Most people don't even consider standing meditation but I can tell you it can be very effective. It trains both the mind and the body at the same time by forcing you to focus 100% of your energy on holding your position, which is a lot tougher than you may think. Now when you incorporate qigong into the equation you have a powerful set of exercises that can propel you to new heights.
How to Get Started with a Standing Practice
The key to developing a standing practice is to look for internal stability and avoid internal resistance.You have to gauge your own level of comfort and resistance at the beginning of this process and then gradually add to the length of time that you hold any basic posture. It is easy to think, “okay, I’m going to hold this posture for thirty minutes”, and then start your countdown timer. What happens, though, is that you fixate on an external reference point (the clock) instead of internal ones. You will add mental and physical tension, and give up some internal clarity, to reach the external goal. Does this sound like something you've encountered in your sitting practice?
Instead of the "by the clock" approach, you should look for internal stability points. Compared to sitting, standing postures can offer much more obvious internal stability points – because they are so strongly tied to the physical body. An internal stability point is the place where everything opens up inside the posture and you feel connected and whole in a way you never do just standing around.
Once everything clicks in a stability point, you want to maintain this state for as long as possible. When you lose it or you shrink out of it or you start to collapse a little bit, the moment is over. Your standing practice then becomes a process of returning to these stability points, becoming more and more familiar with how to get there. What are the right physical alignments? How do you hold your awareness? Think of these early indicators as sign posts on the road to greater internal stability.
The best standing practice to start with begins with a downward body scan. This method works well because you learn to connect your mind to your physical body at whatever internal speed feels comfortable for you. You start by feeling the crown of your head and work downward until you reach your feet. Naturally, as this process becomes more familiar, you find more and more space to explore inside the body. If you follow this approach, you never have to worry about the clock, but you will stand for longer and longer as you refine your internal awareness.
The more you work at it the better your chances of success. The key as always is to set your goals within reach and then go for it. Small moves will lead to big gains.
