*IT IS NO EXAGGERATION - THIS VIDEO CHANGED MY LIFE* I was in SO much pain from just relaxing I figured I needed to do more of this, it could not be good to be THAT tanst it hurt to relax. I've done this every day for a week now - I can sleep without back pain, I did not know that was possible, I thought it was just a function of being 53. I am sleeping so much better. I get so much more done. I feel happy when I wake up. I can stand up straight, my posture is WAY better, the hump on the back of my neck has gone. I can move without effort. Unbelievable...
How’s it going? I just say this is one of the most positive comments I’ve seen for standing meditation. I understand the benefit, having done this practice almost every day for more than 10 years. I’m curious if you are still practicing and if so what kind of results you are experiencing lately? Thanks. Colin.
@@CenterLifeBalance - HI yes I do it almost every day and it has reduced my back and leg pain by maybe 85%. I now realise that almost EVERY pain in the back and upper legs, when you think it is a pulled muscle, its not it is a trapped nerve. So now when I hurt my back I do 10 minutes of standing meditation and almost every time it fixes it. My anterior pelvic tilt is almost gone as well. 35 years of being hunched over a computer or in a car driving for 10 hours a day had clearly taken a significant toll on my back, i was in pain every day just as a background level of existing. So YES I am still doing it and my life is definitely better. THANK YOU
Thank you for your channel and each video you release. Your instruction is exactly what I’ve been searching for and I’m very fortunate to have found it. Your instruction is helping me in many ways during a time in my life I need it and I will continue to access it moving forward. Thank you again.
Hi Colin. I played this video while I was standing for about 15mins today. I had a mirror in front where I could see my waist up and a side mirror from knee upwards. When following the instructions on the alignment, how do you 'know' if your body is in the right positions (especially for things you can't see)? For example: 1. When I stand normally, my butt sticks out and overtime I have learnt to rotate my pelvis under a bit for better alignment. I look in the mirror and see my butt sticking out so I rotate pelvis little bit more. This then shifted quite a bit of weight into back of my calves which then starts feeling less natural. 2. So I play around with relaxing my calves and found when I let go more in my hips then the weight was more evenly distributed into my front thighs and back of calves. 3. Then I look in side mirror and it looks like I'm now slightly leaning backwards a bit (probably for less weight in the back of calves), so I shift weight a little bit more into my toes and then I started to lose balance ... etc. So that's a very long way of asking how do I work on proper alignment when what my body naturally is used to, isn't aligned?
I use something very similar to relax my body at night before sleeping ut I start with my feet up to my head I will try this as a morning routine now Thanks for the info
Learning this while spending my quarantine period at a foreign country.. Thank you so much for sharing your valuable knowledge .. May it grows abundantly.. 🌸
Thank you for the lovely comment I really appreciate it. I’ll do my best to continue to add value. The more you practice the more you’ll get from it. Keep it up! 🙏👍
Great question. Yes you can use self to a certain extend, to cue/trigger intuition/feeling/sensing. Eg "my lower back is releasing and relaxing and sinking down" followed by silent observation and listening to the body in order to experience that which you have suggested to the body. In this video on standing I demonstrate the self talk I have used in the past. The thoughts help to focus awareness on the part of the body we are trying to relax. In the end however, no thoughts are required, only listening. One cannot listen and speak at the same time.
Thanks very much for your teaching! I tried your method and really like your formula for relaxation, but I have two issues with the meditation, first, when I followed your formula to relax, I fell sleep, and then woke up to continue, I was wondering if that was okay; second, I had hard time to remember the phases for relaxing, I was wondering if you could share those phases with me? Thanks very much for your help!
