San Ti Shi

stellr · #1 (**permalink**) July 27th, 2004, 10:17 PM

I am new to standing and tonight stood in San Ti Shi for about 1/2 hour. I have two questions.

1. about 2/3 of the way into the stance my pointing finger and thumb of the low hand went numb as if I had cut off circulation. I made all sorts of adjustments in my arm position and binds but could not get the feeling back during the stance. Any suggestions as to what I was doing wrong, how to figure out the situation, who to improve.
2. we threw in this stance about 1 hour into our practice, to kind of settle down a bit. Does this seem like the right order of things or should standing come before hard exercise/forms

We have no teacher, just trying to dig things out as best we can, thanks.

Wu-ming · #2 (**permalink**) July 28th, 2004, 01:25 AM

Have no teacher ! than who do you study
It's very important ,when you just start practicing, to relex !
First just stand and don't put any stress on any point .There is no need to practice the Yi (intention) right at the beginning ,it's actually better not to.
After you practice like that for a while (at least a month or so) your body gets relexed ,only than you should start and put more stress (in that I mean the 24 point and Intent)

stellr · #3 (**permalink**) July 28th, 2004, 02:27 PM

“	Originally Posted By: Wu-ming Have no teacher ! than who do you study )	”

books, dvds...it is not a good situation, but all I can afford at the moment.

“	Originally Posted By: Wu-ming It's very important ,when you just start practicing, to relex ! First just stand and don't put any stress on any point .There is no need to practice the Yi (intention) right at the beginning ,it's actually better not to. After you practice like that for a while (at least a month or so) your body gets relexed ,only than you should start and put more stress (in that I mean the 24 point and Intent)	”

Thanks for your comments, I did not think I was not relaxed, but something was not right judging from the results. I don't know what you mean by the 24 point. Is that something I can read about somewhere Thanks, again.

Wu-ming · #4 (**permalink**) August 1st, 2004, 04:16 AM

The 24 point are actuall 8x3 .
I'm sure you can find them here http://www.emptyflower.com .

More than once I thought I'm relexed.....till my teacher told me I'm not.
I think it's very important to work on the relaxation at the beginning and not hurry and practice other stuff if one wants to practice it right .

li xiao long · #5 (**permalink**) August 1st, 2004, 06:31 AM

I feel it appropriate to add to wu-mings comments that while you should be aiming for relaxed, you should not be aiming for floppy.

I can be relaxed, and yet for someone touching/pressing against me I will still feel quite firm.

The idea is that you shouldnt be breaking a sweat through keeping your muscles 100% tense, but rather the muscles you need, are working enough to do what they need to, the rest are relaxed.

Partly one of the reasons why your hand may have gone numb is exactly what you pointed out - lack of circulation. The fact you're not moving your body/limbs means that the blood generally wont move as quickly as normal, since movement aids the veins to act like pumps sucking the blood around (with the heart still pumping, hopefully!).

Usually in my experience though, it has not been the leading hand, but the hand trailing, at the dan tien.

Still, each to their own.

Rule of thumb (or numb..) if its uncomfortable, stop/change/shake it out/etc.

jesse byrd · #6 (**permalink**) August 2nd, 2004, 07:55 PM

Stellr, you should really seek out a class for this stuff. It takes alot of analysis, criticism, and adjustment of practice to be able to stand properly. I highly recommend you take a trip up to Nova for some lessons from George Wood, in annandale. Go to www.yizongbagua.com. We have a guy from Roanoke who comes up for class. It's the best IMA school in Va. It's cheap too, especially if you only come up every once in a while. I'm sure George could give you some basic stuff you could practice on your own, and help you to improve over time. Personal practice is 90% of the way, but without proper guidance it will not be productive. Ask Allan Tsang about stuff. He is the guy in Roanoke and he posts on this board. He may even be willing to smack you around some. At the very least he could give you some ideas. Best wishes.
Jesse

li xiao long · #7 (**permalink**) August 3rd, 2004, 08:15 AM

I think allan will be more than willing to smack you up, asked or not!!

**jawsman** · #8 (**permalink**) August 3rd, 2004, 10:56 AM

I second that comment.