Wuji/Zhan Zhuang side effect

[Branza]

Hi all, apologies for the long message and thanks for reading it!

 

I've been practicing regularly zhan zhuang for about year (on and off for longer than that), following mainly The Way of Energy for the practical part and Hara by Durckheim for a more theorical guidance. I am self thought, unfortunately I wasn't able to find a good teacher in Barcelona, Spain - open to suggestions for one if anyone is from around here

Let me start with a short introduction: my posture has always been bad, in my opinion mainly caused by emotional trauma in my early years. A bit slouched over, but the main issue was a tilt on the pelvis that basically ruined all my symmetry. A huge percentage of my weight was on my right leg exclusively, my right shoulder was raised, the neck was tilted on the left and so on.

This posture made me develop a few issues with chronic pain in my upper and lower back. No doctors/MRIs/physiotherapists(...) were able to help. I'm happy to say that, thanks to zhan zhuang (I mainly practice in wuji and I "hold the balloon" from time to time), my upper back pain is almost completely gone, and the one in the lower back is maybe 25% of what it was.

Good news, then. So, why the post? Well the issue is that, since I started releasing the tension in the pelvis, and being able to distribute 50/50 between the two legs, the left one (the one not used to carry the weight) has developed an edema. 
It started in the ankle, and I thought it was normal (after all the modified pelvis position was changing the angle between my leg and my foot), but with time, the whole leg stared to swell, from the thigh to the foot, included.

I was sure since the very beginning that the swelling was caused by the practice. I'm a 42M, active, in very good shape (except for the big leg!), traditional martial arts practitioner, vegetarian, no junk food and so on. Still, I saw a few doctors (you can imagine how hard it was to try to explain to them what zhan zhuang does to the body ) and went through some exams to exclude other causes - Echo doppler to rule out vein thrombosis, CAT scan to check everything was ok. And well, all the exams are perfect and the doctors, of course, have no idea why this is happening.

The edema has been going on for around 4 months I'd say. I thought it was temporary but I'm starting to freak out a bit. The leg is still way bigger than the other one, I believe the size hasn't changed much in the past few months but at least the skin isn't as hard anymore, so I believe that part of the liquid has at least been reabsorbed.
I'm sure I haven't reached symmetry yet so that might be the reason why this is still ongoing. I try to keep the leg elevated as much as I can, but it's not helping that much.

Ok, that's a good overview. Apologies again for the length but I wanted to be as thorough as possible
Has something similar happened to any of you guys? Any suggestion or advice will be immensely appreciated. Happy to provide more details if needed. 

 

Thanks a bunch for your help. If you read all this but can't help, well, thanks anyway for reading

[Gerard]

Hello,

 

You are releasing damp-heat from the Liver & Gallbladder meridians, hence the leg swelling. 

 

You need to start incorporating movement in your practice for a faster release of those toxins.

 

Also taking a TCM herbal formula to flush the organs and meridians would be very helpful.

 

The Year of the Wood Dragon is what has caused that sudden release.

 

You are in Barcelona. OK, you have a guy called Carlos Garcia who teaches traditional Kung Fu and is also a TCM practitioner:

 

https://shorturl.at/0qmTT

 

Yes it happened to me in 2015 as well (left leg from the knee down to my foot) but I was able to clear it after one day of practice in the park next to a very large tree during late spring. I practice Ba Gua Zhang which is very dynamic and very good at opening and clearing.  

 

[Taoist Texts]

5 hours ago, Branza said:

the left one (the one not used to carry the weight) has developed an edema. 

your left leg was damaged originally, meaning the circulation in it was poor

5 hours ago, Branza said:

since I started releasing the tension in the pelvis, and being able to distribute 50/50 between the two legs

now you are loading it which blocks the circulation even more hence the edema.  You need to change your posture to Santishi with left leg unloaded, moxa your Zusanli, massage your Yongquan, any qigong up and down the leg, if you can - get a percussion massager for your calf. Stretching legs, sex abstinence, fasting would be healing but realistically not feasible for everyone. Drugs and TCM doctors or teachers would be a waste of time and money.

 

Edited August 17 by Taoist Texts

[Kojiro]

many people are not aware that standing for a long time can cause venous circulatory problems or edema, no joke here. Read this well:

 

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12564-edema

 

"If you spend a lot of time sitting or standing in one place for too long, water naturally pulls down into your arms, legs and feet (dependent edema)."

Edited August 17 by Kojiro

[Giles]

Hi @Branza,

 

For some people, The Way of Energy and the associated Stand Still Be Fit videos appear to be entirely adequate. However, in my experience, if it goes wrong for them, there's no real support from the Lam lineage.

 

For that reason, I'd strongly advise you to stop practicing Lam's Zhan Zhuang and jump ship to the Ren Xue Yuan Gong lineage, which offers an infinitely better support system.

 

Here's an overview of the first four (of nine) methods:

 

 

 

Best Wishes,

 

Giles

 

[Branza]

16 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

any qigong up and down the leg

 

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll definitely start looking into all the resources you guys linked or described.

 

@Taoist Texts, would you mind clarifying what you mean with the quoted text? It would be awesome if you could expand a bit, thanks so much!

Edited August 17 by Branza

[Taoist Texts]

16 hours ago, Branza said:

Taoist Texts, would you mind clarifying what you mean with the quoted text?

just any qigong that works on legs e.g.

 

just an example, does not have to be this one