"This posture is often called the "Wu Ji" posture in Taijiquan. It is the resting position, the position before any motion begins, a state of "grand emptiness." It is the primordial condition - empty, free, motionless, without qualities. It precedes the movement of Yin/Yang both logically and temporally. The classics talk of Wu Ji giving birth to Taiji, emptiness transforming itself into the manifold of cyclic dualities. Our course, our bodies are never completely at rest: our hearts contract and relax, our blood moves up and down, we breath in and out, our two feet and two arms help keep us in balance as we stand, our mind may be calm and focused but billions of neurons are quite busy in our brains creating that phenomenon we directly apprehend as consciousness. So, the "Wu Ji" state of this posture is more symbolic, allegorical, or figuratively interpreted. Students should note that this posture is very similar to the Yoga posture of Tadasana - the Mountain Pose. We should stand like a Mountain: strong, stable, unmoving, grand, still, aloof, above the mundane, powerful, accepting but unbroken by the storms of ideas, and avalanches of strong emotions and real worries. "
- Michael P. Garofalo, The Eight Section Brocade Qigong
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