Wu Style Tai Chi: Eighteen Movements to Health and Wellness

This form was developed by Bruce Frantzis based on his study with the Taoist sage, Liu Hongjieh of Beijing, China. Liu learned it from Wu Jianquan while living with him in Hong Kong. Bruce is also the author of Opening the Energy Gates of the Body and The Power of Internal Martial Arts and was my teacher for ten years. It is relatively short as sets of choreography go, but Bruce was sure to include, in its brevity, all the basic health, self defense, and energetic principles found in longer forms. I recommend you learn a bit about whole body power, breathwork, and relaxation before, or at least concurrent with, learning the choreography of this set.

Stance Work

Although Tai Chi is a continuous and flowing art, it relies on basic training to give you a firm foundation from which to work. Part of this basic training is the study of stance work. In the Short Form there are four basic stances you will work with in this form. They are the Horse Step, the Bow Step, the Seven Star Step, and the Point Step.

Horse Step

With the feet together, step out with one foot to the side. If you are relatively healthy the distance between the feet should be slightly wider than shoulder width. If you have some structural or medical issues you may want to start with a narrower stance. With both feet parallel sit into your hips. Allow you lower back to relax so that the lumbar gently flattens slightly. The knees should point in the same direction of the toes with your knees going no farther forward than the toes. This can be a very strenuous posture if held for more than a few minutes. Typically a master would require a prospective student to practice this posture for three years for up to an hour at a time before he would learn anything else. While we don't require such grueling dedication anymore, it is a great way of developing strength and power. In the form this stance is modified somewhat for purposes of smooth movement. The modification has the knees and toes of each leg pointed forty five degrees away from the centerline.

Bow Step

From a neutral posture, having both feet parallel about hip distance apart, step forward with one leg the distance of a little more than a natural step. Shift the weight forward on to that leg. Your front knee should bend enough that 80-90 percent of your weight is in that leg. The knee should not extend past the toe of that foot. Your back leg should straighten somewhat, but take care not to lock the knee out. Your hips and shoulders should square to the front.

Seven Star Step

This is called the Seven Star Step because of its resemblance to the seven stars of the Big Dipper. It is also called the "sitting" step. From the neutral posture described above, sit slightly into your hips and step out with one leg. Touch the heel of that foot to the floor and raise the toes up. Make sure the knees of both legs remain unlocked and slightly bent.

Point Step

From the Seven Star Step, simply drop the toe to the floor and raise the heel. In martial arts this is sometimes called the "cat" stance. Also note in these three stances your back foot will sometimes point to forty-five degreed to the center line, depending on circumstances.

It is good practice to hold these stances to strengthen your legs. It's also a good idea to change between them. For example when changing from a Horse Step to a right Bow Step, shift your weight right while turning your hips to the right. Pivot on the balls

of both feet to turn the legs. In the form you will often pick up the back leg and place it down so that it points forward as with the front foot.

The Form

This form begins like all other Tai Chi forms with the body relaxed, eyes gazing softly forward, arms hanging by your sides, and the feet parallel. I'll call this the neutral posture. Breathe deeply and allow the body to release any feeling of holding itself. Allow this release to work its way down the body into and below the feet. As the body relaxes it will gradually lengthen as you lift the head off the top of the spine. You want to have the feeling of being lightly suspended from the top of the head. Next, sit into the inguinal area as the knees bend slightly and the arms start to rise up in front of the body and parallel to each other. You will bring your arms, elbows bent and pointing to the floor, up to about the height of your shoulders. The angle of the bend in your arms may be variable but is generally about 120-130 degrees. You want to relax your hands so that you feel like they being raised up by the wrists. As this book is just about the first level (choreography) of my system, I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail about how you should be feeling in your body. That is more of an issue of the second level, structure.

Now push your body weight into your feet to straighten the legs so that you stand up straight, again keeping the body as relaxed as you can get it. As you straighten up the joints of the hand open and the fingers stretch gently forward as the elbows straighten as well. You might envision this as finger strikes if you are martially inclined. Now this movement repeats itself in the opposite direction. Bend the knees, sit into the hips (spine straight) and pull the wrists back toward the shoulders. As you stand up straight again allow the wrists to drop and arms to slowly move back to the sides of the body. This completes the first movement of the form. It is called Tai Chi Beginning.

