Horse stance

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I would expect standing on the balls of your feet or your heels to work different sections of your legs more, but balancing weight evenly to be possible for longer periods.

[ChiDragon]

preaching to the choir doesnt answer my specific question:

Are there benefits and/or detriments to the various placements of the feet, in correlation to the benefits of the stance itself?

 

 

 

... and more specifically, what is the proper usage of each bodily arrangement; be it placement of the feet, arc of the back, or peak of the head... In the specifics of Horse Stance itself: what good comes of standing on the balls of the feet as opposed to the heels; what good comes of distributing weight evenly across the feet, as opposed to standing on the balls of the feet?

 

There only benefit I see is to make the feet more stronger and stable, in correlation to the stance itself, for balancing the body.

 

.....and more specifically, what is the proper usage of each bodily arrangement; be it placement of the feet, arc of the back, or peak of the head...

All of the above, if your body is balanced in a comfortable position.

 

In the specifics of Horse Stance itself: what good comes of standing on the balls of the feet as opposed to the heels;

You are talking about two levels of practice. As a beginner, one should stand flat on the ground with the feet. Until the feet become strengthened, then, one can stand on the balls of the feet. Standing on the balls of the feet, second level, will give you more bouncing power but easy to be off balance, unless, one is really good at it and with stronger ankle joints. It is because all the bouncing power depends upon how strong the ankles are.

 

what good comes of distributing weight evenly across the feet, as opposed to standing on the balls of the feet?

All the body weights are going straight down toward the center of the legs and distributing across the feet evenly. If you standing on the balls of the feet, the balls of the feet will take all the weights. It is because the points of contact, to the ground, are the balls of the feet only.

 

Edited April 4, 2013 by ChiDragon

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

<3 awesome. while i will have to experience and experiment, i think i understand.

Though i still cant help but see the balls of the feet as being "better" for posture and alignment...


I dont know any other creature on earth that does not walk on the balls of their feet/toes EXCEPT Humans... and Primates with opposable thumbs on their feet... chimps and monkeys who walk on their knuckles also...

[Protector]

Make your big toes dig into the ground

 

FOR POWAH

 

when turning and such

[z00se]

 

Would horse stance on the balls of the feet be beneficial to the ankles or detrimental?

 

I never thought there would be so many pages and posts about horse stance. I thought it was just standing with your legs bent. Go on the balls if you want or just balance the weight out over your whole feet. Move around if your legs get tired. Just do it the way that you'd like to improve on, if you want to put all the weight on the balls of your feet to strengthen them for some certain reason then just do it. Otherwise why not just spread the weight out evenly over the whole foot so you just strengthen the whole foot in balance.

 

Horse stance is ok for meditating or doing neigong so you can concentrate on what you are doing with the chi but why would you want to just strengthen your legs statically when you can strengthen all your supporting muscles and tendons while doing tai chi as low as you can. It would take less time out of your day too because your legs really get a hammering when you do tai chi low. When i was in China we would have 7-8 hour classes every sat n sunday and sometimes it hurt to walk for 2-3 days after until my legs strengthened up. Your leg muscles can take a pounding they are the biggest muscles in your body, just respect any pain you feel, and you will be find to push yourself quiet hard, so long as you are healthy to begin with

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I had got to doing 5 minutes, and now I'm back only being able to do about 2 minutes. It's like my legs got stronger rapidly, then weakened a little.

 

Is it just that it will take time for the muscle to build and micro-fractures to repair, after doing long (for a beginner) periods like that?

[ChiDragon]

Yes, I just realized that your legs are very very weak. You have a long way too go yet.

Edited April 26, 2013 by ChiDragon

[eye_of_the_storm]

Edited April 27, 2013 by White Wolf Running On Air

[eye_of_the_storm]

Tried horse stance for the first time just before... intense stuff haha

Seems promising

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I just did 4 minutes, and have a cold sensation in the soles of my feet, warmth in my spine and a buzz at my temples. This really builds up lots of chi.

[宁]

don't set your time target lower than 40 min

what is below that, consider it a training to get there, and when you do, stay there or go higher

[Seeker of Wisdom]

Sure. Times like that aren't doable for me yet, but I look forward to reaping the benefits of more hardcore horse stancing.

 

What is doing horse stance that long like? That must be fairly intense lol.

[joeblast]

split the training up a bit. very long durations of 90 degree horse stance can be damaging if you are not prepared for it, there is a tendency to slack on some of the fundamentals in in order to make the duration easier. try getting those long durations with 45 degrees first, do your minute or six in 90 degree stance - then the long duration will have more inertia and foundation for longer stints at 90.

[Friend]

Edited August 17, 2013 by Friend

[eye_of_the_storm]

Can you read a book in horse stance?

[Maddie]

Can you read a book in horse stance?

 

 

For me it would have to be a very short book haha.

