Wall Squatting

Place your toes about six inches out from the wall to prevent falling.  

If needed, you can hold on to a doorknob or pole.  Keep in mind that you must face a smooth wall (or door) to do the squats because the wall keeps your knees in alignment with your toes to prevent knee injuries.  

If needed in the beginning, place an old book underneath your heels.  Each day tear our ten pages from the book until you can squat all the way down without a book.  A caution with this technique - if you do not tear out the pages every day the book will become a "crutch." 

Do not strain yourself or overdue.  Allow the Qi (energy) to lift and hold your body.

If you cannot go down all the way (thighs and calf muscles touching), stop when you thighs are at a 90 degree angle to the floor.  These are called half-squats.  Most (about 75%) of the benefits can be achieved by performing half-squats.

To prevent knee injuries, it is very important to keep your knees inside of your toes.  If you looked down at any point in the practice you should always be able to see your toes (they are not blocked by the knees).

Make sure you do wall squats in a gradual progression.  For example, you can begin with five squats a day and increase the number of squats every few days until your knees and stamina allow you to do 100 squats each day.

Prepare yourself mentally.  Take a few abdominal breaths to calm yourself and relax.  Lightly think about the purpose of the practice (healing the kidneys, lungs or heart, improve your energy, or just to improve your over-all health).

Place your nose, forehead and feet close to the wall.  Take a deep breath and relax your entire body.

Loosen up your shoulders and align them towards the wall.  Slow begin to squat down rounding your buttock with the tailbone tucking inward.

Pay attention to your lower back and arch forward and curl up like a cat.  Make sure your knees do not pass over your toes.

Continue to lower your body in a conscious and controlled manner.  Make sure your downward speed is constant and even.

Squat all the way down until you can go no further.

Concentrate on the top of your head using the Qi to help you to move upward.  Lift your body slowly and gradually upwards keeping your knees behind your toes and your nose and forehead touching the wall.

Note:  If you concentrate on your feet and thighs, you will experience a lot of muscle tension.  You will find yourself moving upwards too quickly to avoid the stress.  

Lift your body slowly and continuously up to the midway point.  Without pausing continue to lift to the upper standing position by focusing on the lower back (the Mingmen area), so that the spine will spring your body upwards effortlessly like an arrow being released from a body in slow motion.

If you can very slowly and smoothly go down and raise yourself up without stopping at any point in the cycle (including at the top and the bottom), you are most likely doing the squats correctly.  Watch to insure you do not take a rest between squats.  If you do, your Qi has not sufficiently developed yet.

Once you can perform the squats very slowly, sufficient Qi will be reaching every vertebra.  At this time you can speed up the cycle since you are using Qi instead of muscles to perform the practice.  The Qi becomes a lubricant protecting every joint in your body.  The Qi will heal your joints (knees, back, feet, etc.) instead of hurting them.