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Zhanzhuang exercise

It’s hard to say how old Zhanzhuang is. A 7,000-year-old Neolithic pottery vessel from China’s Majiayao culture, unearthed in 1975, shows a figure performing Zhanzhuang-type of exercise.

Studies suggest that standing still was probably Zhanzhuang’s original name. The earliest written record about standing still was found in a book called <Guan Zi>, which was written nearly 3000 years ago.

Yiquan Zhanzhuang-like exercise found on an ancient container

Today Zhanzhuang is not only the fundamental step of training in Chinese martial arts but also an effective health improvement exercise.

yiquan zhanzhuang group standing practice meditation health exercise

Medical professionals use Zhanzhuang as a healing method supplemental to medical treatments. Dr. Yu Yongnian was possibly the first medical professional in the field of applying Zhanzhuang to managing chronic conditions for patients.

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Characteristics of Zhanzhuang

yiquan zhanzhuang health exercise stance standing practice

Zhanzhuang is a special exercise. It’s aerobic, very gentle, and doesn’t require much movement. No warm-ups before the exercise or ending routines are required. What you need is just a place (either indoor or outdoor) with good air circulation. Zhanzhuang has a large number of postures (stances are the technical term), but there is only one basic posture which can be transformed into all other postures. So, when you master the one posture, it’s only a matter of time to master all of them. From this perspective, Zhanzhuang is not a complex skill to learn.

zhanzhuang big sized stance standing practice master demo yiquan

The  training time of Zhanzhuang can be adjusted by oneself. In general, practitioners start from 5 minutes and increase progressively up to one hour. However, a 5-min Zhanzhuang has health benefits, too. So Zhanzhuang is quite accessible since no minimum “dose” of time is required. In fact, men, women, seniors, juniors, the weak or strong, all can practice Zhanzhuang according to their own situation at their preferred time and place.

zhanzhuang combat step stance standing practice son gao yiquan student

There are usually four stages of the Zhanzhuang learning process and there are various reactions during beginning stages of Zhanzhuang.

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Healing aspect of Zhanzhuang

In general, Zhanzhuang can correct and build a stronger body. With Zhanzhuang postures, young men with hunchbacks can be corrected. Dysfunctional feet, knees, or legs can be fixed to a great extent. The middle-aged suffering from back/shoulder/neck/muscle pain, hemorrhoids, insomnia, bad digestion, etc., can expect to get rid of those with consistent practice of Zhanzhuang over time.

yiquan zhanzhuang female student dragon stance standing practice

Zhanzhuang is the best option for the weak or elderly as Zhanzhuang can gradually and constantly enhance their immune system – the human body’s own defense mechanisms. According to Dr. Yu’s clinical experimentation and tests, many kinds of chronic diseases such as chronic tracheitis, chronic gastroenteritis, chronic hepatitis, cardiopathy, high blood pressure(hypertension), neurasthenic, chronic rheumatoid arthritis and similar rheumatoid arthritis, adipoma, goiter, etc., may obtain unbelievable beneficial effects after Zhanzhuang practice.

zhanzhuang dragon stance standing practice pile standing yiquan student

We only listed some of the health applications of Zhanzhuang. There are more. Every day practitioners are discovering new benefits of this amazing exercise.

zhanzhuang dragon stance standing practice pile standing master zhang demo yiquan

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Why can Zhanzhuang cure diseases?

zhanzhuang health stance fu an standing practice yiquan standing pile post exercise

Zhanzhuang is not only standing still. It is not only meditation, either. The system of Zhanzhuang training is a combination of physical and mental aspects. The physical and mental activities are not separate from each other in this exercise. Hence, both the physiological and psychological functions of the body are cumulatively strengthened. Why Zhanzhuang heals is a huge topic. Dr. Yu had written many books about it. In this article, we are going to focus on how Zhanzhuang is able to nourish the blood. We will talk more in our blog posts.