Thank you very much glad you enjoyed! I assume you did a sitting meditation. Meditation can be very relaxing and people might feel sleepy. Anything is okay, no right or wrong, but meditation is meditation and sleep is sleep. When we sleep we lose consciousness so it's best to stay awake and present for mediation. The following is a list of key points that if observed and practised will improve your standing meditation experience. Many of these points can be observed in sitting meditation and are equally effective. Say the statement then observe how the body responds. 1 - Relax the neck and suspend the head from the crown point. Allow the muscles of your neck, including those of your throat, to relax and let go. As you relax the neck you will feel your spine relax also, and you should feel your head straighten up. Don’t force any movement, but sense for the movement that wants to take place. 2 - Relax the chest and arch the back By relaxing the chest your breath should sink deeper into the body. An exercise that may help sink the breath is to visualise the breath coming in through the heart and out through the solar plexus. 4 - Drop and relax the shoulders, drop and relax the elbows Feel your shoulders sinking down into the body as the elbows become heavy. If finding it difficult to relax your shoulders focus on relaxing the elbows and the shoulders will relax automatically. 5 - The wrist should be set comfortably while the fingers extend outwards Draw your attention to wrists and hands. Be sure to relax the thumbs, and you can focus on your fingertips to increase awareness of your Ch’i flowing to them. 6 - The entire body must be vertical and balanced 7 - The coccyx (Tailbone) must be pulled forward and upward with the mind 8 - Relax the waist and the juncture of the thighs and pelvis 9 - The knees should stay between relaxed and not relaxed 10 - The sole of the foot should sink and attach comfortably to the ground 11 - Each part of the body should be connected to every other part An extension of this point is to connect individual body parts intuitively, and try to feel/sense the connection between them. Be specific, for example, try to feel the connection between your little toe of the left foot and your right thumb, or your left wrist and your left ankle. The connection is there, Play around with this point and you will be pleasantly surprised. 12 - The internal and the external should combine together; breathing should be natural 13 - Listen to your back Listen with all your senses to your back, feel it with your mind, and allow it to relax. If you feel any tension there, allow it to release and let go and move downwards. If you balance your back, everything will balance. You can attempt to visualize each of your vertebrae aligning into place one by one. 14 - Listen behind Focus and listen to an imaginary point behind you. This will help you to keep your balance and sink your Ch’i. In addition it calms the mind and detracts away from the forebrain. Let me know how you get on with these.
I do Yang style Tai Chi and they hold the arms out and higher. I. Have been doing it the way you do and I can relax much more. What is your opinion on the correct way to do standing in the post as it seems there are differences in the way it's done.If you could expound on this topic I would be much obliged, thanks.
In my opinion and from my understanding holding the arms around the height of the centre enables shoulders and elbows to relax and sink down and the back to relax. When relaxation is everywhere and the weight is sinking down into the feet and the soles of the foot are heavy on the ground The arms will naturally rise upwards a little bit as the chi flows to the finger tips and fill up the arms and everything else. At higher levels the arms can be quite high. Same can be said for the form. Are my arms too high or not high enough? am I still relaxed with my arms at this height? If there’s tension in the shoulders then my arms may be too high and I need to lower them until I’ve Learned to relax. Relaxation is the first principle and can be used to guide all positioning of the body .
Thank you, just getting started with Taiji and can tell it is powerful: I never understood the yin-yang philosophy underlying it with the movements until now. Great instructional videos!
C Sai thank you for the kind words. I am not a master merely a dedicated student. Only one who has reached the highest level of taiji skill earns the title of master. Very few reach that level. Thanks again 🙏
Shaking can happen in the legs sometimes. I have had shaking before, especially if you are learning to relax while standing. Continue to focus on relaxing the body using the mind. The shaking should reduce over time as we learn to sink the weight down through the legs and into the feet. Once the legs learn to relax shaking will be minimal .
Thank you for the video, truly loved it!! Just want to ask one thing, do we have to make our feet parallel to each other while standing in this position or is it optional?
Hey Chris - thanks a lot for this fantastic demonstration of standing meditation. I was wondering about the hand posture - i've seen a number of versions of this, some with a slight external rotation in the shoulders but hands essentially down by the hips, another with shoulders and arms stretched outward with hands out about 5" from the dantian, and now the version you've shown here. Are all of these variations versions you've seen and practice, or not at all? Have you settled on the version you show here for a reason? Thanks again.
