Sorry, if I didn't use the right title but I found this one as the most apropriate for everyone from beginners to advance. What I meant is how long do you stand in the horse stance (and others) when doing neigong work? Some practitioners will benefit of long periods of time whilst others need longer periods in order to adequately manage the flow of qi along the major meridians in the body. Thanks for your replies, Gerard.
I don't think I've ever stood in horse stance during Qi Gong. Horse stance to me, is where the knees are low enough where if you put a stick on them, the stick would not roll.
BSamuray, horse stance in qigong practice is also called in Mandarin "Zhan Zhuang", which is the basic and first posture in nei-gung training. You lower your knees a bit, feet parallel and facing forward. spine straight aligned with the sacrum and the back of the head, arms resting by the sides with palms cupped and facing backward and elbows naturally bent, head lifted as if suspended of a string from above, chin tucked slightly in, eyes facing ahead and also slightly down, eyes closed for beginners to facilitate breathing and visualization work as part of nei-gung practice, and slightly open and unfocused for no beginners. This is a rough description of the horse stance. However the stance and squat depth may vary according to the school like the one depicted in this picture: http://shaolin-wahnam.tripod.com/answers/ans03a/jun03-3.html However this pic is not the normal horse stance or zhan zhuang is it the embracing the tree, pylon or three circle stance. The horse stance you mean maybe is the one used in Shaolin Gong fu and hard qi gong stances like standing on pylons. I don't promote this sort of qigong here as I am a Taoist. I don't know anyway what you meant, maybe I am wrong? Sorry anyway I am Gerard.
Ah, I understand now about the stance after you described it. Usually my duration is about 20-30 min in that stance.
