The biggest question people ask me about standing qigong, especially when they hear about the 2-hour project, is “what do you do, just stand there?” There is actually a really delicate balance between “doing” and “feeling” when you stand. You learn lots of different techniques, like breathing, sinking, dissolving, and pulsing, but how you apply them internally when you are holding a static posture is a tricky topic. If you rev your engine too much – activating strong diaphragmatic breathing the entire time, for example – then you miss the potential stillness in the posture.
A few months ago we talked about the signs of progress in your qigong practice. For so many of us, the issue of “progress” is central to qigong or Tai Chi practice, since we are driven by the desire to get it right, to solve a problem like a health issue, or to reach an amorphous and elusive spiritual goal. But what if we completely abandoned the idea of outcomes and perfection in practice?
Last month, we discussed the sense of progress you can sometimes struggle with in your practice. At the time, I mentioned that I’ve been working up to a two-hour standing session, which is a very structured practice goal. Today, I wanted to report back about what I’ve been experiencing in standing qigong and show you how to shift your sense of the time that passes when you stand. The structure of adding one minute to the length of the stand each day is seems like it should make for a very linear sense of time when you practice.
