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Thursday evening Qigong class – Zhan Zhuang
This online Zhan Zhuang class is suitable for experienced practitioners
Having been asked so many times to teach these we will start practicing them in the next block of Shen Qigong classes.
Zhan Zhuang is a system of Passive Qigong that is known by many names. Among these are: Standing as a Column, Standing on a stake, Standing Qigong, Standing Like a Tree and Post standing.
Practice is in a fixed stance using the Yi to guide the Qi so that any movement sensed is the movement of the Qi.
This method was first practiced millennia ago by Taoists who, having experienced Qi during Active Qigong, wanted to explore and investigate at a deeper level.
The term Zhan Zhuang, like Qigong, is relatively modern but this new name is merely replacing the ancient ones.
The Zhan Zhuang standing practice is normally done in Wuji Stance. Many of us like to think that we have mastered this stance but the practice of Zhan Zhuang puts that to the test. Initially, practitioners may experience muscle fatigue, trembling and wobbly legs. With practice, stamina and strength are developed to the point where you can use Zhan Zhuang to work Internally using the Yi to guide the Qi. During this practice there may be further sensations of trembling, twitching and hammering as any disruption in the flow of the Qi is cleared. This is not a physical feeling, or movement, but it is just as tangible.
This is standing meditation. The body and the mind (Yi, the cognitive brain) need to attain a level of tranquility and equilibrium so that the Shen (consciousness) can listen to the effect of the guidance and pass that information back to the Yi.
These classes will be a mixture of Passive (Zhan Zhuang) and Active Qigong so that:
You can compare both methods.
You can compare the depth at which you are experiencing the Qi.
You can give your legs a rest.
Next 4-week block of this online Zhan Zhuang class
Next block starts on Thursday 3/4/2025 and runs till 1/5/2025. Please note that there will not be a class on 17/4/2025.
In this block: Thursday at 18:45 – Zhan Zhuang class. Exploring Qi, how it manifests and how we are connected to the universe and beyond.
Level – Advanced
Times – 18:45 till 19:45 London
Recordings of this online Qigong class – The classes are recorded and on-demand access is included (only when the booking is made via San Bao School). This lets you watch, at your leisure, as often as you wish.
Cost – £20.00 (£5.00 per online Qigong class on a four-week block basis). You can join the block at any time on a pro rata basis (paying for the remaining classes in the block). Please contact us if you wish to do this.
Book here – Thursday evening Qigong classes
You can pay by card, PayPal, or bank transfer. Once payment has been processed a registration link for the block that you have booked will be emailed out to you. Please check your spam folder too (just in case).
Level of tuition
In this online Qigong Zhan Zhuang class Des is teaching Qigong that works with the Shen (the consciousness). A variety of Qigong, including Passive Qigong, are used to help increase perception and awareness. Among these are the Zhan Zhuang. Qi can be experienced through all of our senses. Through tangible feelings, sight (colour and images), taste, smell and sound. Each of these will be explored during the coming blocks of classes. When using Zhan Zhuang the removal of physical movement highlights what Internal movement there is. It allows you to build on that and explore those flows at more depth.
What make all of Des’s classes and courses stand out is the fact that they are being taught as true Qigong. His driving force is to have students learn what Qigong is, not just a series of flamboyant physical movements. The external movement is only there as a tool, an aid, to generate and perceive the Internal.
Shen Qigong is spiritual in nature but please don’t think that we are talking religious spirituality here. The spirituality is that of the consciousness and although there are some meta-physical aspects involved they are there solely to expand our awareness of Qi, of the Tao. All Qigong includes a spiritual component in that there is a meditative component and an awareness of connecting with the Qi. With that awareness comes a greater ability to guide the Qi and keep or body, our mind and our spirit healthy.
Shen Qigong is Internal and its sole purpose is in personal growth, in the expansion of our awareness and perception, in our connection with the Tao. It utilizes particular Qigong to do this so that this new level can be used within any of the Qigong that you are already practicing. Pushing back any Yi produced boundaries and allowing for communication with the Shen, the spirit, the Higher Self………. Whatever label we put on it.
Des took the decision to create online Qigong classes because of the onslaught of the Covid-19 virus and the lock down that has been, necessarily, imposed by governments. The idea was that they can help to keep you active, healthy, and maybe stop you getting cabin fever. However, as the positive feedback and the progress of students has been overwhelming, he decided that they were here to stay. He knows that using this, almost one to one, medium means that people are progressing further and quicker. It also means that he can reach out worldwide to people who want to learn true Qigong.
