I so wish I could do this. I blame it on my big 27" steel department store bike on skinny tires. I know the real reason is I suck.

So you lock the front brake, stand and load the pedals, and balance, right? All while singing and drinking a glass of water.

Why do I want to do it? No reason. Just something to work on during the commute. I realize I can just go really slowly. But that's not a challenge.

Anyone struggle and hit the ZEN point with the track stand? What was your moment of clarity?

Do you have a freewheel bike? Here's what to do:

With the cranks at the 9 and 3 position, turn your front wheel about 45 degrees in towards the forward pedal. Now you need a slight uphill - the trick is to balance the force that you put on the pedals with the force of the bicycle rolling backwards on the hill.. don't lock the front brake. You need a slight back and forth motion (with time this motion becomes hardly noticeable, this is when you learn to stay in the 'zen' point). So locking the front brake would kind of defeat the purpose. The 45 degree wheel tilt is so that this back and forth motion also takes you side to side, which makes it easier to balance.

Anyway, keep working at it. Sorry if I made it sound complicated. You'll get it in time.

What he said, but I turn the wheel the other way. So, my right foot is forward, and I turn the wheel to the left and use the crown in the road as the hill (usually). There's a web site on fixed gear riding that gives a much better explanation. With the wheel turned, moving forward corrects one way, moving back corrects the other. Fixed gear people can do this w/o a hill. Geared or SS people can do this using the brakes instead of a hill as you suggest. The idea (in my mind) is that by shifting your weight quickly forward to back as you release the brake creates the backwards movement, but this is subtle. It is much easier to learn w/ hills.
I just started standing for as long as possible on my commute, and a few months later was rarely putting a foot down over full light cycles. And, it's easier on my touring bike w/ 27" wheels than on my mtb.
Don't know why.

Nope. My moment of clarity came when I experienced the blissful karma of the KICKstand!

There are 3 types of balancing while stopped.
Trackstand, duh
Rocking
Hopping
I am a trial rider, so I've spend hours upon weeks, upon years practicing these simple techniques. By the way, none of these will hurt your road bike. Nothing here puts your rims under a lot of stress, so do not fear.
watch this it may help-
https://www.trials-online.com/video/trackstand.php
https://www.trials-online.com/video/pivoting.php
https://www.trials-online.com/video/pivoting2.php
Trackstanding is simple. Keep you pedals level... not 9-5; unless you find this more comfortable. Mainly because your center of balance is thrown off by the awkwardness of your feet. Level is your best bet. Keeping your Chocó foot forward, lock your brakes and turn your bars away from your forward foot (I keep my bars towards my front foot, probley because I'm left handed and left footed). Keep your balance by moving your knees, ankles, elebows, even taking your feet of the pedals, and bars. You can practice with no brakes by finding a slight slope and rolling up on it, once your momentum is gone, apply pressure to your forward foot and your bars away from your forward foot. When you start to loose your balance, simply either apply more pressure, thus rolling forward about an inch, or let yourself roll back about an inch, add pressure and roll forward.
Rocking is a foundation skill where you "rock" from your front tire to your rear using momentum. Moving each tire independly of each other. Practice this by rolling forward, locking your front brake, and letting your body roll over your bars, thus raising your rear tire a little bit off the ground. When momentum carries your rear down, simply let your body roll back with the bike and let the front tire come off the ground. There is no need to over emphasize these moves; it should be small, and accurate.
Hopping is the last skill where you basically “hop” your bike in a series of small jumps. You don’t want to go for air, but mainly to keep yourself balanced. One hop should lead into a series of more, letting momentum carry you into the next. In most cases, your bike shouldn’t leave the ground more than a quarter inch. The downside to hopping is that it takes excessive energy and can be draining.

