So I stopped for a while. Then I mentioned that on here, and it was recommended that I do "hold the ball" a little lower and smaller and that has seemed to help. But than again I am only doing hold the ball for 5 min now, and the rest of the time I'm in wuji posture. But yea I know EXACTELY what your talking about.

 

P.S. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but now I do the rooting visualization when I do ZZ also.

Edited September 5, 2010 by dmattwads

[Ramon25]

Well thanks guys for the resonses! But this is very interesting, especially if it happened to another person too.. It is worth investigating. DMATT what posture were u practicing? I switch between, embracing the tree, hand in the river, holding up the balloon. Did u store the energy afterwards? How long do u do wuji, and does that help?

 

 

Pablo what do u mean staring at the front very intensly? I kind of let my vision blur...

 

I thought it might be release but I also thought it might be energing my emotions in general???

 

Lets discuss....

Edited September 5, 2010 by Ramon25

[pilot]

Kam Lam Chuen from Way of Energy suggests you do the 8 Brocades daily to prepare the Qi body for Zhan Zhuang.

[Maddie]

Well thanks guys for the resonses! But this is very interesting, especially if it happened to another person too.. It is worth investigating. DMATT what posture were u practicing? I switch between, embracing the tree, hand in the river, holding up the balloon. Did u store the energy afterwards? How long do u do wuji, and does that help?

 

 

Pablo what do u mean staring at the front very intensly? I kind of let my vision blur...

 

I thought it might be release but I also thought it might be energing my emotions in general???

 

Lets discuss....

 

Ok here was/is my routine. I do the 8 brocades first, then I do wuji position for 5 min, then holing the ball/embracing the tree for 5, and back to wuji for 5. Back when I was having problems I would do holding the ball for 15 min but I held it higher and bigger. So far doing it this way has not resulted in the same temperment problems as before, in fact I feel more mellow now than ever

[Ramon25]

Well that sounds good. I guess wuji is a little more yin and honding the tree is more yang? or the opposite? Whenever I do the eight brocades my knee hurt. Infact any horse stance posutre hurts them so I stay away.. Do u think its a matter of preparation for the more advnaced postures little by little?

Edited September 5, 2010 by Ramon25

[Gerard]

.

Edited September 21, 2010 by durkhrod chogori

[Martial Development]

"I was even-tempered before, but 10 minutes of zhun zhuang makes me angry all day. I must have used the wrong posture."

 

That I would find hard to believe.

 

"I was both chronically angry and emotionally repressed before, but after 10 minutes of zhan zhuang, I want to express myself without restraint. And as it turns out, I am not as nice as I thought."

 

That I would find easy to believe.

[UTI]

"I was even-tempered before, but 10 minutes of zhun zhuang makes me angry all day. I must have used the wrong posture."

 

That I would find hard to believe.

 

"I was both chronically angry and emotionally repressed before, but after 10 minutes of zhan zhuang, I want to express myself without restraint. And as it turns out, I am not as nice as I thought."

 

That I would find easy to believe.

 

I can really identify myself with that. I'm starting to come out of a four month period where I would be so angry that my head would spin as soon as I was bothered by anything, and as time went it became more and more apparent that it had to do with the fact that after training my head was clear from everything blocking my emotions, and I was actually feeling what I was feeling.

 

Getting easier now, I've come to terms with much of the reality I've been keeping at bay, but I'm guessing that just means that there will soon be something new to shake me. The important thing is to not get scared and back out of training. There's nothing wrong with getting angry, sad, extatic or frightened, as long as it is only temporary.

 

I started out doing it like lam kam chuen said in the book, but after a while i substituted baduanjin for a neigung routine. 10-15 minutes holding the ball. Afterwards I do taiji and sitting meditation.

[Pablo]

So basically the question here is there sometjing about zhang zuang which makes emotions harder to control? Whenever I do zhang zhuang for more that 5-10 min, the next day my temper is nuts, I feel anger so much more easily, to ythe point where I can control it. I do believe my posture is good so I dont know what to think....

...

Whenever I do the eight brocades my knee hurt. Infact any horse stance posutre hurts them so I stay away.. Do u think its a matter of preparation for the more advnaced postures little by little?

 

Ramon25, I would suggest you to fix your legs and learn to dissolve body tensions through them. IMO your stance is not good enough, your knee problem escalates tension all the way up to your chest, hence your temper changes. And if your arms are held higher than the "nipples line" and you make a circle with your arms as wider as you can, that would only add fire to your emotions.

 

There's a mistaken understanding regarding ZZ, that a static posture is in fact "static", instead of endless corrections of alignments. The special gift of ZZ is not to pack you full of chi but to learn to read your body.

Edited September 6, 2010 by Pablo

[Maddie]

I can really identify myself with that. I'm starting to come out of a four month period where I would be so angry that my head would spin as soon as I was bothered by anything, and as time went it became more and more apparent that it had to do with the fact that after training my head was clear from everything blocking my emotions, and I was actually feeling what I was feeling.

