Here is a wonderful ~simple and powerful~ Taoist meditation practice, which can be done both outdoors (in a beautiful natural setting is best!) and indoors. It is similar in many ways to the Buddhist. shamata sitting meditation practice, but ~ and hence the name! ~ you are standing. (So, for one thing, you’re less likely to fall asleep… J)

Begin by standing with your feet parallel and shoulder-width apart. Take a couple of long, deep breaths, saying “aaah” (either out loud or to yourself) with your exhalations. Release any tension you find in your shoulders, neck or face ~ just let it “melt” on the exhale… as if that tension were a frozen river, now being touched by a warm sun, and flowing down, like the gentle cascade of a waterfall, forming pools at your feet. Feel your energy, your consciousness, settling in your feet, legs, hips and belly, strongly connecting you to the earth. Bend your knees slightly ~ just enough to feel softness in the back of your knees.

Let your arms hang by your sides so that your thumbs are lightly touching the outside of your thighs (meaning the back of your hands will be facing forward). Spread and spread your fingers down so they are straight without being stiff, with space between each pair of fingers (as if you had webbed fingers). Now, float your hands directly forward, three to four inches, so that they are now floating just in front of (but still to the sides of) your thighs. This should create a feeling of emptiness in the armpits. Let your elbows bend just enough to create a soft feeling in them.

Now choose an observation point, eight or ten feet in front of you. Rest your eyes very gently on that point (or area). (Meditation Masters of the past have discovered that there is a connection between the movement of our eyes and the movement of thoughts in our mind… So making the eyes stay still is a wonderful way to calm the mind.) place you are looking at inherit your eyes, instead of reaching out (with the energy of your eyes) to “grab” it. In other words, let your eyes become receptive, rather than active… Relax your jaw, so that there is space between your upper and lower teeth, even though your lips are gently closed.

So now that you are in the standing Qigong meditation position, stay here for a while. Once you’ve arranged yourself this way, there isn’t much to “do.” Just realize what it’s like to be here, in this position.

If you are new to the practice, hold the position for a couple of minutes. You can make small adjustments as you feel this is necessary for your comfort, but the idea is to move as little as possible. Once you have the correct alignment of the pose, holding it in a fairly “still” manner will help. internal movements of qi/vital force that will be very pleasant and healing. As you continue this practice, over weeks, months, or years, you will be able to hold the position for longer periods of time (30 minutes, an hour). But at first, a couple of minutes is wonderful!