This is the version as taught by the chen family. The results I have experienced has made it the one and only standing practice I do. The arms are generally at about 90° at the elbow, some space under the armpit enough to hold an egg, Albertus should feel heavy, and the shoulders sinking down. When the arms are too low they become passive, when the arms are too high the shoulders become tense. The key focus should be on relaxation yet aliveness, empty yet full. The more we learn to relax the more chi flows to the extremities, which fills up the arms from the inside, causing them to rise higher by themselves over time. The level of the hands will therefore change over time. For me the range is approximately somewhere between the Dan Tian and solar plexus. Last point, we should practice noninterference. Focus fully on relaxation and the body will reveal many things. Hope this serves you 🙏
If the alignment is correct you can stand for a very long time. There are many people who stand for about an hour or longer daily. 20 minutes is a standard. As long as you are training the form as well it shouldn't be an issue .you can stand for as long as it feels good. I frequently do an hour or longer.
I recommend standing meditation for everyone and tai chi also. If you are new try to find a teacher near you. It is always a great help to have an in person class with a teacher as it will make the learning curve shorter.
Hi I just found your clip what’s your opinions on keeping your eyes open or closed? There seems to be a mixed view on this, iv been practicing Zhan Zhuang on and off I seem to get to a certain point and then it tails off I also practice Wing Chun 🙏🏻
Eyes closed is best because vision is a distraction. I only open my eyes to check my posture. In the beginning I check my hip knee foot alignment. Once I am a few mins in I usually only open my eyes occasionally and briefly to glance at my hands. Hands twisting or rising up tells me there is tension in the shoulders, so I relax, let the hands/arms reset, and then close the eyes again. I find that I become more aware internally when my eyes are closed. What do you think?
@@CenterLifeBalance it makes common sense, practicing with my eyes closed I always felt more visually internal my practice has been of my own doing Iv picked up points reading and speaking to those who have experience… it’s a journey I’d like to build more permanently. Your video felt exactly as I practice, thank you 🙏🏻
As you practice self awareness by observing the body for tension, rigidity, stiffness etc and you the practice release and let go of more and more tension you begin to develop a habit of seeking and finding. We don't fee the chi energy until we have learned to let go of physical tensions, stiff shoulders, tight lower back etc. because energy is subtle. To feel the subtle we must first dissolve the extreme. As you become less tense via the flowing circular rhythmic movement of the form, we smooth out our rough edges. There is less inner resistances. By then the mind will be sharpened and awareness will have expanded to be able to take in more subtle information. In the meantime try this qigong set :) th-cam.com/video/MH3KVjnlly8/w-d-xo.html
How nice to have a non-American accent for a change! We, as Americans, have developed an accent, enunciation, style that is so "car salesman act"! We don't notice it, much less have an awareness of how consumerist and puerile our culture is.
*IT IS NO EXAGGERATION - THIS VIDEO CHANGED MY LIFE* I was in SO much pain from just relaxing I figured I needed to do more of this, it could not be good to be THAT tanst it hurt to relax.
I've done this every day for a week now - I can sleep without back pain, I did not know that was possible, I thought it was just a function of being 53. I am sleeping so much better. I get so much more done. I feel happy when I wake up. I can stand up straight, my posture is WAY better, the hump on the back of my neck has gone. I can move without effort. Unbelievable...
How’s it going? I just say this is one of the most positive comments I’ve seen for standing meditation. I understand the benefit, having done this practice almost every day for more than 10 years. I’m curious if you are still practicing and if so what kind of results you are experiencing lately? Thanks. Colin.
@@CenterLifeBalance - HI yes I do it almost every day and it has reduced my back and leg pain by maybe 85%. I now realise that almost EVERY pain in the back and upper legs, when you think it is a pulled muscle, its not it is a trapped nerve. So now when I hurt my back I do 10 minutes of standing meditation and almost every time it fixes it.
My anterior pelvic tilt is almost gone as well.
35 years of being hunched over a computer or in a car driving for 10 hours a day had clearly taken a significant toll on my back, i was in pain every day just as a background level of existing. So YES I am still doing it and my life is definitely better. THANK YOU
Thank you taking time out of your life and teaching us. Thank you
Thank you for taking time out of your life to watch and comment 🙏
Thank you for your channel and each video you release. Your instruction is exactly what I’ve been searching for and I’m very fortunate to have found it. Your instruction is helping me in many ways during a time in my life I need it and I will continue to access it moving forward. Thank you again.
