This Simple Practice RESETS Your Body

Let’s face it.  Some days we just need to hit the RESET button.  Whether due to stress, an accumulation of injuries, fatigue, or illness we need to find a way to RESET the body in order to allow its own natural healing function to take over.

Luckily, there is a very simple process whereby we can RESET ourselves and acquire a deep level of whole body relaxation.  It can be accomplished through the Yiquan training method of Wuji standing, otherwise known as Health Standing.

Wuji translates to “without poles” or “pre-heaven” meaning that yin and yang have not yet been determined.  It is a pure untapped potential and possibility.  It is from this untapped potential that we will begin to form a relaxed, connected body primed for internal power training.

Before we get into the particulars of the exercise, you need to know how to stand.

How Do We Stand?

In practical terms, how should we stand?  Let’s start with the head and work our way down…

• Lift upwards slightly with the crown of the head allowing the chin to lower.
• This straightens the vertebrae at the back of the neck. Shoulders are back and down sitting on the spine.
• The back should be flat.
• Do not tuck the pelvis.
• The spine should be suspended from above like a skeleton hanging in a Science classroom.
• Do not have the arms lay flush against the body.
• There should be a golf ball sized space under the armpits.
• The bottom of the spine pulls straight down from the tail bone.
• Feel like you are sitting on a high stool.
• Allow the knees to bend slightly.
• Feet should be shoulder width apart and pointed straight forward as if on railroad tracks.
• Legs should feel like they are squeezing a beach ball.
• Remember though, the ball puts outward pressure on the legs as they squeeze in.
• Both directions, not just one.
• The weight is carried in the hollow behind the balls of the feet.  In Chinese Medicine, this is known as the yongquan or bubbling well point.
• 

All of the above points must be maintained to have a truly “natural” standing posture.

Wuji Standing

Now that you have the external mechanics down, let’s talk about how to supercharge your relaxation process.

1. Mentally scan the body for areas of tension.  The usual suspects will be the neck, shoulders, low back, and the quads.
2. Begin to actively release each area of tension one by one with your mind.  For example, think of the tightness in your shoulders and mentally relax it by telling yourself “the tightness in my shoulders is letting go and relaxing”.  Then proceed to the next area until you have systematically gone through them all.
3. If one particular area is giving you trouble work on breathing into it.  Inhale into the area, hold for a few seconds, then exhale from the area to release it.  Use this process over and over again until the tension has let go.
4. Once you have removed all the residual tension in the body continue to stand holding that relaxed feeling.  Think of your body as a drop of ink dissolving in the ocean, spreading out in all directions.
5. Start with 10 minutes of Wuji standing.  Work up to 60 minutes.

A New Way to Recover

In teaching this method to both my fitness clients and martial arts students I find that in addition to our usual compliment of recovery drills (consisting of mobility exercises, yoga asana, and compensatory movement), the addition of this simple practice of standing meditation has consistently accelerated our recovery process, allowed us to reach new levels of relaxation, and strengthened the mind-body connection beyond any other work we have done.

Additionally, it has managed to increase energy levels while fortifying our bodies against the daily rigors of life, work,
and family stresses.

While this method is elegantly simple to practice, requires little space and no special equipment, and can be done at virtually any time of day, it also is startlingly deep.

Go Deeper – Take the 100 Day Challenge!

Traditionally it is said that a minimum period of 100 days is necessary for the body to acclimatize and adapt to a practice. As our goal is to completely rewire the nervous system in order to change the body, 100 days seems like the perfect length of time.

How to Do It

1. Work your way up to standing for 30 minutes a day for 100 days – think you can do it?

2. Take the Integrated Strength Program challenge for 100 days and seriously upgrade your strength, health, and martial power!!!

Integrated Strength is a comprehensive 100-day program that will completely revolutionize your strength training and martial art practice. Unconventional strength to build the body from the outside – in and Internal strength exercises for connecting, conditioning, and strengthening the body from the inside – out.

Integrated Strength bridges the gap between muscular system training and muscle-tendon meridian training creating previously unattainable levels of relaxed, whole-body power once thought to only reside in the legendary martial masters of old!

Learn more about the Integrated Strength Program <<==

Jon

Jon Haas, "The Warrior Coach" has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shihan. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, a certified Personal Trainer as well as founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!

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