How to do basic Chen Taijiquan Zhan Zhuang

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a. Stand still with your feet together and your head upright, as if you are listening to a
sound coming from behind you. Your Baihui point, Huiyin point and Yongquan points
should be in line and your Qi will start to sink to your Dantian.
b. Now slightly bend your knees until you just start to feel the weight on your thighs.
This will help your Qi to sink more and stop your body from moving as well as let the
structure of the body, our skeleton, take the weight. This is how we make our bones
strong.
Make sure to keep your knees, shoulders, hips, back and ankles in a straight line. The
shoulders and hips are connected together and your arms and ankles are connected
together. When we sink our knees, this will help the Qi to go to the Dantian. Your
centre of gravity also moves to your Dantian and this will make the upper body feel
lighter and allow Qi to flow more easily in the body.
c. Now shift all your weight onto your right leg and lift up your left foot. Try to keep your
balance and do not allow yourself to fall over.

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d. Slowly extend your left foot out to the side of your body until your feet are
shoulder width apart and then shift your weight until your weight is even on both
feet. You should now feel more steady. Do not forget to keep your head up (as if
you are listening behind you) and the arms and body straight. Your knees should
still be bent but keep the weight on your thighs. Do not let the knees extend past
your toes. Everything should be still and relaxed, let the Qi sink to the Dantian and
stand still “like a mountain”.

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e. Now start to slowly raise up your arms, as if you are holding something between
your hands. Let the arms move slowly until your arms are at a comfortable height.
Some people like them high and some like them lower. How high or low you go
depends on how strong you are and this is actually the same with the stance but
in the beginning it is better to use a high stance and just have your hands in a
comfortable position.

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