Warriors of Stillness: Movement not yet released

From Warriors of Stillness 3: http://warriorsofstillness.com
by Jan Diepersloot

Though posture is often thought of as stillness as opposed to movement, actually our posture must be considered a type of movement also. In other words, the stillness we are talking about is not the stillness of death as opposed to the movement of life. It is not the comparative stillness of plants as opposed to the movements of animals. It is not the (relative) stillness of sleep, not the stillness of couch potato TV-watching, not the stillness of paralysis, not the stillness of passed out stupor, nor any other stillness in which the machinery for movement and its controlling mechanism have been fully or partially shut down. No, the stillness we cultivate in our standing (postural) meditation entails readiness, a stillness that is pregnant with possibilities for movement. It is the stillness of a deer ready to bolt and flee, the stillness of the tiger ready to pounce. The stillness we are talking about, in other words is movement not yet released. It is the stillness of potential movement as opposed to actual movement. In this stillness, awareness enables us to respond to the environment rather than react to it. 

Harmony and Unity of Whole Body

Notes from Master Wang XiangZhai

No matter which posture you practice, whole body must be relaxed. After assuming posture, you shouldn't change it. All joints should be slightly bent. You should put your attention to relax of body, but it means the state of relaxed but not slack; tense, but not stiff. Which means that basis for relax is keeping harmony and unity of whole body. In martial art it is called "three internal harmonies and three external harmonies." 

Internal: harmony of heart and intention, intention and energy, energy and force. 

External: harmony of palms and feet, elbows and knees, shoulders and hips. 

Inside body empty agility; outside body balance and roundness. Intention for use, body as basis, non-movement for harmony, unity of form and intention. Getting intention from form, intention is born from form, form is following intention. External and internal are one. Only by practicing long time you can master the spirit of these principles.

Mindfulness of the Center Leads to True Mastery of Movement

Ideas from Master Cai 
Compiled by Jan Diepersloot

If you have injury in the body and blockage in the meridians, you don't have enough qi in the body to heal yourself when you're moving because you're using energy when you're moving. Movement is already directing the qi, the classics say. We believe that the qi must first be generated in stillness so it will naturally well up and circulate. Then, it can be used in movement and can be directed. Particularly as we get older, the main job is always to generate the qi and develop our mental abilities, and not to deplete our energy through excessive use of movement. In wuji meditation we learn to control our movement by gaining control of the stillness at our center. Otherwise put, to control your center, you must be still in body and mind. Thus, mindfulness of the center leads to true mastery of movement. 

Formless Relaxation, Agility of Spirit

By Master Wang XiangZhai

Zhan zhuang is a form of exercise where you are seeking strength in lack of strength, seeking slight movement in non-movement, seeking fast movement in slight movement. The more relaxed the body, the faster blood circulation and the faster increase of strength. If using force, body becomes tense, loosing ability of agile changes, it can even cause disturbance of blood flow. Proper kind of force is mainly related to spirit and is formless. If there is a form of force, the essence of movement is lost. This is why masters of old were saying: if there is form, body is broken, when there is no form, spirit gathers. In other words, when body is relaxed as much as possible, spirit focused as much as possible, although external form doesn’t look impressive, there is agility of spirit. Those who practice for longer time can experience this.