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Standing Practice – Stage 2

Stabilisation: Building Strength and Coherence

Purpose

Develop internal alignment and resilient stillness.
Transition from relaxation under gravity to strength through relaxation.

Duration: typically months 6–18, overlapping with Stage 1.

Posture

  • Deepen stance slightly; knees over feet (knee NOT over toes)
  • Hips and shoulders level.
  • Hands lifted as if holding a wide ball at chest height.
  • Spine hangs from crown; tailbone releases downward.

Focus

  • Maintain softness while facing increasing internal pressure.
  • Tremors or shaking are adaptation — let them resolve naturally.
  • Do not chase sensations; maintain form.

Breathing

  • Allow breath to lengthen on its own.
  • Feel ribs expand through sides and back.
  • No counting or holding.

Eyes

  • Continue with eyes open as in Stage 1, lids slightly lowered, gaze soft.
  • As the stance deepens and arms rise, you may find closed eyes help you sense the increased internal load more clearly.
  • Experiment with both open and closed. Notice whether closed eyes deepen relaxation or create instability at this stage.

Feet

  • Now work toward feet parallel, pointing straight ahead.
  • Keep the same distance — roughly shoulder-width apart.
  • Balance weight evenly between balls and heels.
  • Check that knees track over the middle of the feet; do not let them collapse inward.

Arms

  • After several weeks in Stage 2, when standing with arms down feels stable, begin to lift arms slowly — as if buoyed up by water or air.
  • Stop when hands are roughly at lower chest or solar plexus height, elbows rounded,
    palms facing each other/body as though holding a large ball.
  • Shoulder-width distance between hands; wrists stay soft.
  • Maintain only as long as relaxation remains.
  • If tension appears in shoulders or wrists, lower the arms and rest.

Arms raised = Stage 2 core posture.
Do not attempt raised-arm positions until Stage 1 criteria are met.

Mental Focus

  • Reduce visualization. Keep awareness on physical sensations:
  • Contact of soles with floor.
  • Subtle sway or vibration of the body.
  • Expansion of breath through ribs and back.
  • If the mind drifts, you may briefly recall earlier cues (roots, thread) to re-center, then release them again.
  • The aim is direct sensing, not imagining (stop your visualizations - listen to the body)

Feeling Sensation and Connection

As tension dissolves and attention steadies, new sensations appear: warmth, vibration, tingling, subtle movement inside the body.
Tradition calls this qi, but it can be understood directly — as the nervous system perceiving itself more clearly. This can be:

  • Warmth
  • Pulsing or vibration
  • Flow or expansion

These are not mystical forces to control but feedback from the body.
The goal is not to chase them but to notice them calmly, without naming or interpreting.

When awareness deepens, the body speaks in sensation instead of thought.

How to relate to these sensations

  1. Acknowledge what you feel — heat, buzzing, movement.
  2. Stay neutral — neither excited nor dismissive.
  3. Return to structure — posture, breath, and balance.
  4. Let the experience fade naturally.

With time, the distinction between “body” and “awareness” softens; feeling and knowing merge.
This is the mind–body connection — a unified field of attention, not a force to manipulate.

Common misunderstanding

Chasing these sensations for proof of progress blocks the very relaxation that allows them.
Trust the process: sensation is a side effect, not the goal.

Routine

  • 20–40 minutes per session, 4–5 times weekly.
  • End each session with laying down on your back (if possible) and listening to the body
  • Document what you did and what it did to you — contribute to collective understanding.

Signs of Progress

  • Even warmth throughout body.
  • Calm clarity even under effort.
  • Upright, springy posture.

Common Errors

Issue Correction
Collapsing hips or knees Keep crown lifted and spine long
Holding tension Revisit Stage 1 looseners
Over-breathing Let breath find natural length
Mental strain Shift attention to soles of feet

Goal

Elastic strength: firm but supple, rooted yet light.

When to Explore Stage 3

When you can hold raised arms for 20+ minutes and the body feels restorative after practice rather than depleted — experiment with closing your eyes fully and sensing the whole body breathing as one.
Play with the slow rotations. If internal awareness sharpens rather than scatters, Stage 3 is inviting you in.