Thanks for the down to earth instructions. Without the mystical pretentions.Very Dao !
Thank you Scot much appreciated 🙏
Thank you very much! Been practicing Tai Chi literally every day! I notice the benefits of Tai Chi Gung. I am blessed!!!
Yay! I'm so excited to watch this video! Ok I'm ready, go.. 😍
Thank you, Colin for these videos and your instructions. Very detailed and helpful.
Hi Colin. I played this video while I was standing for about 15mins today. I had a mirror in front where I could see my waist up and a side mirror from knee upwards. When following the instructions on the alignment, how do you 'know' if your body is in the right positions (especially for things you can't see)? For example:
1. When I stand normally, my butt sticks out and overtime I have learnt to rotate my pelvis under a bit for better alignment. I look in the mirror and see my butt sticking out so I rotate pelvis little bit more. This then shifted quite a bit of weight into back of my calves which then starts feeling less natural.
2. So I play around with relaxing my calves and found when I let go more in my hips then the weight was more evenly distributed into my front thighs and back of calves.
3. Then I look in side mirror and it looks like I'm now slightly leaning backwards a bit (probably for less weight in the back of calves), so I shift weight a little bit more into my toes and then I started to lose balance ...
etc.
So that's a very long way of asking how do I work on proper alignment when what my body naturally is used to, isn't aligned?
Awesome thank you
Lovely. Thank you.
I use something very similar to relax my body at night before sleeping ut I start with my feet up to my head
I will try this as a morning routine now
Thanks for the info
Progressive relaxation is fantastic. Great for bedtime and also part of my daily practice.
Learning this while spending my quarantine period at a foreign country.. Thank you so much for sharing your valuable knowledge .. May it grows abundantly.. 🌸
Many thanks I appreciate the gratitude and encouragement 🙏
Awesome video. This standard meditation is very helpful in these difficult times to manage stress, depressions etc. Cheers. 👍🙏🙏
Thank you I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's my favourite practice by far. Much can be discovered from standing.
So calming ❤️ thank you
Hi Colin thankyou for sharing your knowledge I really love and enjoy your channel. 🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️ trying to practice taichi everyday💪🏼
Thank you for the lovely comment I really appreciate it. I’ll do my best to continue to add value. The more you practice the more you’ll get from it. Keep it up! 🙏👍
Very nice. I am working with a shoulder injury, and this will help my recovery.
For sure it will! Let me know how that goes for you. Tai chi has remarkable healing benefits.
I'm new to Tai Chi but I have experience in hypnosis I was wondering if you could self talk thanks a lot I really do appreciate it
Great question. Yes you can use self to a certain extend, to cue/trigger intuition/feeling/sensing. Eg "my lower back is releasing and relaxing and sinking down" followed by silent observation and listening to the body in order to experience that which you have suggested to the body. In this video on standing I demonstrate the self talk I have used in the past. The thoughts help to focus awareness on the part of the body we are trying to relax. In the end however, no thoughts are required, only listening. One cannot listen and speak at the same time.
Thanks very much for your teaching! I tried your method and really like your formula for relaxation, but I have two issues with the meditation, first, when I followed your formula to relax, I fell sleep, and then woke up to continue, I was wondering if that was okay; second, I had hard time to remember the phases for relaxing, I was wondering if you could share those phases with me?
Thanks very much for your help!
Thank you very much glad you enjoyed! I assume you did a sitting meditation. Meditation can be very relaxing and people might feel sleepy. Anything is okay, no right or wrong, but meditation is meditation and sleep is sleep. When we sleep we lose consciousness so it's best to stay awake and present for mediation.
The following is a list of key points that if observed and practised will improve your standing meditation experience. Many of these points can be observed in sitting meditation and are equally effective. Say the statement then observe how the body responds.
1 - Relax the neck and suspend the head from the crown point.
