Ba Guas 12 Standing Postures & the Meridians This PDF
expands on the book, Ba Gua Nei Gong Vol. 3: Twelve Posture
Standing. One of
theinterestingthingsabouttheChineseinternalartsisthemanydifferentlevelsof
practice possible even in the most fundamental exercises. Ba Guas
12 Standing Postures
areagoodexampleofthis.Eachposturebuildsstrengthanddevelopspowerby
creatingspiraltwiststhatrunthroughthewholebody.Theselinesoftorsionincrease
the power at the endpoints (For example: the extended hand, or the
foot rooting into the floor) by lining up the body to create a
unified structure.The postures also open and close the cavities of
the body the spaces that hold the organs and through which Qi
andblood
flow.AspecificpostureguidesordrawstheQiandbreath,sothatitflows
moretooneareathananother.Throughasimilarmechanism,theposturesalsoopen
andactivatetheJing-Luo(channelsandcollaterals)ormeridians.Eachpostureopens
and activates a different meridian or group of meridians.
ThisarticlemakestheassumptionthatyouarefamiliarwiththeJing-Luoandtheir
generalpathways.Muchofthismaterialiscoveredinsomedetailthebook,BaGua
Circle Walking Nei Gong, the Meridian Opening Palms of Ba Gua
Zhang. The Circle Walking
NeiGongpostureshavetheirowncorrespondenceswiththeJingLuoandtheinter-relationshipofthewalkingposturesandthestandingposturesisnotonlyinteresting,
but forges many critical internal body connections. When talking
about the relationship of postures and movements to meridians, we
need to be careful of the Western tendency to simplify things and
break them down into their component parts. The body is an organic
whole. When you move one part of the body
youcreateglobaleffectsthroughouttheentireorganism.Therefore,whenwesaya
postureactivatesaparticularmeridian,thisdoesnotmeanthatitdoesnotalsoeffect
otherpartsofthebodyorothermeridians.Tosomedegreeeachofthepostureshas
globaleffectsthroughoutthebody.Openingandactivatingameridian,inthis
context, means that the posture has a tendency to lead, draw and
guide Qi and breath more into that meridian or group of meridians
than others. This tendency can be further augmented through
application of the mind-intention. It is important to keep in mind
that the Meridians or Jing Luo are not merely lines of energy that
run through the body, but are contiguous and include in their
trajectory the
softtissue(muscles,tendons,ligaments,fascia).Inthisregard,itisusefultohearthe
words of senior acupuncturist Wan Ju Yi: Narrowly speaking, one
might say that the channels are spaces(jian xi) in the body. In
alargersense,theconceptofchannelrefersnotonlytothespaces,buttoeverything
wrappedwithinthem.Inthisdefinition,theconceptbroadenstoincludenotonlythe
spaces within the connective tissues, but also the structures (and
fluids) held and brought together by these connective tissues. A
channel is then like a river in that it includes the riverbanksand
also thecomplexity of life within the water itself held by
thosebanks. In
thebody,thechannelsarethegroupingsofconnectivetissue,thatbringtogetherthe
blood vessels, bones, lymphatic vessels, nerves, tissues and
interstitial fluids within their purview.1
Itisalsotemptingtomakethingsfitaspecificmodelortheory.Inthiscaseweknow
thereare12mainmeridian.Itwouldbeveryconvenientandtidyifthe12postures
matched up with the 12 meridians in a one-to-one correspondence.
However, this is not the case. Once one lets go of this notion, and
includes the Eight Extraordinary Channels
(QiJingBaMai),theactualcorrespondencesbetweenposturesandmeridiansarefar
more interesting as can be seen in the following list . 1 Applied
Channel Theory in Chinese Medicine: Wang Ju-Yis Lectures on Channel
Therapeuticsby Wang Ju-Yi and Jason Robertson Seattle: Eastland
Press, 2008, p. 13. 1. Old Monk Offer the Alms Bowl:Hand & Foot
Yangming
2. Hiding Flower Under Leaf:Du Mai 3. Green Dragon Turns Its
Head:Hand & Foot Shaoyin and Hand Taiyang 4. Hawk Overturns Its
Body:Hand & Foot Taiyin 5. Black Dragon Searches the Sea:Foot
Taiyang 6. Yin Yang Coiling Dragon: Dai Mai And Bao Mai 7. Wing
Spreading Flying Palm:Ren Mai & Foot Yang Ming 8. White Ape
Offers Peach:Chong Mai 9. Dragon Crouches on the Ground:Yin Qiao
Mai& Yang Qiao Mai 10. Embrace the Moon to the Breast:Hand
Jueyin & Hand Shaoyang 11. Three Plates Fall to the Ground:Foot
Jueyin & Foot Shaoyang 12. Unicorn Spits Out the Book: Yin Wei
Mai and Yang Wei Mai
