Standing Methods for Enhancing The Vital/Flaming Force
Can the tree stand firm?
Yes, yes, yes—If the roots are deeply buried and unseen beneath the ground.
The mountains that compel our eyes to look are full of lessons, one of them is stillness. To gaze at the Crazy Mountain range, the Absaroka’s or Beartooth, is like attending a class from great masters of stillness. Their lessons are simple and their teaching methods are by example. Mountain’s explain by showing and their classes are open to everyone and at any time.
To practice stillness is to acquire some of what these mountains have: energy-in-balance. Let’s say that a person has an energy level of 3. They can increase it to 7 by taking a cue from their mountain teachers. Making stillness a part of one’s exercise routine is a useful method to refine energy, improve concentration and stabilize motion, and countless other benefits. Walking, running, sports and personal safety, such as evading, deflecting or escaping something, is enhanced—when making stillness a part of the weekly or daily routine.
Some say that routinization is the key to survival, in other words habit. The habits of the mountains, their routines, are impressive. Externally, they appear to do nothing. Yet, by doing apparently nothing, mountains receive the vitalizing strength from the golden rays of the Sun, the flowing sea of crystal-clear air; they are usually the first to feel the drops of rain, the currents of the luminaries, the sparkle of invigoration from the flash of meteors and lightening. And what of the earth upon which they solidly stand?
A Simple Method of Approach
This is where people can find out for themselves how they can be nourished by the earth, in stillness, through their feet. Here is a simple method of practicing stillness. As you stand with your feet about the width of shoulders see if you can allow any tension up there to simply flow down to your feet. This is more of a letting go of inordinate stress, with your awareness. Your arms and hands naturally hang down by the sides, so allow your hands to rest, just about a fist distance, away from touching the sides of the thighs. As your shoulders relax any tension they’re holding, any tight energy there begins to soften and flow downward, through the elbows and wrist, the hips and knees, then through the feet and into the ground. This is tantamount to what a lightning rod does. So allow that lightning, the primary energy of your life, to gently cascade through your body, to nourish and harmonize everything through which it passes, as it reaches the bubbling spring acupoint under the arches and proceeds into the ground.
This energy, which has been freed up, through relaxing tight energy, can also expand around the body in a spherical fashion. This is what similar to what happens when an electric current flowing through a wire (meaning you as the wire), produces a magnetic field around it. See if you notice this after a while. If there is any tightness in your jaw you can release that stored-up energy by separating your teeth slightly, with your mouth closed. See if you can gently draw your chin slightly backward so as to lessen the curvature of the neck (imagine a turtle doing this but slowly) and allow your eyes to gaze slantingly upward, about 5 degrees up from the horizontal.
Raphael with B.P. Chan, one of his teachers, who was a master of stillness
If one or more of these points is left out, not to worry. Just play with whatever you can to feel where this practice can lead. The idea is to improve one’s rootedness to the earth, like our mountain teachers. The sense of condensing your energies to aid you, through stillness, will carry over into all areas of life and bring a return current of what can be called, a Milky Way of happiness, through the improved quality of energy acquired.
So, the next time you drive near a mountain or mountain range, or even gaze at one from your window or from the sidewalk, imagine them speaking to you, in stillness and in their mountain tongue: You too can be strong and vital like us…we will teach you. We are open to teach 7-days a week, all day every day. The only charge is the charge of energy you will get by making stillness a habit.
Kevin Raphael Fitch, Coach Fitch, has earned gold medals in many international Taiji competitions. He is a former martial arts competition judge, from 2004-08. He has written for Inside Kung Fu and has conducted classes for corporations, senior centers, departments of recreation and law enforcement. He is available for demonstrations, semi-private and group classes.