The next movement is called Hands Strum the Lute. In China, the lute (called pi-pa) is played vertically with the base on your lap and the fret board straight up. From the end of the last movement, which is our basic standing posture, shift your weight to the right foot while raising your arms up the sides of your body the same way you raised them to the front above. As you start to point the fingers allow your arm to circle around to the front. At the same time bring your left foot forward so that it is resting on your heel (Seven Star Step) with the toes off the ground. As the heel touches down the fingers of the right hand will press slightly on the pulse point of the inside of the left wrist. Then as you once again straighten the body, allow the elbows to drop toward the floor. This is Hands Strum Lute left. Continuing, turn your body to the right around your central axis. As you do this everything turns together, moved by the hips. At about 45 degrees into the turn, shift your weight onto your left leg and slide the pinky side of the right hand along the base of the left thumb. Our purpose here is just to exchange the position of the hands. Continuing to turn around your central axis to the right, slide the thumb side of your left hand down the pinky side of your right hand and step out with the heel as before. The fingertips of the left hand now rest against the pulse point of the right wrist. This is Hand Strums Lute right and completes the second movement. Again while I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail about structure, I will say it is very important for beginners to remember to always keep the knees pointing in the same line as the toes. Actually a better rule would to always keep the eyes, the navel, the groin and your toes pointed in the same direction.

The next movement, Grasp the Sparrows Tail, contains four of the eight principle techniques of Tai Chi. These are ward-off, roll back, press forward, and push down. From Strum the Lute, with your weight still firmly on your left leg, turn your body about 45 more degrees to your right. As you do this your right palm faces outward as if warding off a blow. If these martial examples make you uncomfortable feel free to use some other imagery that you can easily identify with. But remember Tai Chi was well

known as a system of self-defense before it gained notoriety as a means of personal development. For roll back, turn your body to the left corner (about 90 degrees) and pivot your hands around the fingers on your pulse point. As your body turns, your right hand will end up under the left hand and the forearms will be parallel. Roll back is a yielding motion, sort of like a matador pivoting as the bull rushes by. Turn to a straight facing direction (now 90 degrees from our starting point) and face the palms together. To perform press forward, shift your weight to the right leg and bring the left foot parallel to

the right one about hip distance apart. As you do this drop the elbows, fingers pivoting on the pulse points, so that the forearms form a triangle, elbows down. Your right palm now faces back to you. Now you will do a small roll back by shifting your weight back to the left leg turning to your right, again about 45 degrees. With the arms following the body, turn your right wrist, palm up, clockwise so that the fingers of the right hand end up pointing straight up and the palm faces to your left and turn back to the left corner, 90 degrees or so. Then shift the weight to the right foot and push forward. In this posture, push down, your body is facing 45 degrees to the right of the opening movements.

The next movement, Single Whip, is the most open posture in the form and is often used for standing practice to expand the energy of your body. From push down, both forearms rotate so the wrists face upward. The fingertips and thumb of the right hand come together to form a "beak" which then turns over so the fingers face to the floor. Turn left around your center axis so that you end up facing to the original forward direction. As you turn open the hips so that the knees and toe of each leg end up pointing

to the corners. This is the Horse Step, or horse-riding step. During the turn, the right hand will not move but the action of turning the body will make it end up at the corner. The right hand will follow the turning, initially with the palm facing your body. The right forearm will turn so that the open palm faces outward away from your body. So to recap, the posture should like this: Your body faces forward as when you started the form. The knees and toes of both legs face to the corners, roughly 90 degrees to each other. The arms, face in the same direction as the knees and toes, with the elbows down, while the

right hand has formed a hook, or beak with the fingertips and thumb touching and pointed downward. The right hand faces the same direction as the right legs. The right palm faces outward with the fingers pointing upward.

This completes the first section of the form. If you like you bring your body back to the original standing posture and rest quietly.