 

I don't do horse stance (at least not yet) but I did have something interesting happen today. So I meditated a lot today, after several hours my legs started to hurt from being in half lotus for so long, so I did a combination of walking and standing meditation. Well when I start to do the standing part I have my hands by my side in wuji posture and when my palms face each other its like they are two magnets pushing at each other and my hands push out away from my sides and kind of float at an equal distance from my sides lol. Then out of curiosity I force my hands back to my sides and when I relax my arms they float out again and just stay there lol. It felt like magnets.

[宁]

I remember a movie where Bruce Lee and his master were playing Chinese chess, holding the chess table on their knees, of course in 骑马式。

I don't think it's a matter of strengh in the feet. I feel this practice trains the heart (as an organ) more than anything else. It's a standing still cardio.

IMO, horse stance, squatting and lotus pose should be trained together. Genuflexions!

Edited May 27, 2013 by 宁

[Seeker of Wisdom]

Pretty intense 5 mins just now... My whole body was buzzing with chi, so much in my hands it felt like I had hands made of chi which were rotating slightly - occupying the same space as my physical hands. Super heat in my legs, some in my dan tien and spine, and a gently pulsating root chakra. My mind is also more quiet, clear and alert. After only 5 mins.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Seeker of the Self

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I've been doing 6mins a day for a little while. Just now I pushed myself a bit and got over 12mins - longest yet. It was incredible!

 

From about 7mins it wasn't hard, my legs settled into the posture and barely ached. They shook a bit, but I had no trouble staying in place.

 

The heat in my legs and dan tien wasn't much hotter than usual, but it was kind of 'thicker'. It seemed to dilate my channels a bit, and chi has spread all through my body. It feels lighter and tingles.

 

The biggest thing, though, was the way my mind cleared, stilled and opened up - not as much as in a good anapana session, but really something. I wasn't expecting this much clarity to come in horse stance.

 

From 8mins, it felt very peaceful and joyful so I didn't want to stop. I would have happily stood there for hours if my left calf muscle would have let me. Ah, well... I guess the solution there is MOAR horse stance!

[adept]

Good stuff. 12 minutes is awesome in a 90 degree horse stance.

Well done !

[ChiDragon]

Who said 90 degree...??? Did he say that he did 12 minutes in 90 degree horse stance....???

Edited July 4, 2013 by ChiDragon

[Seeker of Wisdom]

Cheers. Yes, it was 90°. Though I don't expect to be doing 12mins every day just yet, I'll build up steadily from my current 6mins.

[ChiDragon]

90 degree with the upper body in a vertical position......??? If you did, then congratulations....!!!

[Wizz]

 

 

 

From the angle of this photo this way of doing the horse stance is just a wrong way to do it. With this angle and your feet turned like this it is just a matter of time when your meniscus gets teared apart. One should examine the anatomy of the knee and body if he plans on doing horse stance. My knee was already weak from doing half lotus pose in a wrong way and I did it for many years (I wasn't completely aware of it), so weeks ago when I started doing 90degree horse stance I used too much pressure on the side of my knees and the next day my knee got numb and after three days I got pains and now I have trouble walking, ortopedic doctor told me I need to go on operation.

 

I have bumped into a topic here on the forum from David Keil about full lotus posture and how to save your knees. Now I'm sorry I didn't bump into it earlier or didn't take a class with someone who could tell me about it. I'm just saying be careful because doing horse stance the wrong way with much force its very easy to harm the meniscus in the knee, this applies for lotus as well. So when doing it right you can apply a lot of muscle power and force and you will get positive results without harming yourself but not the other way around even if you have much energy flowing trough your legs it wont count much.

 

So check the anatomy, check more then twice if you are doing things correctly and then proceed because better now then sorry. cheers

[ChiDragon]

From the angle of this photo this way of doing the horse stance is just a wrong way to do it. With this angle and your feet turned like this it is just a matter of time when your meniscus gets teared apart. One should examine the anatomy of the knee and body if he plans on doing horse stance. My knee was already weak from doing half lotus pose in a wrong way and I did it for many years (I wasn't completely aware of it), so weeks ago when I started doing 90degree horse stance I used too much pressure on the side of my knees and the next day my knee got numb and after three days I got pains and now I have trouble walking, ortopedic doctor told me I need to go on operation.

 

 

So check the anatomy, check more then twice if you are doing things correctly and then proceed because better now then sorry. cheers

 

Well, I wouldn't jump to a conclusion about the ability of a Shaolin monk. It is because he had dedicates all his life in the Shaolin style martial arts. In your case, you had damaged your knee from the half lotus to begin with. Besides, one doesn't do the 90 degree horse stance from the beginning or a cold start. It has to be done progressively with an increment of 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 degree with the vertical. Each angle was done, at a time, for a certain period depends on the physical muscle structure of each individual. Thus one might take longer or shorter than others. Many people had done the horse stance for centuries, it was for the good of the legs but not to make it worse. The only thing that could make it worse is when it was done improperly. After the horse stance has been mastered to its perfection, the practitioner may stand in any position without causing any pain or damages to the any part of the legs, thus the anatomy is really not an issue.

Edited July 4, 2013 by ChiDragon