Re: Zhang Zhuang - Standing Meditation & Postural Training
On Oct 7, 2009, at 9:43 PM, Vsevolod Vlaskin wrote:>
"How does it feel?"
Mr. Phillips responds:
"OK, I suppose it's only fair that it's my turn; I'm just going to describe what I know and feel, without any specific reference to anything anyone else has written - in other words, I'm not writing this as 'pro' or 'con' anyone else's statements.
The function of standing practice changes over time.
For a beginner, the first part of the work is to separate "the meat from the bones", as my teacher used to say - that is, to learn to stop unconsciously recruiting "movement-muscles" to help hold the body vertical against the pull of gravity, and to learn to turn this function over to the skeletal structure and "structural muscles", like the Erector Spinae, etc.
It's not the case that 'no' muscles are used to hold us vertical against the pull of gravity, it's just that the ones that assist in doing this job are not usually consciously "felt",
by which I mean that we do not normally have 'volitional control' over muscles like the 'erector' muscles - they just do their work 'automatically' , without any conscious participation on our part.
But over time, rather than remain pared-down to the body's original efficient "use of self", we begin to recruit "inappropriate" muscles to perform this function of holding us upright against the pull of gravity - this is the deeper meaning of the word "lean" in TCC; 'leaning' doesn't just mean that we are 'tilted' out of vertical alignment - you can be perfectly 'straight' in your posture and still be 'leaning'.
This means that you have compromised your ability to "change" - because, before your 'movement-muscles' can mobilize in time to get you out of trouble, they must first stop doing a job that was never their 'original assignment', namely assisting in the work of keeping the body vertical against the pull of gravity.
When standing practice 'hurts', one of the reasons is that these inappropriately- recruited 'movement-muscles' must first reach 'failure' and give up in their efforts to counter gravity - and this is where the 'testing of the will' takes place; if one perseveres beyond the initial pain and the emotional confusions and 'releases' associated with this process (because many of these 'inappropriate' muscles are involved in different types of 'body-armoring' ) - then one can begin to access one's 'original condition'.
Unfortunately, there are usually many years of 'wrongful' habituation to overcome, and a long period of standing practice is necessary for the new 'habituation' to start to become the body's new "default setting".
We call this new default setting "Central Equilibrium" .
"Central Equilibrium" merely means that the body's "support structure" mechanisms and "movement" mechanisms have been 'sorted out' and that one's 'ability to change' is now unobstructed by one's own former 'improper use' of oneself.
And this is just the First Stage of standing practice.
