The power of rooting

Since beginning iron shirt, I spend 80% of my time in horse stance, doing "embracing tree". Horse stance is famous and is used in several qigong flavors... yet in iron shirt the postural instructions are very specific:

-- feet shoulder width apart
-- second toes aligned with heels, pointing straight ahead (feels weird at first!)
-- weight distributed evenly between heel, ball of foot (front-inside edge of foot) and outside edge of the foot
-- bend knees (of course)
-- tuck tailbone (sink + curve forward)
-- straighten back
-- "open" spine and allow each vertebrae to fill with energy and rise slightly upwards
-- "float" head as if suspended from heaven by string

This is a lot to keep in mind (especially when you are not supposed to be "thinking" at all!)...and over the past couple months I have discovered a few details that have amplified my qi concentration powers greatly. One of the most striking is the importance of rooting!

I have always visualized my body energy flowing through the "bubbling well" points at the bottom of my feet into the earth (and vice versa)... yet the specific postural alignments and iron shirt horse stance radically increase my sense of energy flow. There are many key points... here are my thoughts for just the feet:

-- bubbling well points are two thirds up your foot from your heel (I used to think of them directly in the middle)
-- weight is distributed evenly between the tripod of points described above (ball of foot, outside edge, heel)
-- toes are also touching yet not really bearing weight
-- "claw" the ground with the ball of your foot and outside edge... (not toes)... not actually moving, more of an intention... the beginning of a movement... let's call it a proto-movement

There are many more postural points to be aware of as you go up the body... these foot-points have helped me improve my rooting tremendously though, which in turn has had a huge impact on my overall practice. I'm raving about it because I'm really surprised myself...(!)...