Allow the muscles of your neck, including those of your throat, to relax and let go. As you relax the neck you will feel your spine relax also, and you should feel your head straighten up. Don’t force any movement, but sense for the movement that wants to take place.
2 - Relax the chest and arch the back
By relaxing the chest your breath should sink deeper into the body.
An exercise that may help sink the breath is to visualise the breath coming in through the heart and out through the solar plexus.
4 - Drop and relax the shoulders, drop and relax the elbows
Feel your shoulders sinking down into the body as the elbows become heavy. If finding it difficult to relax your shoulders focus on relaxing the elbows and the shoulders will relax automatically.
5 - The wrist should be set comfortably while the fingers extend outwards
Draw your attention to wrists and hands. Be sure to relax the thumbs, and you can focus on your fingertips to increase awareness of your Ch’i flowing to them.
6 - The entire body must be vertical and balanced
7 - The coccyx (Tailbone) must be pulled forward and upward with the mind
8 - Relax the waist and the juncture of the thighs and pelvis
9 - The knees should stay between relaxed and not relaxed
10 - The sole of the foot should sink and attach comfortably to the ground
11 - Each part of the body should be connected to every other part
An extension of this point is to connect individual body parts intuitively, and try to feel/sense the connection between them. Be specific, for example, try to feel the connection between your little toe of the left foot and your right thumb, or your left wrist and your left ankle. The connection is there, Play around with this point and you will be pleasantly surprised.
12 - The internal and the external should combine together; breathing should be natural
13 - Listen to your back
Listen with all your senses to your back, feel it with your mind, and allow it to relax. If you feel any tension there, allow it to release and let go and move downwards. If you balance your back, everything will balance. You can attempt to visualize each of your vertebrae aligning into place one by one.
14 - Listen behind
Focus and listen to an imaginary point behind you. This will help you to keep your balance and sink your Ch’i. In addition it calms the mind and detracts away from the forebrain.
Let me know how you get on with these.
I do Yang style Tai Chi and they hold the arms out and higher. I. Have been doing it the way you do and I can relax much more. What is your opinion on the correct way to do standing in the post as it seems there are differences in the way it's done.If you could expound on this topic I would be much obliged, thanks.
In my opinion and from my understanding holding the arms around the height of the centre enables shoulders and elbows to relax and sink down and the back to relax.
When relaxation is everywhere and the weight is sinking down into the feet and the soles of the foot are heavy on the ground The arms will naturally rise upwards a little bit as the chi flows to the finger tips and fill up the arms and everything else.
At higher levels the arms can be quite high. Same can be said for the form. Are my arms too high or not high enough? am I still relaxed with my arms at this height? If there’s tension in the shoulders then my arms may be too high and I need to lower them until I’ve Learned to relax.
Relaxation is the first principle and can be used to guide all positioning of the body .
Thank you, just getting started with Taiji and can tell it is powerful: I never understood the yin-yang philosophy underlying it with the movements until now. Great instructional videos!
Walter DeLong thank you 🙏 I really appreciate your feedback. Stick with taiji and it will look after you for life!
Thank you. :)
Great work..Master...and thank you for doing great to the human well-being
C Sai thank you for the kind words. I am not a master merely a dedicated student. Only one who has reached the highest level of taiji skill earns the title of master. Very few reach that level. Thanks again 🙏
Thank you so much for the video. I have practiced this standing meditation twice and in both times my legs were shaking. Is that normal?
Shaking can happen in the legs sometimes. I have had shaking before, especially if you are learning to relax while standing. Continue to focus on relaxing the body using the mind. The shaking should reduce over time as we learn to sink the weight down through the legs and into the feet. Once the legs learn to relax shaking will be minimal .
Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.
yes
This video is truly valuable
Thank you so much I appreciate your feedback!
Thank you for the video, truly loved it!! Just want to ask one thing, do we have to make our feet parallel to each other while standing in this position or is it optional?
Parallel is best. But if you need to turn foot slightly outward (5-10mm) the opposite foot should be the same mirror angle so everything is balanced.
thank you Colin - what do you mean when you say "arch the back"
Upper back should be slightly rounded as we hollow the chest and relax the shoulders.
