In China for thousands of years one of the means of staying healthy has been the practice of Chi Kung, a series of exercises that works not only the muscles, but massages the internal organs and stimulates the “chi” or life force energy. Your chi can be cultivated for your own personal health but can also be passed on to another as a means of healing.
Zhan Zhuang, pronounced “Jan Jong” is a unique style of Chi Kung which is highly energetic and develops our internal energy in a very efficient way, instead of consuming it.
Zhan Zhuang means Standing Like a Tree and this moving meditation has only 5 well-balanced standing positions which increase the flow of energy and build up internal strength, making it both effective and efficient.
These 5 postures; Send out Roots, Enter the Heartwood, Branches Reach for Heaven, Stand in the Stream and Sway in the Wind, can be performed in as little as 10 minutes a day with great results. You will find yourself feeling more vital and your energy recharged because the Zhan Zhuang system is based on a unique fusion of relaxation and exertion which stimulates, cleanses and massages the whole body.
This form is a part of my personal practice and I have taught it as well. For best results I’ve found that doing the movements in nature, close enough to a tree that you are within the spread of its canopy, allows you to not only stimulate your own chi energy but to tap into and draw energy from the tree or the forest around you. It is no surprise that this form of Chi Kung is practiced by Taoists who believe in the Way of Nature.
Give it a try and find out how hugging a tree can feel healthy and revitalizing.
For more about this wonderful form of moving meditation see Master Lam Kam Chuen’s book The Way of Energy.
To get a look at this form check out YouTube video at the attached link.
Mark Gerardi 