Handfulness and Softness and the Buzz

I'm no expert on zhan zhuang but think that relaxation and experimentation are very important. I will cite two statements from Mark Cohen as the expert. He has practiced since the mid-60's, and studied under teachers who learned from Wang Xiang Zhai (1885-1963) who popularized zhan zhuang in China. Cohen asked one of his teachers which was more important , form or relaxation. After a moment of consideration the teacher said relaxation. Cohen also wrote that Wang encouraged experimentation.

This week I have been practicing 2 hours in the morning, 1 hour sitting and 1 hour standing and 30 minutes standing in the afternoon. Mark Cohen has videos on sitting zhan zhuang on his YouTube channel. In a January 2020 Skype call Mark gave me some pointers on sitting zhan zhuang. I have been doing siting meditation every day since, although I do not know what the purpose of sitting is, other than a focus on the lower dan tien. The lower dan tien is akin to a chakra, in the area of the navel. I know next to nothing about chakras.

You might wonder why I practice sitting meditation regularly without knowing what its purpose is. Answer is Mark told me to. He also told me to stand with feet parallel rather than pointed out (which most suggest) so I do that too. There are different schools of thought about how to practice, sitting or standing. I faithfully follow what I am told to, or see on YouTube, or read about. That goes for my practice of both standing and sitting zhan zhuang.

In one of the links below (cookdingskitchen) an expert named Jonathan Bluestein states that one should stand until discomfort sets in. I do not disagree but I do not practice accordingly. Or maybe I misunderstood his comment and actually do exactly what he suggests. This brings me to the notion of #handfulness. I can stand for an hour in one position with very little discomfort. Usually the discomfort goes away on its own, or can be tolerated.

Discomfort in the hands sometimes goes away and sometimes does not go away. I used to flex my hands to shake out the stiffness or cramping, which at best relieved it for a few seconds. Now I adjust my hands' position which works 90% of the time. For 'holding the ball' I might move my hands closer or farther from my body or each other, raise or lower them, or change the angle of my palm. When my hands (and everything else) are steady and comfortable I remain in that position.

So in essense I change the pose from textbook form to a form that I can maintain confortably. Most of my form is still textbook. The adjustments are from the shoulders down to the hands. The rest of my body might shift slightly. So textbook form is an initial condition for me. In the morning my standing routine is eight poses over the course of an hour. From my waist down I usually never move at all. Leg muscle discomfort I just ignore since it always goes away.

It is always the hands that signal. First I focus on the discomfort, try to determine its root cause and if possible address it without moving. I call this handfulness. If I have to change the position of my hands I think about those possibilities before trying one, and look for a minimal change. I also think about softness. The discomfort always has a hard quality - cramp, stiffness, numbness. The fix might be as small as relaxing a finger, or turning the wrist.

So in one sense I am sacrificing the time that I am continually maintaining form and so paying the price in endurance. Except I do not have a problem with endurance. Around 40 minutes into the hour I drift into a time warp where the last 20 minutes goes by very quickly, and I feel strong, smooth, soft, steady and relaxed. That tells me I am doing something right. I might well be missing out on some benefit. If it is on the martial arts side I do not much care. I am in it for the health and fitness.

Here is the most important footnote. I get feedback in the form of a Buzz (tingling) much of the time that I am standing (or sitting). Sometimes it is a full body buzz. Most of the time it is on the sides and back of my head. It might just be there, or travel up my spine into my head. Sometimes it radiates sideways from my spine into my shoulders and sholder blades as well. Often it happens in my hands, sometimes only in my hands. Sometimes the soles of my feet. Hardly every in my arms or legs or core or chest.

Probably 3/4ths of the time there is a buzz somewhere, even with discomfort. There is always a buzz when discomfort is removed.

Thinking about softness also helps to relieve discomfort. It is as if there was a hardness to my mind. Something rigid in the spirit of my form rather than in a particular location. Softening the hardness relieves the discomfort and my body seems lighter on my feet. The bottoms of my feet melt.

Here are some links to articles concerning Wang Xiang Zhai

https://www.internalartsinternational.com/free/essence-boxing-science-interview-mr-wang-xiang-zhai-part-1/

https://exploringtaiji.com/wang-xiang-zhai/

http://cookdingskitchen.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-three-essentials-of-yiquans-wang.html

https://neigong.net/2008/05/29/grandmaster-wang-xiang-zhai-1885-1963/

http://www.yiquan.academy/articles.php?article_id=47

http://taikiken.blogspot.com/2007/09/interview-with-wang-xiangzhai.html