@@CenterLifeBalance Ahhh yes I understand now.
Thank you. 🙏 Namaste
Hey Chris - thanks a lot for this fantastic demonstration of standing meditation. I was wondering about the hand posture - i've seen a number of versions of this, some with a slight external rotation in the shoulders but hands essentially down by the hips, another with shoulders and arms stretched outward with hands out about 5" from the dantian, and now the version you've shown here. Are all of these variations versions you've seen and practice, or not at all? Have you settled on the version you show here for a reason? Thanks again.
This is the version as taught by the chen family. The results I have experienced has made it the one and only standing practice I do. The arms are generally at about 90° at the elbow, some space under the armpit enough to hold an egg, Albertus should feel heavy, and the shoulders sinking down. When the arms are too low they become passive, when the arms are too high the shoulders become tense. The key focus should be on relaxation yet aliveness, empty yet full. The more we learn to relax the more chi flows to the extremities, which fills up the arms from the inside, causing them to rise higher by themselves over time. The level of the hands will therefore change over time. For me the range is approximately somewhere between the Dan Tian and solar plexus. Last point, we should practice noninterference. Focus fully on relaxation and the body will reveal many things. Hope this serves you 🙏
@@CenterLifeBalance Thanks for that. Very helpful and informative.
Hi is there a maximum amount of time you should stand for ? I start every morning with a standing meditation for 60 mins. is that too long
If the alignment is correct you can stand for a very long time. There are many people who stand for about an hour or longer daily. 20 minutes is a standard. As long as you are training the form as well it shouldn't be an issue .you can stand for as long as it feels good. I frequently do an hour or longer.
@@CenterLifeBalance thank you
*OH MY GOD* as I relaxed every knotted-up muscle in my back began to scream in pain and protest...
very helpful, thanks :)
David Grass thank you 🙏 I’m glad you found the video helpful and I appreciate your feedback.
Hello i am new in tai chi can i start with this exercise ? Or you suggest enother for me ? Thank you
I recommend standing meditation for everyone and tai chi also. If you are new try to find a teacher near you. It is always a great help to have an in person class with a teacher as it will make the learning curve shorter.
Abdou, yes, start T'ai Chi. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Hi I just found your clip what’s your opinions on keeping your eyes open or closed? There seems to be a mixed view on this, iv been practicing Zhan Zhuang on and off I seem to get to a certain point and then it tails off I also practice Wing Chun 🙏🏻
Eyes closed is best because vision is a distraction. I only open my eyes to check my posture. In the beginning I check my hip knee foot alignment. Once I am a few mins in I usually only open my eyes occasionally and briefly to glance at my hands. Hands twisting or rising up tells me there is tension in the shoulders, so I relax, let the hands/arms reset, and then close the eyes again. I find that I become more aware internally when my eyes are closed. What do you think?
@@CenterLifeBalance it makes common sense, practicing with my eyes closed I always felt more visually internal my practice has been of my own doing Iv picked up points reading and speaking to those who have experience… it’s a journey I’d like to build more permanently. Your video felt exactly as I practice, thank you 🙏🏻
also pls teach us how to feel Qi energy
As you practice self awareness by observing the body for tension, rigidity, stiffness etc and you the practice release and let go of more and more tension you begin to develop a habit of seeking and finding. We don't fee the chi energy until we have learned to let go of physical tensions, stiff shoulders, tight lower back etc. because energy is subtle. To feel the subtle we must first dissolve the extreme. As you become less tense via the flowing circular rhythmic movement of the form, we smooth out our rough edges. There is less inner resistances. By then the mind will be sharpened and awareness will have expanded to be able to take in more subtle information. In the meantime try this qigong set :) th-cam.com/video/MH3KVjnlly8/w-d-xo.html
How nice to have a non-American accent for a change! We, as Americans, have developed an accent, enunciation, style that is so "car salesman act"! We don't notice it, much less have an awareness of how consumerist and puerile our culture is.
Your arms should be more circular. Like holding a large beach ball.
Practice starts around 5:40
True that!