Health Benefits of Santi Shi

[Sihing73]

Hello,

Thank you for the replies, some food for thought.

I am not advocating simply standing still alone. There are of course internal aspects, for example in Hsing Yi one learns to concentrate the energy in six different directions as well while standing in Santi.

Of course one should also do other exercises and practice as well. Standing is one piece of the pie not the whole.

My curiosity stems from noticing that since beginning Santi, with no other changes, my blood sugar levels seem to run lower than before. This leads me to wonder if there are some benefits to the practice or perhaps a combination of several things.

My understanding is that in Eastern arts or health methods, the focus is primarily on establishing balance to the body. Once balance is obtained then the body can work to heal itself. So my thinking was that perhaps standing in Santi was a way of re-establishing balance.

[Miqi]

Hello,

Thank you for the replies, some food for thought.

I am not advocating simply standing still alone. There are of course internal aspects, for example in Hsing Yi one learns to concentrate the energy in six different directions as well while standing in Santi.

Of course one should also do other exercises and practice as well. Standing is one piece of the pie not the whole.

My curiosity stems from noticing that since beginning Santi, with no other changes, my blood sugar levels seem to run lower than before. This leads me to wonder if there are some benefits to the practice or perhaps a combination of several things.

My understanding is that in Eastern arts or health methods, the focus is primarily on establishing balance to the body. Once balance is obtained then the body can work to heal itself. So my thinking was that perhaps standing in Santi was a way of re-establishing balance.

The mind and the body are amazing things. Sometimes it's just the fact that you recognise that something is out of balance, and begin to do something - it could be walking, waving your arms around or yoga - even just getting out and being more sociable - and some things start improving.

[Matthew]

Hello,

Thank you for the replies, some food for thought.

I am not advocating simply standing still alone. There are of course internal aspects, for example in Hsing Yi one learns to concentrate the energy in six different directions as well while standing in Santi.

Thanks, I noticed there are many slight variations on these basic ZZ, isn't it?

Either way, it seems they are postural improvements. I noticed many secondary/tertiary level physical responses after practicing consistently (better sleep, improved bowel movement consistency, reduced effort in some manual labor tasks, improved concentration)... but for your question about research it would be very hard to isolate these improvements against other life variables (job stressors, life changes, weather conditions, diet/sleep consistency, and other variables).

With those difficulty in variables for research, and the funding issue (funding alternative, free treatment, etc.) - isn't it just too hard to have some actual hard-cold facts on this?

If we experiment this ourselves and note improvement - isn't that already a great thing and worth sharing?

My curiosity stems from noticing that since beginning Santi, with no other changes, my blood sugar levels seem to run lower than before. This leads me to wonder if there are some benefits to the practice or perhaps a combination of several things.

My understanding is that in Eastern arts or health methods, the focus is primarily on establishing balance to the body. Once balance is obtained then the body can work to heal itself. So my thinking was that perhaps standing in Santi was a way of re-establishing balance.

The video I linked makes many similar such claims, and apparently the guy (YongNian) wrote a book based on his research. Not sure what parameters he set, how or if he controlled for variables, sample sizes, etc. but they discuss it here:
http://www.emptyflower.net/forums//i...showtopic=5140


Other teachers teaching these ZZ usually make similar claims.

I don't see anyone sticking to Miqi's unfounded claims that it is "over-valued" and the only thing people should do, well we have to take everyones claims with a grain of salt and try it out if we want to see what happens.

[YouKnowWho]

Do anybody truly believe that to stand still like this,

http://imageshack.us/a/img404/8081/c...ingposture.jpg

will give you better benefit than to move around like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jI_...ature=youtu.be

Please notice that when you are moving, your

- right hand has to coordinate with your left foot, and
- left hand has to coordinate with your right foot.

The outer 3 harmonies just cannot be trained in static ZZ.

[Robinhood]

Do anybody truly believe that to stand still like this,

http://imageshack.us/a/img404/8081/c...ingposture.jpg

will give you better benefit than to move around like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jI_...ature=youtu.be

Please notice that when you are moving, your

- right hand has to coordinate with your left foot, and
- left hand has to coordinate with your right foot.

The outer 3 harmonies just cannot be trained in static ZZ.

There are beifits from proper zz standing, if you do it right you will know what they are, if done wrong, you won't know.

Your logic is not right anyway, it is a combination of balance that is needed, not just one thing. If you have a engine, will it run better on gas or water ?, doing only external training is like trying to run your engine using water.

[YouKnowWho]

There are beifits from proper zz standing, if you do it right you will know what they are, if done wrong, you won't know.

Your logic is not right anyway, it is a combination of balance that is needed, not just one thing. If you have a engine, will it run better on gas or water ?, doing only external training is like trying to run your engine using water.

