When attending to the distribution of weight in the foot it is essential not to be misled by extra tension in the tendons around the ankle. It is easy to get a false sense of being rooted from the slight pressing into the ground generated by the muscles of the lower leg and transmitted through the Achilles or anterior tibialis tendons (the Achilles tendon’s counterpart at the front of the ankle). This pressing produces localized pressure in one area or another of the bottom of the foot that can easily be misinterpreted as a desirable connection to the ground.

To overcome this tension it is necessary to constantly relax these tendons so that pressure is evenly distributed along the entire bottom of the foot. The feeling is of a large, heavy weight on the end of the leg that evenly presses down everywhere (ie “elephant’s foot”). Paradoxically, this even distribution of weight can feel like less of a connection to the ground, even to the point that one is floating or gliding above the earth. Only when this is accomplished can attention be properly focused on aligning the center of gravity (“up and down” or zhong ding) to maximize stability.