I find that my main problem with all the too-stiff muscles, postural issues, etc is that they do actually go away when I can send my awareness into that part of the body. Unfortunately, I can’t do this for sustained periods, so the problem always comes back. I suspect that a solid month of zhan zhuang, just standing and sending awareness through the body, would really pay off in this respect.

It also seems very much like vipassana meditation, which is what I did on retreat in Thailand. Even 10 days of that, 9 hours a day, was transformative – what would a month of “sustained awareness” achieve?

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the nature of zhang zhuan and yiquan, but I’m also intrigued by the possibility that this actually is a martial style that could be combined with meditation… bagua and taiji also seem to be there, but yiquan seems so much more… direct? focussed? stripped down? Something like that. There’s only one way to find out, though, and that’s to try it… and since I’m almost certainly going to be around, with time on my hands, it seems a shame not to give it a go…

Enjoying the blog on your training adventures and travels.