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Wujifa, like everything, is an exploration of life. Zhan Zhuang should be "alive", as the core practice of our art and science, but what does it mean to have life in your practice? For me, when I consider life, I think of breath, movement, flow - and awareness of these things as the self-consciousness of life. An exploration of this, not as a theory but as direct experience lies at the heart of Wujifa.

When we stand, we adopt a certain posture. What is the meaning of this posture? Tai chi and Qigong call it "Chi Flowing" but what does that mean to us, as practitioners of the practical method of Wujifa? Obviously, there is a physical human experience these ancient methods and ways of speaking are pointing to, so how can we better understand and experience this without becoming ungrounded from reality?

Take a look at the heart pictured above. Physically it is no different from the one in your chest right now. What is this picture missing that your living heart has? Your heart is connected to the rest of an integrated system, for one. Your heart moves. Your heart is involved in the flow of blood through your body. What is missing from the heart in the picture might be called "life".

In stance it is no different. Is your stance just like a picture in a book? To what degree is there connection, movement, and flow? I'm starting to notice this in my practice, and beginning to ask myself if I'm focusing on the heart in the picture, or the heart in my chest. One looks beautiful, but has no life, the other is part of who I am. Which will you choose to listen to?



Look at the amoeba in this video - and notice how everything moves through its whole body toward its food. If this isn't "Chi Flowing" I don't know what is.