Warm-Up: The First 17 Moves (Opening to Appear to Close Entrance (and Cross Hands)) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
Opening of Tai Chi Left Grasp Bird's Tail Grasp Bird's Tail Single Whip Step Up and Raise Hands White Stork Spreads Wings Brush Knee (left) Strum the Pei Pa Brush Knee and Twist Step (left) Brush Knee and Twist Step (right) Brush Knee (left) Strum the Pei Pa Brush Knee and Twist Step (left) Chop with Fist Step Up, Deflect, Parry, Punch Appear to Close Entrance Cross Hands
A Tang Pei Pa (or Pipa) (pronounced "pay, Pa")
First Carry Tiger, Diagonal "Single Whip," and Fist Under Elbow 18. Carry Tiger to Mountain 19. Whip Out Diagonally 20. Fist Under Elbow
Monkey Pats Pony (5) 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36.
Go Back to Ward Off Monkey (left) Go Back to Ward Off Monkey (right) Go Back to Ward Off Monkey (left) Flying at a Slant Step Up and Raise Hands White Stork Spreads Wings Brush Knee (left) Push Needle to Sea Bottom Fan Penetrates through the Back Turn and Chop with Fist Step Up, Deflect, Parry, Punch Step Up to Grasp Bird's Tail Single Whip Move Hands Like Clouds (five times) Single Whip Reach Up to Pat Horse
Wobblefest 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51.
Separate Foot to Right Separate Foot to Left Turn and Kick Brush Knee and Twist Step (left) Brush Knee and Twist Step (right) Step Up and Punch Turn and Chop with Fist Step Up, Deflect, Parry, Punch Right Foot Kick Hit Tiger at Left Hit Tiger at Right Right Foot Kick Strike Ears with Fists Left Foot Kick Turn and Kick
52. 53. 54. 55.
Chop with Fist Step Up, Deflect, Parry, Punch Appear to Close Entrance Cross Hands
Horsies Stomp Chicken 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77.
Carry Tiger to Mountain Whip Out Horizontally Parting Wild Horse's Mane (right) Parting Wild Horse's Mane (left) Parting Wild Horse's Mane (right) Parting Wild Horse's Mane (left) Parting Wild Horse's Mane (right) Left Grasp Bird's Tail Step Up to Grasp Bird's Tail Single Whip Fair Lady Works Shuttles (left) Fair Lady Works Shuttles (right) Fair Lady Works Shuttles (left) Fair Lady Works Shuttles (right) Left Grasp Bird's Tail Step Up to Grasp Bird's Tail Single Whip Move Hands Like Clouds (seven times) Single Whip Creeping Low Like a Snake Golden Cock Stands on One Leg (left) Golden Cock Stands on One Leg (right)
Monkey Pats Pony (3) 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92.
Go Back to Ward Off Monkey (left) Go Back to Ward Off Monkey (right AND left)! Flying at a Slant Step Up and Raise Hands White Stork Spreads Wings Brush Knee (left) Push Needle to Sea Bottom Fan Penetrates through the Back White Snake Turns and Puts Out Tongue Step Up, Deflect, Parry, Punch Step Up to Grasp Bird's Tail Single Whip Move Hands Like Clouds (three times) Single Whip Reach Up to Pat Horse
The Grand Finale (Final 16 Moves) 93. Cross Hands to Penetrate 94. Turn and Kick 95. Chop with Fist 96. Brush Knee and Punch 97. Step Up to Grasp Bird's Tail 98. Single Whip 99. Creeping Low Like a Snake 100. Step Up to Seven Stars 101. Retreat to Ride Tiger 102. Turn Around to Sweep Lotus 103. Draw Bow to Shoot Tiger 104. Chop with Fist
105. 106. 107. 108.
Step Up, Deflect, Parry, Punch Appear to Close Entrance Cross Hands Closing of Tai Chi
When discussing the various Tai Chi postures and Tai Chi movements (also referred to as Tai Chi poses or gestures) the very first Tai Chi posture to understand and establish is the Wuji 無極 stance. By understanding this Tai Chi posture properly you will develop a good foundation to t hen learn all the other Tai Chi postures.
