About a year ago, one of my YouTube channel viewers left the following question on one of my videos:
Q:
"My right quad muscle feels more tense than my left during zhan zhuang, how do I fix this?"
Difficulties like the one described in this question are extremely common among Qigong and Tai Chi practitioners. One of the primary reasons to train Zhan Zhuang Qigong is to help a practitioner become aware of imbalances in the body so they can be corrected. I have copied my response to this question below and it is my hope that it well be helpful for anyone out there who is struggling with a similar problem.
A:
"The best thing to do is to find an instructor that can work with you in-person. That way they can observe your practice and help you adjust what needs to be adjusted. Generally when the quads are tense it has to do with shifting the weight too far forward onto the ball of the foot or tucking the sacrum too far under the body when trying to remove excess curvature from the low back (which also tends to push the weight forward onto the toes).
Another common cause of excess quad activation is pushing forward at the inguinal crease, rather than folding the inguinal crease inward. This is often caused because too much outward (away from center) rotational force is being sent through the legs unintentionally. If only one side is feeling this, it can be due to imbalance in your structure that is causing you to compensate with the right quads, or it could be that both quads are equally over-activated, but your awareness is more drawn to your right side for any number of reasons.
Those are all places to look when you are analyzing your structure as you practice, but without working with you in-person, there is no way for me to know which one of these issues are coming into play. I would recommend watching my "Qigong Basics" playlist. I am still posting videos to it because it is not yet complete, but the videos that discuss the correct weight distribution on the feet and the correct structure and intention in the lower body are all available. It might help you sort out what is going on with your right quad muscles if you do not have a skilled instructor to train with in-person. Here is the link to the Qigong Basics playlist :
If you have not stopped by my YouTube channel and you are looking for a great source of free Tai Chi and Qigong instruction material, visit YouTube.com/AndrewPlitt today.
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