Daily Exercise: Zhan Zhuang + TaiChi + Meditation

This is just an outline of what I expect will become daily exercise for most of humanity. Right now it is just a personal experiment, and these are my notes:

8 pieces of brocade [0]; Yang style short form, (Beijing 24) followed by this version of Zhan Zhuang (which seems to have been extracted from Yiquan):

• First Posture - "pushing a wooden board, which is floating on surface of water"
• Second Posture - Holding the Ball   "tree hugging or first ring"
• Third Posture - Standing in a Stream "hawk washes claws" turn hands palm down and lower the stance as if..
• Fourth Posture - Holding the Ball in Front of Your Face " Lift your arms so that the hands are shoulder width apart and held at face height, palms facing forwards."
• Fifth Posture - Holding Your Belly  "lower the arms 60-80 degrees" as if you had an enormous belly, and where holding it up with your hands.

[The First Posture is dynamic, flowing forward and back. The other four are static with strong visulisation.]

There are many other postures, but really the first and second are the only ones that seem to build up qi, (the 4th and 5th are just variations on the 2nd). And the 3rd posture, like playing the pei pai is a projecting posture.

I can't find a definitive list of Zhan Zhuang posture names, (as is available with each and every branch of Taichi), but that is probably because the founder of Yiquan was such a natural fighter that he, "preferred a formless form". (It might also be because he discovered or re-discovered standing-on-stake and did not fully understand it. I really don't know.) There also seems to be a lot of discrepancy between how to perform Zhan Zhuang, so I have tried them all [1] and chosen, (above) the ones that feel best. I'm fairly certain that Zhan Zhuang is simply such a young collection of qigong that it has not been formalised, (petrified) as Ba Duan Jin has.)

I'm interested in expressing, (emitting) chi for healing, and it seems to work well , (possibly simply as a psychosomatic placebo) for minor sprains and aches-n-pains of my own body. The application in the form of Reiki also seems to have an affect for others, but nothing more effective than hypnotherapy, massage or meditation. (The intersection of all of these, plus various meditations, require a lot more serious scientific scrutiny. I'm sure that much of it is bunk, (or at least chaff) but quite clearly just getting up and moving is better for your health than sitting and watching television.)

Sometimes I like to do the Beijing 24 form mirrored, (open left {facing 'south'}, lift hands, part horses mane _right_ towards the west.) I hardly every do the full Yang 108 form.

Here is the list of 8 pieces of brocade that I do:

[0] Ba Duan Jin - Baduanjin Qigong (8 Pieces of Brocade)

Hold up the sky - spine stretch to regulate San Jiao (Triple Burner)

Drawing the Bow to shoot the hawk - "left liver (meridian), right lung"

Separate Heaven and Earth           - Liver (rh-up) and spleen (lh-up)

Wise Owl looks Back                        - lungs

Sway the Head and Shake the Tail  - heart

Two Hands Hold the Feet                - kidneys

Clench the Fists and Glare Fiercely - lead the chi out

Breath from your heels and bounce - health balance

I like the way that Dr. Jang Zwing-Ming demonstrates and explains these movements, (you can find him on his website or YouTube.)

[1] all the ones that I have found in books and on the Internet