As always, the very, very first thing to do is get your feet correct and in the Wuji Tai Chi Posture we establish what is called the basic Horse stance where the feet are parallel, shoulder width apart.
Also make certain the weight is directly center of the feet. This means the weight is centered directly down through the Yong Quan Point (Bubbling Spring, K 1) 湧泉 on the feet.
As I emphasized on the Learn Tai Chi Online For Free page, any deviations from this principle of keeping the weight centered in the feet and yo u will destroy your posture higher up in t he body. If your weight drifts to the inside or outside of the feet, or too far forward or back, then your knees won't be aligned properly and neither will your hips which may lead to joint damage over the long term. So please, keep your weight centered in the middle of the feet.
In many Tai Chi classes you will hear the instruction “tuck the tail bo ne under”, meaning you deliberately pivot the pelvis forward trying to “flatten out” the lower back. In no uncertain terms I am saying, “DON’T DO THAT!” The forced over-extension of the lower back muscles by doing this alignment wrong can be detrimental. There is more involved behind the idea of “tucking the tailbone” that I will cover at a later stage. So instead of saying “tucking the tailbone under”, I ask my students to “sit into the legs”. Align your hips and torso as if you were sitting in a poised position on a chair.
And then simply bend the knees so that the knees are over your toes and your weight is in the center of t he feet. You should feel poised, not slouched or forced.
Running again with the idea of being poised, we allow our spine to extend naturally upwards. Imagine each vertebra “floating” above the one below, extending upwards all the way through the neck up to the top of the head and extending to the sky. A common instruction is to feel like a golden thread is holding up the crown of the head. Please do not hold the spine with any forced posture, we want our spine to “breathe” and this will be inhibited if you force or slouch the alignment of the spine.
Now there can be some Tai Chi teachers out there that encourage a sort of hunched shoulder posture, this can be a contrived or artificial understanding of the natural Tai Chi posture.
Simply maintain the poised alignment of the spine and let the shoulders relax. If done correctly the shoulders will round out a bit but make sure it is not slouching. The Tai Chi Song Gong exercises are specifically aimed at loosening the shoulders up properly.
Gently touch the tongue to the top of the mouth, this connects the Governing and Conception meridian channels in the body. Please be soft with this, don't make it a forced or contrived connection.
The three external coordinations of the body are:
Wrists connected with ankles
Elbows connected with knees
Shoulders connected with hips
These coordinations occur both in a linear and in a diagonal fashion. For example in one sense we are connecting left wrist with left ankle etc. but we are also identifying with the connection between the left wrist and right ankle etc. When I say "connect" I am merely saying that we make a mental connection between these points. These coordinations will become more prominent or self-evident as you learn the Tai Chi Chuan form.
Our breathing is one of the Three Regulations (the other two are regulating the body and regulating the mind). For now just make your breathing be naturally full without forcing it. Try and be mindfully aware of the rise and fall, the expansion and contraction of your breathing. In Taoist inner alchemy practice this is called following the breath.
Tai Chi & Taoism
The cosmographic 'tai-chi'. There exists a long history of movement and exercise systems which are associated with Taoism. In some sense one can see elements of all of these as contributing to the climate from which Tai Chi emerged. Lao Tsu, the founder of Taoism, wrote:
Yield and overcome; Bend and be straight.