The Shen online Qigong class archive recordings
What our students are saying about this online Qigong class
When you practice true Qigong and access your Qi it opens doors to amazing experiences. True Qigong enhances awareness that goes beyond the physical. Here is just one example:
- “Hi Des, Colour has become a dominant manifestation of qi for me since I started practicing the Shen exercises. I practice one of these qigong every day, and sometimes one of the exercises I learnt in the Thursday evening classes, and it always results in misty colours and an undulating movement around me. Green, pink, violet (bright and sometimes pixilated) and a yellow-brown, all punctuated with tiny specks of light. There’s sometimes a pulsing sensation in and around me that corresponds with the undulations, too. My questions are: how do these qigong do this and what significance do these colours have? Also, the colours can be so mesmerising that I sometimes lose focus on the physical aspect of the qigong. What advice can you give me to maintain focus without having to stop listening to everything that’s going on? Aside from the colours, the positive outcome and experiences I’ve had since I started practicing The Four Shen has been amazing (I’ve yet to start practicing Shen 4). A few but not all are: having an increased awareness of self and others, I feel happier, and my wife says I look younger! So, thank you for sharing, Des.
Cheers, J” - “Hi Des
Great class. It was all going on. Change of colours, thickness, temperature you name it. At the end I also had the sensation of it going from double prongs into ground and then almost like a rake, with multiple prongs going into the ground.
See you next week.”
M T - “Hey Des,
Enjoyed that tonight. I got a wee attack of the giggles half way through because of a very strange sensation that persisted but switched sides. It felt like my body had been cut in two from head to feet but when I got put back to together I was out of line. From top to bottom and front to back. So it felt like half of my body was about 4 inches higher than the other half. It was especially noticeable when my hands were above my head. They were totally out of step ????
Will see if that happens again when I practice this week.
Cheers” - “Thank you for that and enjoyed last night again. Just a quick one to say I really noticed the different temperatures on my arms. On the outside of my arms it was like someone had rubbed Vicks on them, it was that strange menthol super coolness that you get when the air hits your skin. It’s like you say some of the things are so odd, your brain tries to tell you they are not happening – later on it felt like I was moving my hands through golden syrup. Which reminds me, think I will have some on a pancake today ( golden syrup not the Vicks) Haha. Have a good holiday weekend and happy trails.”
- “Was doing wee bit last night, then later when I sat down was looking slightly up and there was large white light moving very rapidly against the black. I asked it to come a bit closer and suddenly, really suddenly the black parted to show me a bright bright blue sky. It was so vivid, lifelike and sudden that if I hadn’t been sitting down I would have fallen over!”
- “Just a quick one to say that I did see two colours at once last week. Just before you said that I had just had a firm word with myself, as I realised I was half ‘expecting’ to see the style of image I sometimes do ie the black figures against colour background. I let that go and then I saw a very distinct oak leaf shape that was both maroon and dark green at same time. Couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on until you said.
Later that night in bed I tried again and this time it was almost like watching a colour saturated film, where men in smart suits and shiny shoes were marching around but I was down at ground level and could only see them from the knees down.” - “Hi Des,
I have been practicing tai chi and Qigong Shibashi for 14 years but I have never felt the Qi before your classes. Perhaps that says as much about my previous instructors as it does about me!
I should have mentioned that my Qigong participants are also my tai chi participants. Most of them have been doing tai chi since 2018 when I started teaching so they’re familiar with flowing movements, weight transference, etc. We always do a few minutes of abdominal breathing at the beginning of the class and while I’ve explained the concept of Qi (admittedly not very well) my folk weren’t grasping what I was struggling to describe. Now we have something tangible to work with I’m hoping we will also develop our tai chi practice into being more than a physical exercise.”
Thanks again.
I - “Feedback from Thursday training – I liked the image of ‘layers’ of the dan tien/energy field – rather like an onion? Albeit with the layers going in different directions.
I found it hard to feel movement of the dan tien, though I did get a soft pulsing eventually (not in time with the heart or breath). An image that came to me – if you’ve watched the Fifth Element, a sphere, black but with red veins, like lava waiting to burst out – or was it cooling? Also a cool blue/white light – larger/the aura? While feeling for the ‘size’ of the dan tien, it felt as if it extended out to the arms when ‘holding the belly’ out – hollow, deep, like a bottomless pit (in a positive way). Body continues to feel transparent at times, hard to let go of it, I’m ‘aware’ I have arms, or am I just used to them being there and ‘feel’ what is expected?” L.