I often meet with people who have been practicing standing for some time.  When I ask them to show me what they are doing I see the same problem over and over.

Their focus on relaxing has resulted in a collapse of the tensegrity structure of their frame.

I know what your thinking.  Relaxation is so important in standing practice (Jam Jong or Zhan Zhaung), every body says ‘relax completely’.  So how can too much relaxation be a problem?

The answer is quite simple, without stretching the connective tissues adequately the body’s weight is born by local muscle groups instead of being distributed and transmitted through the structure of the frame.  As a result the amount of muscular relaxation is limited.  In other words, by collapsing the tensegrital structure you are limiting your level of relaxation instead of deepening it.

Stretch the connective tissue out, connect to the six surfaces, the three dimensions.  Allow your musculature to relax and transmit load through your structure into your root.  Use gravity like a tree does, harness its force to extend upward.  Feel the breeze flow through your branches, release your tension by surrendering it into the flow.