I have been standing for about two and a half years now and practicing taichi Yang style long form in the ChenManChing/TT Liang/Ray Hayward Lineage for the past year.   I just met and practiced with my Taichi teacher this past month and he strongly emphasized the incredible importance of standing, not just as a foundation, but as a stand alone, COMPLETELY whole practice as it is. I've re-established my standing practice since then and I'm amazed at its power. It's easy to leave something as simple and subtle as standing behind for something more active and "challenging". I understand that the apparent lack of subtlety and strength in my taichi practice is inherent in my lack of experience and not the PRACTICE ITSELF. I, however, am consistently amazed by the capacity of standing to immediately affect the internal and external aspects of my being, to provide a solid sense of well-being, calm confidence, and a rootedness in-the-body.   I previously held the sense that STANDING could be likened to working on the engine. After hours, days, months, and years of practice, one would be able to take this engine and install it into a taichi "vehicle", at which time the subtleties of alignment, movement, and breath become more apparent and subject to the focus of awareness. Now, I'm not so sure. I wonder if standing is BOTH the engine and the vehicle (long term).   I understand that this metaphor is messy because at assumes a moving toward some endpoint, goal. I would replace "a moving toward some endpoint, goal" with moving toward a better understanding of this organism's relationship to BEING.   I expect to get some flak for a question like this for a couple reasons:   1. Everyone is different. Some will choose to stand and do nothing else. So, in that sense, STANDING is the whole, the engine and the vehicle, from beginning to end.   2. Some will never stand and come to similar realizations and enjoyment of life AS IT IS.   As I come to the end of this post, a question reveals itself. For those of you who have stood, who have established that relationship, how longterm has it been for you? Is there a law of diminishing returns at work here, ie does standing pay off big time at the beginning, and not so much later on? At which time, would one be advised to move into a practice like taichi or the like?   Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm enjoying my standing and taichi practice a lot lately and I'm thankful for the availability of a place like this to throw out these questions that bubble up from time to time.   ben