7 Skills That Form The Foundation Of Internal Power (And How to KNOW You Have Them)

There’s an entire world of confusing practices in Tai Chi that you may have found yourself in if you’re looking for Internal Power.

No doubt, if you’ve been at this for long, that you’ve run across your fair share of these.

One of the most common practices is to hold static postures, or “Stationary Qigong.”

And many people are confused about how it’s going to give you health benefits, or Internal Power.

Well, the short answer is-

It won’t.

At least, not if all you want to do is stand there and space out.

If you want to know what you’re really supposed to be doing during these static postures-

Or it didn’t occur to you that you should be doing anything…

Here are the 7 skills that form the FOUNDATION of Tai Chi, and Internal Power.

And if you work all of them- you’re going to see SUBSTANTIAL changes in a very short period of time.

1) Be Here NOW!

This sounds easy at first but most people find it quite difficult to do until they have trained it for awhile.

Set an alarm clock / timer for 5 minutes and simply stand there for 5 minutes.

Maybe you were already doing that.

Now comes the hard part.

Do not think about anything else but standing there for the entire 5 minutes.

You can pay attention to your body both inside and out but you can not let your mind drift or go anywhere else.

Come back to the article after you have given this a try.

Difficult or practically impossible you say?

Try it for 3 minutes.

You may still find that this is difficult but I would not recommend that you start with much less.

You will learn a lot in these 3 minutes and what you learn will be very beneficial for you in both the short and long term.

2) Defeat the Monkey Mind

How much chatter is there inside your head?

You will want to quiet this chatter down when you want it to be quiet.

In Kung Fu we call this chatter Monkey Mind.

Monkey mind defeats many people because it stops them from gaining real clarity.

I find it easier to start by giving it a single task instead of driving yourself nuts trying to be completely quiet-

You can try to pick out all the sounds in the room-

Or all the different noises your air conditioner makes.

But you can’t just let it wander, because if you do-

Your focus will never improve.

3) Relax

When you stand what do you feel?

Are you aware of body tension that you did not realize you had?

Now that you are aware of your body tension are you able to release it, relaxing more and deeper.

Warning:

In this next section: Your body may feel heavy and relaxed and calm but, If you get light headed, feel faint or have some other unpleasant sensation other than simply calmness and relaxation and a better feeling / experience of your body then stop and consult a physician before practicing again.

Relax & Melt

Stand again and starting from the top of your head and working your way down to your feet Relax and Melt as if you are melting and pouring all of yourself down through your body.

Take your time and melt each part of yourself from the top down.

It should really have the feel of pouring.

If you reach a part that does not want to melt then keep your mind in that section and tense then relax the section and move the section around like shrugging your shoulders and then letting them go.

As you do this you may experience a variety of sensations including the feeling of tension or weight pouring down your body into the ground.

When the tension seems to be gone continue to pour and become more and more relaxed.

You may feel heavier and heavier.

As you pour you may find that your feet feel like they are spreading or pushing into the floor.

Let the feet spread wide and take up more surface space on the ground.

Part of what you are doing is opening the Bubbling Well in the center of the bottom of the foot.

If you feel your legs and feet get very heavy then release the weight down into the ground by simply letting it go.

Done properly this is good rooting practice.

At this point Root, Sink, Relax, Let Go and Find SUNG, The deep true Tai Chi relaxation skill.

I cover Sung, and many other skills in greater detail in my FREE video course, The Practical Guide to Internal Power.

If you want a clear path to improve your skills, you can check it out right here:

4) Stand Comfortably and Correctly

Do you feel certain parts of your body more than others?

Are there any parts of your body that are uncomfortable.

Can you adjust your body posture and ease the discomfort?

This is one of the beginning ways to train for self healing.

It is amazing how much damage we do to ourselves with bad posture and most of the time we do not even realize we are doing it.

5) Breathe

When you first stood up did you notice where your breath was / is in your body?

If not then stand now and feel where is your breath moving from and to as you breathe in and out.

Is the breath high up in your chest?

Is your breath making it all of the way to your belly?

Is your breath making it into your legs and your whole entire body?

If you notice your breath from the beginning and work on it and adjust posture as needed and relax you will find that you can get your breath to flow into and out of your entire body.

This is correct practice.

6) Find Zong Ding

If you have been diligent in your practice then the Tai Chi Standing has caused you to move closer and closer to finding your zhong dìng Central Equilibrium aka Vertical Axis.

The idea is that your alignment is very straight up and down in the way that is correct for Tai Chi.

Hanging from the string (I tend to refer to it more as a bungee cord) as taught in Wu Chi is a good practice to add to what you are doing at this point if you have done the right amount of home work.

Zhong Meridian

In some schools of acupuncture there is a meridian referred to as the Zhong (pronounced Chong) Meridian and it is being activated by this practice.

Once the Chong Meridian is activated it gets the Governing and Conception vessels circulating which is the microcosmic orbit as well as the belt meridian and then the connection the ground through the opening of the Bubbling Well and the connection to heaven energy through the proper suspension of the head by utilizing the suspension from the string.

Ideally you are in a correct zhong dìng Central Equilibrium position already but if you are not then you should be very close and able to make very small adjustments that will put you into the right position.

The legendary stability of Tai Chi

The idea with zhong dìng is to be in the central equilibrium balance position.

This is not just the physical center, but a condition which is expected to be present at all times and when you step as well.

It will help you to obtain an even more substantial root and the legendary stability of Tai Chi that bounces people away when they try to push you.

7) Feel the Energy

Now feel for the energy, the breath, your mind in your body and see where it is and relax and make it deeper and more profound.

Find the Monkey Mind Motion in the Stillness and make it quiet.

Standing and pouring and relaxing are the key elements being worked on as well as learning how to pay attention to these things and begin to understand them.

Welcome to step one of training that will continue to grow in scope and depth for the rest of your life.

I hope this has been an eye opening experience for all of you- and that you’ll never look at the simple standing exercises the same way again.

Are you looking for more?

Do you want to know where to go from here?

Be sure to check out the Practical Guide to Internal Power. It’s completely free.

You’ll get 6 months of training material you can use to start your journey- or augment the work you’re already doing.

See you all next time-

And remember-

Keep Training!

-Sifu Clear