-- Tao Te Ching (22) He who stands of tiptoe is not steady. He who strides cannot maintain the pace. -- Tao Te Ching (24) Returning is the motion of the Tao. Yielding is the way of the Tao. -- Tao Te Ching (40) What is firmly established cannot be uprooted. What is firmly grasped cannot slip away. -- Tao Te Ching (54) Stiff and unbending is the principle of death. Gentle and yielding is the principle of life. Thus an Army without flexibility never wins a battle. A tree that is unbending is easily broken. The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome. -- Tao Te Ching (76)
There are some interesting inspirations for the movement philosophy of Ta i Chi within the writings of Chuang Tzu, for example: "The pure man of old slept without dreams and woke without anxiety. He ate without indulging in sweet tastes and breathed deep breaths. The pure man draws breaths from the depths of his h eels, the multitude only from their throats." And: "[The sage] would not lean forward or backward to accomodate [things]. This is called tranquility on disturbance, (which means) that it is especially in the midst of d isturbance that tranquility becomes perfect." Talisman of the Jade Lady. This approach is reflected in the entire movement philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan. There is, moreover, a long tradition of Taoist monks practicing exercises. Some of these were referred to as tai-yin or Taoist Breathing. Exactly what these were and what their origins were is obscure but they are mentioned in Chinese chronicles as early as 122 B.C. Then in the sixth century A.D. Bodihdharma (called Ta Mo in Chinese) came to the Shao-Lin Monastery and, seeing that the monks were in poor physical condition from too much meditation and too little excersize,
introduced his Eighteen Form Lohan Exercise. This approach gave rise to the Wei Chia or 'outer-extrinsic' forms of exercise. Later in the fifteenth century A.D. the purported fou nder of Tai Chi Chuan, the monk Chang San-feng, was honoured by the Emperor Ying- tsung with the title of chen-jen, or 'spiritual man who has attained the Tao and is no longer ruled by what he sees, hears or feels.' This indicates that already at this time there was a close association between the philosophy of Taoism and the practice of Tai Chi. In the Ming dynasty (14th to 17th centuries), Wang Yang-ming a leading philosopher preached a philosophy which was a mixture of Taoism and Ch'an Buddhism which had certain associations with movement systems. In any event the principles of yielding, softness, centeredness, slowness, balance, suppleness and rootedness are all elements of Taoist philosophy that Tai Chi has drawn upon in its understanding of movement, both in relation to health and also in its martial applications. One can see these influences (of softness and effortlessness) in the names of certain movements in the Tai Chi Form, such as:
Cloud Hands Wind Rolls the Lotus Leaves Brush Dust Against the Wind Push the Boat with the Current Winds Sweeps the Plum Blossoms
Moreover the contemplation and appreciation na ture, which are central features of Taoist thought seem to have been reflected in the genesis of many Tai Chi movements such as:
White Crane Spreads Wings Snake Creeps Down Repulse Monkey Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain White Snake Sticks Out its Tongue Grasp Sparrow's Tail Golden Cock Sands on One Leg Swallow Skims the Water Bird Flies into Forest Lion Shakes it's Head Tiger Hugs its Head Wild Horse Leaps the Ravine White Ape Devotes Fruit Yellow Bee Returns to Nest
The story comes to us that Chang San-feng watched a fight between a bird and a snake and in this event saw how the soft and yielding could overcome the hard and inflexible. Particularly significant here is the reference to the White Crane (The Manchurian Crane, Grus japonensis), with its red crest an important symbol for Taoist alchemists. Certain features of Taoist alchemy and talismanic symbolism have also pen etrated the Tai Chi forms. As part of their contemplation of nature the Taoists observed the heavens and were keen students of astronomy and astrology. Movements of the Tai Chi Form such as :
Step Up to Seven Stars Embrace the Moon Biggest Star in the Great Dipper
Encase the Moon in Three Rings The Smallest Star in the Big Dipper Meteor Runs After Moon Heavenly Steed Soars Across the Sky Meditating Under the Protection of the Big Dipper.
Reflect this Taoist astrological concern. Symbolism was a potent force in Taoist thinking. Taoist magic diagrams were regarded as potent talismans having great command over spiritual forces. They invoked the harmonizing influence of yin-yang and Eternal Change; the Divine Order of Heaven, Earth and Mankind; and the workings of the Universe through the principal of the Five Elements. These were symbolized by the Five Sacred Mountains (Taishan, Hengshan [Hunan], Songshan, Huashan and Hengshan [Hopei]), central places of Taoist development and pilgrimage. Thus it is no surprise to find that the symbolism of names has, in important ways, infiltrated the forms of Tai Chi. There was a numerological component to this symbolism as well. The number '5' h as a special mystical significance to Taoists (and to Chinese in general). There are the symbolic five mountains, five elements, five colours, five planets, five virtues, five emotions, five directions, etc. all o f which have a mystic significance. Hence we see five Repulse Monkeys or Five Cloud Hands in the Tai Chi form. There are many instances where the numbers '1', '3', '5' and '7' figure prominently in the structure of Tai Chi.