 

Getting easier now, I've come to terms with much of the reality I've been keeping at bay, but I'm guessing that just means that there will soon be something new to shake me. The important thing is to not get scared and back out of training. There's nothing wrong with getting angry, sad, extatic or frightened, as long as it is only temporary.

 

I started out doing it like lam kam chuen said in the book, but after a while i substituted baduanjin for a neigung routine. 10-15 minutes holding the ball. Afterwards I do taiji and sitting meditation.

 

Thats actually a very plausable theory. I had concidered that before as well that perhaps I had always been that angry and ZZ was just making me more aware of it, who knows?? One thing that has changed however is now that I do hold the ball a little smaller and lower it does not have the constrictive effect upon my diaphram that it used to have.

[Ramon25]

Ramon25, I would suggest you to fix your legs and learn to dissolve body tensions through them. IMO your stance is not good enough, your knee problem escalates tension all the way up to your chest, hence your temper changes. And if your arms are held higher than the "nipples line" and you make a circle with your arms as wider as you can, that would only add fire to your emotions.

 

There's a mistaken understanding regarding ZZ, that a static posture is in fact "static", instead of endless corrections of alignments. The special gift of ZZ is not to pack you full of chi but to learn to read your body.

 

Very interesting, So which postures are the most "water"? So Do I keep my arms BELOW or at level with the nipple?

 

Dmatt, I am not sure how u end up doing this LOWER SMALLER posture, could u elaborate A little more if possible.

 

Drunkard, Should I plae my hand at my navel the way its reccomended on top of a moving practice? I might just do someshaking for a few minutes....

 

THanks everyone for your responses!!

[thelerner]

Ramon25, I would suggest you to fix your legs and learn to dissolve body tensions through them. IMO your stance is not good enough, your knee problem escalates tension all the way up to your chest, hence your temper changes. And if your arms are held higher than the "nipples line" and you make a circle with your arms as wider as you can, that would only add fire to your emotions.

 

There's a mistaken understanding regarding ZZ, that a static posture is in fact "static", instead of endless corrections of alignments. The special gift of ZZ is not to pack you full of chi but to learn to read your body.

 

Insightful stuff.

 

When I do ZZ I dissolve tension in my body by listening to a 15 minute guided meditation called the Archaeous. Its from Rawn Clark, it has an interesting take on element theory by having you imagine the feet to the hips as earth. Waist & stomach region as water, chest as air, etc. Listening to it takes me through 15 minutes effortlessly, feeling strong. Its a free download, just google it if interested.

 

Rawn has many fascinating indepth meditation available for free mp3 download on his site.

 

 

Michael

 

Michael

[Pablo]

Very interesting, So which postures are the most "water"? So Do I keep my arms BELOW or at level with the nipple?

 

IME the easier is: horse stance, knees lightly bent, rigth palm over left palm at tantien. The variation I practiced most is same stance with hands like in a prayer but palms facing your chest, as if opening a small book. Check that your elbows are at navel level. Also that your chest goes inward. For the "holding the ball" stance, keep your arms just below the nipples level.

 

Insightful stuff.

 

When I do ZZ I dissolve tension in my body by listening to a 15 minute guided meditation called the Archaeous. Its from Rawn Clark, it has an interesting take on element theory by having you imagine the feet to the hips as earth. Waist & stomach region as water, chest as air, etc. Listening to it takes me through 15 minutes effortlessly, feeling strong. Its a free download, just google it if interested.

 

Rawn has many fascinating indepth meditation available for free mp3 download on his site.

 

Thanks! I've heard before of this kind of practice but never knew who developed it. There are a lot of stuff available on google. I'll give them a try.

 

The way I dissolve tensions is finding a stance where you have the floating feeling and investigate at lower abdomen and kwa where I'm actually collapsing instead of relaxing, or compensating by tightening other areas. I always find new things to observe and investigate. I kind of relate it to a pre-vipassana practice.

 

Then, more at a superficial level I let hot and cold currents go down my legs. I complement them with another practice I like very much: dissolving tensions from the sole of the foot, upwards. Feels like a pull down, a controled demolition.

 

Best,

Edited September 7, 2010 by Pablo

[Maddie]

Very interesting, So which postures are the most "water"? So Do I keep my arms BELOW or at level with the nipple?

 

Dmatt, I am not sure how u end up doing this LOWER SMALLER posture, could u elaborate A little more if possible.

 

Drunkard, Should I plae my hand at my navel the way its reccomended on top of a moving practice? I might just do someshaking for a few minutes....

 

THanks everyone for your responses!!

 

I keep my elbows below the nipple line, and my fingers only a few inches apart now. Before I would hold my elbows at the nipple line, and my fingers were almost a foot apart. So that is how I made it smaller.

[Mal]