A
New Approach to Standing Meditation
Last August I visited Master Choi
at his home outside Chicago. We discussed plans for him to teach a
seminar in Minneapolis in October. We talked about what students
wanted him to teach. I knew some wanted to work on Chin-na,
others wanted to work on Hsing-Yi. Many would just be happy to work
on anything with the Master again. I noticed Master Choi was a little
hesitant. He'd say, "Yes, we could do that" or, "Sure,
we can do that." Then my gut told me to stop.
I looked at him and asked, "What
do you want to teach?"
"It's not about what the
students want, it’s about what they need," he said. He wanted
to teach a seminar based on the first level of his "Choi
Method." He had spent two years researching the most simple and
accurate way to teach the first level: relaxation.
Master Choi feels that standing
meditation is the best way to work with gravity to improve your
alignment and relaxation. "Many
people begin
standing meditation with the position sometimes called “hold the
ball.” The original name is Three Circles Posture.
That
refers to
three parts of the body being round or circular. The
chest is round and the
back is
raised. The
arms
are
a circle, like holding a ball. The
“tiger's
mouth,” the
space between your thumb and index fingers, are round.
The body,
hand, and leg need to work together, like three circles. Other
parts of the body are round as well. The
foot is round, means the
toes grab.The
knees
turn out a
little bit and
the hips
tuck, which
not only makes
the lower
spine
straight, it helps
make the kua,
the space between the thighs, round."
He
felt that positions where
the arms are up and elbows out, would very quickly make beginners
tense. So he developed a position that would be accessible to all
practitioners and would help even beginners reach the deepest
levels of relaxation.
"This is from over
40 years of my teaching experience. When you practice, the whole body
gets used to being relaxed. When you have the foundation of
whole body relaxation,then you learn the Three Circles Posture."
The following is a condensed
version of Master
Choi's lecture on relaxation and his approach to standing meditation.
The
basics of meditation can help you relax, calm down, and control the
nervous system so it can “take a break." There are many
benefits to this practice. Meditation improves circulation, lower
blood pressure, strengthen the nervous system, and aid digestion. The
whole body
will get more oxygen and have more energy. Most people, no matter
what kind of job they do, need energy. The goal of standing mediation
is to get more energy.
Standing meditation can help you
control your balance, your relaxation, and your mind. It can
help you control your nervous system so you can calm down. You
can't stop your brain from working. We just don't want to overwork or
underwork it. The classics say: “There is emptiness, but you
are not asleep."
When
your body has low energy, or gets tired, it's easy to be angry,
upset, fearful, or worried. Too much excitement damages your heart.
Anger damages your liver. Being upset damages your lungs.
Fear damages your kidneys. Worry damages your spleen. All
these problems stem from the mind. Everybody needs meditation,
and this generation even more so. Stress is pressure. Too much
pressure, too much worry, will burn you out.
Standing meditation is the
foundation of relaxation. Concentrate on your relaxed feeling.
The shoulders should not be up, and the chest should not be out. Tuck
your hips under. When your body is straight, it will not fight
gravity. Try to see yourself from the inside. When
practicing, don't let your mind focus on your external senses.
Don't look at anything, hear anything, or smell anything.
In
my method, the hands looks like a kung fu salute , or a Buddhist bow
or prayer position. Both hands naturally move up in front of
the chest, about a foot away from the body, no higher than the nose, no lower then the navel. Only the ten fingertips
touch.Keep the wrists straight, don't bend the wrists, because that
is more relaxing. If you feel pressure on your fingertips, see if the
tension originates somewhere in your body. You have to refine and
adjust this basic position to make it comfortable to you.
Use meditation to change the
focus of your mind. Don't think about relaxing your feet, because
they are supporting you. Don't think about your lower body, tuck it
under, make your lower spine straight,that means tai-gong. Just relax your upper body. Usually the shoulders get tense.
Pay particular attention to that area.
Decide how long you're going to
practice, but don't force it. The longer you stand, the more time you
give the body to reset, to be relaxed. But follow your limit. Keep
checking yourself; memorize the feeling of being relaxed.
You can
practice relaxation all the time. Take a deep breath, when you exhale,
keep that relaxed feeling and position. You're feeling good, so
enjoy that comfortable feeling. Don't think about anything
except keeping that position relaxed. Focus on relaxation. Check
your whole body.
When
you begin to learn standing meditation, don't start with “holding
the ball.” That position is difficult for beginners to relax. It's
easy to tense up if your arms start fighting with gravity. In my
method, the standard of meditation is to
be relaxed,
inside is
comfortable,
outside is in
balance, coordinating
yin and yang together.
Once
you begin practicing, don't change that comfortable feeling. Who
is your teacher? Nature! It is your whole-life teacher. If you relax,
your breathing will be natural. But sometimes you have to adjust your
position to control your relaxation. The foundation is to feel
and know what relaxation is in your whole body.
Standing
meditation is for health and power. It
affects your whole life. Remember,
eat right, breathe right, and relax. Anything tense will make you
slow; anything tense will burn you out. These
ideas are simple and will greatly improve your health.
How
to do the Choi Method of Standing Meditation
STEP
1
Stand
with your feet shoulder width.
Point
your feet one to two inches out.
Tuck
your hips under until your lower back relaxes and releases.
Lift
the top of your head to make a plumb-line, being straight prevents loosing balance.
Lightly
touch your fingertips together in front of you, keep your elbows down, the standard is to feel comfortable.
STEP
2
Take
a deep breath and, as you breathe out, relax your body from your head
down to your feet.
Remember
how you feel after you exhale.
Lightly
focus on your fingertips. If you feel any pressure building up, check
your alignment and your relaxation.
If
you need to relax, simply take a deep breath and, when you breathe
out, feel the relaxation and try to maintain it as long as possible.
STEP
3
Take
that light feeling and sensation at your fingertips and let it travel
throughout your whole body.
Don't use your mind to think about this, let this be a natural feeling in your body.
*A NOTE TO THOSE
WHO CAN'T STAND, OR CAN'T STAND FOR LONG
If you feel weak,
or sick, you can still do this practice sitting in a chair or on the
sofa. Whether you sit or stand, the important thing is to
maintain balance. If you are on a chair, don't sit back, or lean
against the back. Leaning makes you loose balance. Having your back
against the back of the chair or couch also blocks your circulation.
Sit on the edge, towards the front, not collapsed backward, and you
will get many of the benefits of standing. This is also a way to work
your way up to the standing practice.
Remember:
Three bends: your
knees, your chest, and your elbows.
Smile! Put a small smile at the
corners of your mouth, which will relax your nose and sinuses, making
it easy to breathe and take in lots of oxygen.
Feel good and enjoy!
"Both hands naturally move up in front of
the chest, about a foot away from the body, no higher than the nose, no lower then the navel."