Functional Polarity of the Autonomic Nervous System

Every aspect of life is maintained from the opposite forces, yin and yang, or polarity. Functional polarity of the autonomic nervous system is the oscillation between sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of autonomic nervous system.

Modern life imposes continuous stress and prolonged sympathetic branch excitation on people, by depleting the body’s energetic reserves, while suppressing the parasympathetic nervous system and its restorative functions. This breaks the balance.

Standing mediation (Zhan Zhuang) promotes the balance of the two branches of the autonomic nervous system. The practice of Zhan Zhuang simultaneously inhibits the chronically activated sympathetic nervous system and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.

This simple standing exercise fulfills one hundred criteria for enabling the regenerative functions of the body. First the posture is such a one that relieves all physical neural pathways. Keeping the upright spine and tucking a little bit the chin downwards relieves the vagus nerve from atlas-axis joint compression. Second the tendons' legs are stretched (if the posture is maintained correctly) in such a way that they produce bio-electricity due to the piezoelectric property of these connective tissues (explained in the ebook). 

Third, the mobilizing muscles should be relaxed and the posture will be kept with the stabilizing ones. The mobilizing muscles are sympathetic nervous-oriented. For instance, in the beginning you will keep your shoulders shrunken which is a sympathetic-oriented position (fear-driven position). By bringing your awareness to your shoulder you should drop and relax them. Further at first your legs will tremble a lot because you are using mobilizers more than stabilizers. 

Persistent practice will shift your nervous system from sympathetic to parasympathetic one.

GrandMaster Sam Tam