I assume this thread is talking about "health benefit" of ZZ. IMO, the dynamic ZZ has more "health benefit" than the static ZZ.

Here is another example of static ZZ:

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/1382/13taibo1.jpg

and dynamic ZZ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LTr...ature=youtu.be

[Miqi]

I assume this thread is talking about "health benefit" of ZZ. IMO, the dynamic ZZ has more "health benefit" than the static ZZ.

Here is another example of static ZZ:

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/1382/13taibo1.jpg

and dynamic ZZ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LTr...ature=youtu.be

This is very much the conclusion that I've come to - although I do believe that some static training is important. Stillness, slow movement and fa li are really all the same thing, done at different speeds and sizes - as someone once said, I can't remember who now but it was a credible source - either old Wang or one of the Yao brothers.

[Robinhood]

I assume this thread is talking about "health benefit" of ZZ. IMO, the dynamic ZZ has more "health benefit" than the static ZZ.

Here is another example of static ZZ:

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/1382/13taibo1.jpg

and dynamic ZZ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LTr...ature=youtu.be

I wasn't talking about health benefits, but there are many health benefits also.

Sounds like Miqi understands the benefits of proper standing, and his observation of most chinese arts is pretty accurate also.

[Miqi]

There are beifits from proper zz standing, if you do it right you will know what they are, if done wrong, you won't know.

Your logic is not right anyway, it is a combination of balance that is needed, not just one thing. If you have a engine, will it run better on gas or water ?, doing only external training is like trying to run your engine using water.

One of the more useful definitions of "internal" is the unfolding of innate, natural ability and knowledge. This is one of the reasons why arcane theory about jins and qi are largely irrelevant - zz cuts stright to the actual physiological and psycho-physiological level.

Sounds grand but it just means that ZZ is very useful because it increases a person's control over their body - i.e. the interconnection between intent and performance, what you want to do and what you do do. This is why it is useful for all sports, and even for medical purposes. Alexander, for example, technique uses some very similar ideas. True though, without proper understanding of the method, it is pointless.

[rett]

Do anybody truly believe that to stand still like this,

http://imageshack.us/a/img404/8081/c...ingposture.jpg

will give you better benefit than to move around like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jI_...ature=youtu.be

Please notice that when you are moving, your

- right hand has to coordinate with your left foot, and
- left hand has to coordinate with your right foot.

The outer 3 harmonies just cannot be trained in static ZZ.

Early in the morning while the body is just waking up, it feels right to stand still for a while.

I don't think I've run into anyone who thinks standing still should exclude movement training.

[Miqi]

Early in the morning while the body is just waking up, it feels right to stand still for a while.

Yes, this is true for me too.

[rett]

Perhaps everyone can agree on this statement: "If you stand still, don't do dead standing."

So what is "live" ZZ or Santishi as opposed to "dead"?

(The thread starter was asking in terms of health more than quan I believe.)

[Miqi]

Perhaps everyone can agree on this statement: "If you stand still, don't do dead standing."

So what is "live" ZZ or Santishi as opposed to "dead"?

(The thread starter was asking in terms of health more than quan I believe.)

There are psychological health benefits immediately from taking any kind of non-harmful action to improve your health - just a change of attitude can sometimes make someone feel a bit better.

Standing will, at first, obviously feel a bit of a chore. And there will be times when it feels like the point is just to endure it. "Live" zz comes from feeling the special kind of resistance that comes when you relax properly, and then squeeze or push, and feel like something is resisting your movement.

I suspect that this is just the nerves firing just enough to initiate movement, but without actually moving the limb. As you practice more, this becomes a much stronger feeling - and you have to fight a bit of a battle to keep relaxing rather than tensing, in order to get the correct feeling. Over time, more and more nerves seem to "fire", and this creates a much stronger feeling. This is sometimes, but not always, used in harmony with visualisation techniques - which can be directed at an injury.

Myself, I think this is just activating parts of our physiology that are normally dormant or under-used - and with it out amazing capacity for healing.

For martial purposes, this feeling should transform into what is mysteriously called movement within stillness, but is really just the very simple practice of almost doing movements - doing them in the mind, but "firing" the nerves that would actually initiate those movements. This can then be extended in to bigger, slow movements. From personal experience, if I don't do this kind of practice I certainly feel less healthy, and capable of producing less power when I hit a bag, say.

For health, the process can be used to target a particular body part to encourage healing. However, I would say there are obviously serious limits on this. I don't knoe all that there is, but I don't buy that it cures cancer, etc. - except maybe there could be an exceptional, miracle case (who knows?) - but for basic health and healing injuries, I've found it extremely useful. I'm in my mid 40s and feel stronger and healthier than ever, even after decades of training.