Standing Practice

[haroonkhan345]

Im talking about Wuji, Zhan Zhuang and Santi Shi

First sorry if this sounds confusing I am in a hurry and want to post this, I will explain more later if necessary and put links in so the main postures can be seen in picture form.

I have been doing a lot of this lately since I have decided to focus more on Xingyiquan and I have been thinking about what I am experiencing, what I have been taught and what I have read.

My taiji Sifu, when I talked to him about standing practice said that you should take time between each one, a few minutes (5 to 10) to let things settle before you start another. But he saw no real problem with going (slowly) from Wuji to Zhan Zhuang.

My Xingyiquan Sifu always had us go from Wuji to Santi Shi.

I have also read, I believe it was from a Yiquan article, that you should take time (a lot of time - hours) between standing postures.

I have read recently about going form Wuji to Santi and that there were 2 postures in between

Wuji Shi > Taiji Shi > Liangyi Shi > Santi Shi.

However Taiji Shi and Liangyi Shi are more like transitional moves than actual postures but they are to be done correctly for the transition.

I have been doing Wuji before just about everything.

I realized today, after reading and rereading and following a chapter in Di Guoyongs book that he is going from Zhan Zhuang to Wuji.

This made me think and I tried this today

Zhang Zhuang to Wuji Shi to Taiji Shi to Liangyi Shi to Santi Shi

This takes a while and I have to say the energy and the posture awareness are amazing. I took no breaks in between and I just flowed from one to the other ending with the usual Santi Shi standing practice but it was a bit surprising based on things I have been doing, reading and been told up to now.

Anyone else do standing practice and if so how do you go form one posture to another and what postures are they?

Thank you for this excellent and reflective post—definitely not confusing at all. Your attention to detail in the transitions between postures really resonates. I also practice standing meditation (primarily through Yiquan and some Xingyiquan), and I’ve found that how we move into or out of each posture has as much impact on energetic awareness as the posture itself. Flowing from Zhan Zhuang to Wuji and then through Taiji Shi and Liangyi Shi into Santi Shi makes a lot of sense energetically, especially if your intention is to unify structure, breath, and mind throughout.

Your experience of increased energy and awareness after treating each transition deliberately rather than rushing is something I’ve noticed as well. The stillness in Wuji is often underestimated—it’s not just a reset but an essential part of preparing the mind-body system for deeper alignment. I've found that sometimes even a few minutes of Wuji after Zhan Zhuang gives the nervous system space to integrate, especially when you're cultivating internal power (nei jin) or mental quietness.

Interestingly, I’ve also been exploring other internal practices that help support standing meditation—and one that surprised me with its effectiveness is Reiki training. While not a martial art or traditional Chinese method, it complements standing practices by training subtle energy awareness and emotional quiet. If you're curious, I recommend checking out this course:

Reiki 1 Training

Learn Reiki 1 Training at Age of Awakening. Learn self-healing techniques & start your Reiki healing journey with a beginner-friendly course

www.ageofawakening.co.uk

It’s a very grounded introduction and works well alongside martial arts disciplines where sensitivity and internal development are central.

I’d love to hear more about how you integrate your standing work with your movement training, and whether you’ve noticed any changes over time in posture transitions. Great post—thanks again for sharing your process.