Once you master all three of these skills, when you are in need of stationary balance, you should be able to interchange between all three of these foundation moves, with out even thinking about it.
Now, the tricky part, the mental game of stationary balance. Far too many riders try to execute these moves from the conscious mind. When you are doing more harm than good. Your mind can only process certain amount of information to keep yourself balanced. There are far too many signals going to too many different parts of the body to keep yourself balanced. You need to teach yourself to do this from the subconscious. When you are not actually thinking about keeping yourself upright on your bike, you will find that you are able to just stand there stationary for amazing amounts of time.
When I balance, for whatever reason, recovery after a hard line, of scoping my next series of rocks, I find it better to focus on somthing, I personaly comptete while in compotition with music, so I listen to the song, I sing along, outloud, bob my head and rock out. I will focus on the ground, or look at my tire, just to look at it (I find my bikes the most beautiful pices of art), I watch traffic, look at pretty girls talk on their cell phones, people watch, just do anything too keep my mind away from what I am actually doing.
This also applies to other skills/tricks, I can do wheelies forever, rear wheel hop in a stationary spot, hop from the rear wheel then to the front wheel by throwing my body weight all foward. I can front wheel hop while up on my dront wheel.. all sorts of lil things I find myself doing while waiting at lights or in comps.

Have fun, and wear a helmet.

When I realized that much of my dhukka(suffering) was caused from my attachment to my bike and the desire to upgrade it.

I found that track stands are easier with wider tires. I never had much luck with any tire below 25mm.

So true. I learned on 23 mm and was amazed at how much easier it was on my GT mountain bike.

Don't use your brake. Approach the area you want to stop very slowly, first using your brake to slow down, then when practically stopped release it and coast very slowly forward, you want to find a slight incline that starts pushing you backwards, when you feel it, push forward a little bit, then let it push you backwards. But also try not to think of rolling forwards/backwards but think of applying force forwards/backwards.

(I learned on a fixed gear, then picked it up real quick on the coastie. 23mm for life!)

Steel frames touring bike. Racks front and back. Overbalanced with a pannier. 700x28 tired. Sometimes I remain seated for a trackstand.

Keep with the slowness and getting as slow as you can. When the dead stop arrives, don't panic. This is a classic Yoda moment of do or do not, there is no try.

Don't lock the brakes. Practice with your bike facing slightly uphill. Practice, practice, practice. You'll get it eventually. I probably spent half an hour a day for a couple weeks trying to do it before I started getting the hang of it.

Okay. I'm ready. Let's DO THIS!

Tried today during the commute. Didn't go so well.

Well, the rake of your front forks has a lot to do with it. A standard bike has a lot of rake and so as you move the handlebars to maintain balance, the front wheel moves a lot. Track bikes have a lot less rake and hence are much easier to do a track stand on.

I applaud your efforts. I like to do them while waiting at lights or stop signs. Any length of time is good. I personally wish all bikers would do track stands at stopping points. It looks cool, gives you an excuse to come to a full and complete stop and impresses the motorists and other non cyclists. It shows pride in your cycling.

I can do the horizontal track stand pretty well.

I was thinking about this thread on my commute this morning. It motivated me to try a track stand at every single stop sign. I was thinking about the advice, "Don't think about it, just feel it" and it sort of works. Plus thinking about rocking back and forth a little. Motorists were probley thinking, "What the . . .!" Seeing this geeky commuter attempting a track stand. But I didn't fall and I was able to come to a complete stop and hold it for a few seconds. I had to whip by bars back and forth to keep from falling, but forward motion was stopped. Something fun to break up the monotony! Thanks!

I did my first successful free-wheel trackstand on monday.

I found a nice angled road, and I just went for it and I had it right away ! =)

Damn I miss my fixed gear commuter bike !! LOL

I'm not sure about this, my friend and I were playing around and she had a track bike (Bianchi Pista) and I have a road conversion (fixed gear road frame, definitely more rake than the Pista). I can easily no handed trackstand my bike, but it takes more effort on hers. The other issue is that her bike doesn't fit me as well, but she found my bike easier to trackstand also.

I find my ability to trackstand is inversly proportional to the weight in my bag multiplied by my level of fatigue.

That being said, I don't attempt to trackstand in traffic when carrying a heavy load and I'm tired.

Cheater

Seriously...

You'll figure it out over time. If youdo lots of low-speed maneuvering, trackstands will become second nature soon enough.

right now I can hold a stand for about 5-7 seconds if I was just moving a few seconds ago, but not when trying to do it form a dead stop.