“Stillness is the master of motion” – Wang Xiang Zhai
I received an email recently from a new student (Frank) who shared with me the fact that since he’s been learning everything he can about golf swing mechanics in order to qualify as a coach, all he feels now when he stands over the ball is fear.
His mind is crammed full of so many ideas about the take-away, swing plane, the positions of the club and so on that he’s simply terrified of getting it wrong. With this acute case of paralysis by analysis his game’s gone south.
Coupled with this it seems like so many golfers he’s become interested in the so-called ‘mental game’ which more often than not tries to add to an already over-crammed mind, ideas about positive thinking, encouraging self-talk and the like.
We exchanged several emails and I was pleased to learn that he’d been consistent with his breathing/meditation practice (see my bestselling book Breathe GOLF) so we added a simple biomechanical principle from Tai Chi about correct weight placement on the feet (details in my recent blog) in an attempt to help Frank bring his mind and body together.
Here’s what happened:
“I wanted to let you know I had a very enjoyable round today, I had a good time and felt very relaxed on the course. I enjoyed the company I was with and noticed that I was thinking a lot less and more clearly. I look forward to continuing the current plan and improving steadily. I am particularly delighted that I had a fair amount of chips and pitch shots which were pretty successful and where I managed to keep my attention on a relaxed breath and the feeling of my feet. It does me a lot of good to experience this during a tournament. Thank you”.
With less to think about and a simple instruction to anchor the attention in the physical body, specifically the correct balance point, Frank’s game is finally turning around.
So, why does this approach work so well?
To illustrate I’d like to share a sea-change that occurred within the world of kung-fu, in 1940’s Beijing. By the way, the term kung-fu can be translated as hard work or more precisely, the time and energy spent mastering a craft or skill, therefore golf can be considered as a form of kung-fu!
Wang Xiang Zhai, founder of a revolutionary style of kung-fu called ‘I Chuan’ (Mind Boxing) felt that most kung-fu practitioners were putting the cart before the horse, in that they were obsessed with outward forms and patterns of movement and spent very little time developing awareness and thus lost the ability to react spontaneously to a given situation.
Master Zhai (pictured left) decided to abandon the traditional repetitions of movement patterns (katas) and took a journey into the heart of stillness, standing motionless for hours at a time learning how to prepare his mind to lead action through a clear but simple intent which his body could obey.
You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve listened to my audio programme ‘Deep Practice for Effortless Golf’ or you’ve been using the Training Report on “Relaxed Power” or my video series on Advanced Biomechanics.
The unique form of standing meditation developed by Master Zhai trains the awareness and allows the mind intention to develop simultaneously with the body’s innate ability for natural movement.
In Beijing, during contests with martial artists from many different styles, all of whom trained patterns of movement, Master Zhai who trained only in stillness, won a record number of fights and his approach was later coined Great Achievement Boxing.
In golf, this training helps to counteract the mainstream approach which trains mind and technique separately and helps to unify thought and action, as well as developing a whole range of other benefits from relaxed attention, abdominal breathing, ground-force, leg strength and so on.
As you most likely know from your own game, your mind likes to dissect, analyse, digitise and understand movement…but your body just loves to move!
Solving this dilemma is where the Eastern approach can really help – to wit, Frank’s ability to play a more enjoyable game by working his breathing (which quietened his mind and soothed his over-wrought nervous-system) and his balance (which provided a foundation for more consistent shot-making). 
Try bringing this kung-fu training into your golf, a sport where every shot starts from a point of relative stillness and demands a range of spontaneous actions from explosive to the most delicate of touches and you will feel more comfortable, relaxed and committed to the shot each time you setup to the ball.
Standing meditation teaches you to relax and become more aware of your body and this in turn allows for greater freedom of movement, as the upper body becomes more relaxed, supported and under the influence/direction of the legs and feet.
Persistent training will yield greater stability in your shot-making or as one golf shoe manufacturer puts it, one less moving part to your swing!
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Happy training!
Jayne
