“In practicing internal kungfu, it is important that one understand yin and yang. Yin is inward, yang is outward. When we are practicing standing meditation, we should draw in our chests and stretch our backs, and our arms horizontally form a circle because concave is yin, and convex is yang. Some people say practicing chi is impossible because chi doesn't exist; however, that is only a different cognition. If we relax our waists and draw back our chests, chi will actually sink down into our abdomens (Dantian). In fact, that is natural abdomen respiration. Hence, our internal organs could be exercised efficiently by the pushing of the diaphragm so that our health improves. ”
“练内家功必须先明阴阳，阴宜内敛，阳宜开张，如练习桩功，两肩微抱，前胸内敛，后背开张，横向抱圆，凹为阴，凸为阳。许多人认为练气是胡说，根本没有气，这是个人认识不同，如果我们前胸内敛，可使气沉小腹，是练腹式呼吸，这样脏腑在横膈推动下得到很有效的锻炼，对健康有利。”
——马世琦老师
The first style of standing meditation:
桩功第一式：
Grasp [the regularity of] yin and yang. 把握阴阳
Master Ma says standing meditation is the process of “Upholding [the patterns of] heaven and earth and grasping [the regularity of] yin and yang”. To grasp the yin and yang in yourself, you should first know which part is yin and which part is yang.
马老师常说，站桩即是“提挈天地，把握阴阳”。要把握自身的阴阳，首先要分清哪里是阴，哪里是阳。
Yin and yang are highly abstract concepts, and they are relatively connected to one another, but their limits are not definite. Only if we clarify the range of definition can we distinguish yin and yang, as shown the pictures below.
阴阳是一个高度抽象的概念，相对而非绝对，先要定义范围，才能分清阴阳。如下图所示。
Picture 1-1: The lower body under the belly button is yin, the upper body above the belly button is yang.
图1-1：人体自肚脐以下为阴，肚脐以上为阳。
Picture 1-2: The front of the body is yin, the back of the body is yang. Like what Mr. Ma usually says: we should draw in our chests and stretch our backs. When we practice standing meditation, yang chi will rise from our backs and go down our fronts. That is why it is common to feel your back radiating heat when you begin the standing practice. The strength also comes from the yang side of your body for attacking and defending.
图1-2： 前面为阴，后面为阳。马老师常讲的阳面要打开，阴面要闭藏主要就是指前后的要领。站桩时阳气也是从后面上升，从前面下降。这就是为什么站桩时后背会首先热。技击时，发劲的也是阳面。
Picture 1-3: In the first style of standing meditation posture, Male’s right hand cover left hand because male’s right side of body is yin, and the left side of body is yang; this is the opposite for females.
图1-3：桩功第一式男子右手在上，左手在下，是因为男子右为阴，左为阳，“负阴而抱阳”；女子则反之。
Picture 1-4 For a human’s trunk, the front is yin, as mentioned before. The abdomen is the yin part of the forequarter comparing to the chest, which is the yang of the forequarter. The abdomen is represented by water while the chest is represented by fire. The processes of standing meditation channel the “fire” beneath the “water;” that is what is called ”harmonization of fire and water.” When “kidney water” is heated by “heart fire”, the whole body is nurtured and your body becomes the best medicine for you. What we usually experience, like anxiety, nervousness, irascibility, and inflammation, is due to disharmony between the heart and kidney. As written in the Su Wen· Discourse on how the Generative Chi Communicates with Heaven, “When the yin and yang are balanced and sealed, then essence and spirit are in order. When yin and yang are dissociated, then the [flow of] essence chi is interrupted.”A easy method: standing against the wall一个易学的方法——靠墙站
There is a significant difference between Mr. Ma’s standing meditation and others’: you must never significantly bend your knees. Therefore, knees and leg muscles will not hurt. How do you relax your waist while keeping soft knees? The easiest way is standing against a wall or door whose material should be wood, not brick nor metal.
马老师的桩功与其他功法有一个最大的区别——不往下蹲。这样做膝盖就不会受伤，腿部肌肉也不会很痛苦。但如何在膝盖不弯时体会松腰的感觉呢？最好的方法就是靠墙（天气较凉时可以靠门）站。
Do not overlook this method. It’s the secret of internal Kung Fu! Many people benefit from this method, especially having a miraculous healing effect for lumbar disc herniation. A patient over 70 years old totally recovered from this disease by practicing standing against wall a hour each day for three months.
不要小看了这一靠，这可是一个大秘密。很多人就是因为使用了这个方法而受益，尤其对腰椎间盘突出有奇效：曾经有一位70多岁的患者，每天靠墙站一小时，三个月就彻底康复了。
Everyone can grasp this method and it does not have any bad side-effects. We are going to present you this method specifically.
下面介绍具体方法，每个人都可以掌握，而且没有任何副作用：
Note: this article is edited and translated from Mingxintang's Wechat journals.
注： 本文编辑翻译自明心堂微刊。
