Meditation is an important part of the kungfu tradition. There are two main ways of practice. One is sitting and one is standing meditation. Both of them are mindfulness practice that can recharge, balance and unify the body mind spirit with both heaven and earth. If practiced regularly it is undeniably going to bring a peaceful state of mind as well as develop the brain’s unlimited potential, this is just two of the many benefits. Sitting meditation In Chinese, it is referred to as DaZuo (“打坐”) which literally means “the greatest sitting” in china it is mainly the Buddhist, Taoist and Shaolin monks who practice meditation, but it has and will always be an essential part of kungfu. The Practitioner will sit down in a place where they feel comfortable, preferably in nature close to the water and close to the mountains to get the perfect energetic field surrounds them. A meditation should be around 20min to 1 hour depending on the levels of the person practicing.
Sitting Meditation
Cultivating Restful alertness
It might sound a bit upside down, but the more still the mind can become when doing meditation the more the mental capacity grows, and the more alert and ready you become, making it easier for the act with great precession from a point of restfulness being able to grasp opportunities and adapt to changes faster than you where before.
Cultivation of peaceful qi.
There are various forms of qi (life force energy) the one that comes through sitting meditation is the healing and peaceful type. Through regular practice, the practitioner will be able to feel the physical, mental and spiritual benefits such as: a Reduction in anxiety, stress and anger. Meridians (energy channels in the body) get purified making the body and mind healthier and happier, and increasing the abilities of creativeness, happiness and compassion are among the most common beneficial side-effects of meditation. In the energetic body, what is also happening is that the energetic system is slowly rinsed through the practice of sitting meditation, so the practioners’ energetic field becomes peaceful and calm.
Standing meditation
Zhan zhuang（站桩） referred to as Standing pillars may look different depending on the style of which they are practiced but the essence of them is the same.
Practicing standing meditation the body is challenged and forced to open up. Most people will experience a lot of tension in the beginning as the body slowly begins to align itself naturally.
The blood vessels are opened up and the energy will slowly start to increase.
Like the sitting meditation, the kind of qi that is cultivated in standing is healing yet can be used in combat and fighting, the standing meditation is all in all one of the most powerful tools in order to receive and give attacks. It makes the mind calm as you go through the agitation of standing for long periods of time, and the healing effects of the physical body is amazing, especially neck and back problems are easily fixed through this practice.
We advise all our students to do a minimum of 20 min standing meditation in the morning and 20 min of sitting meditation in the evening to gain a balanced, strong and healthy body and mind.