The second section begins with the movement Diagonal Flying. From the Single Whip posture, shift the weight onto the left leg turning the body to the left while pivoting on the heel of the right foot. This brings the feet parallel. As you shift to the left the forearms twist so that the left palm faces upward and the right palm faces downward. When you turn the right arm remains in place while the left arm separates with the turn.

The next few motions are transitory and lead up to the next movement, Shoulder Stroke. These motions flow smoothly from the previous posture.

Turn the hips and waist slightly more to the right the right hands scoops to the left side of your body as your left forearm twists clockwise to face your palm downwards. The hands are now in a "hold-the- ball" posture. Turn your body to the right (now facing the original direction again) and step up with the right heel into the "seven star" stance.

Shift your weight to your right foot allowing the body to turn slightly counterclockwise. Be careful not to let your knee stray from its position in line with the toe. You do this by allowing the right hip to open. This is the Shoulder Stroke posture. You can imagine you've just bumped someone with your shoulder.

The next movement, White Crane Spreads its Wings, differs somewhat from the classical Wu style in the direction it turns. This change facilitates a smooth transition from this movement to the next.

Turn your body to the right so that you face the original forward direction. As you do this square the hips up to the front and bring the feet parallel. With your arms moving along your centerline, raise the right arm up, palm down, to the height of your eyebrows. As you do this lower the left arm to just below your navel, palm also down. Your weight should be centered evenly between your feet. Shift the weight to your right foot and turn the hips to the right corner. As you do this face the right palm out in a waving fashion while the right hand remains stable at the hip. This is the waving the wings part. The right

hand continues to circle downward as you sit into the inguinal area of the hip. Bend the knees as far as is comfortable squatting into the hips as the right hand presses down. Shift your weight back to the center as the arms come parallel to each other in the front of the hips with your palms facing downward. Now shift your weight to the left leg and turn the hips to the left corner. The arms follow the movement of the hips. Straighten the legs to stand up straight (still facing to the left corner) and raise the arms up to the height of the chest. Allow the shoulders, elbows, and wrists to drop while pushing the palms gently outward. Remember not to lock the elbows out. Now shift and turn to the front so the

weight is evenly distributed with the palms facing directly front. Continue turning and shifting to the left. Again remember to move the body by turning your hips. Now you face to your right corner, palms pushing to that corner.

I want to stop here to mention a couple of very important details. Normally these are covered in the structure level but I think it's important for beginners to understand the principles right away. Along with my admonition to always keep the knees and toes pointed in the same direction, it is equally important that all horizontal movement of your body be initiated by the hips. Too often people move from the head and shoulders and this will just re-enforce poor body mechanics. In that our goal is to create unified whole body movement, remember to move from your hips when turning your body.

Next, as you shift your weight into the right foot, turn the hips to the right. Bring the left hand to the level of the heart with the palm facing right. At the same time bring

the right hand to your right hip, palm facing up. Now press the left hand down your centerline to just below your navel. Simultaneously, raise you right hand so that it is next to your right ear with the palm facing backwards. This is the transition to the next movement, Brush Knee and Push. Step a half step backwards with your left foot and touch the heel to the floor. This next transition is somewhat difficult as it requires you to shift your weight while turning the hips. It is very important that you time your movements correctly so as not to move the knee out of alignment with the toes. Try as

much as possible in the next movement to keep the right knee in line with the right toe until you have shifted the weight enough to turn the right leg.

Shift the weight to your left leg while turning your hips counter clockwise. As you are shifting, pivot on the left heel so that it directly to your left. As your weight transfers to your left foot pick up your right foot and place it parallel to the left about shoulder width apart. You are now in a left Bow Stance. Now allow your left hand to "brush" by your left knee and end up next to your left thigh with the palm facing down. As you do this move start turning the right hand over as it extends to the front. You'll end up with your right hand pushing forward at heart level in the left Bow Stance and your left "brushing" hand at your side. We're going to repeat this movement two more times.

Step forward with your right foot, shoulder width apart and press your right hand down your centerline to the navel as your left hand raises up to your ear palm backwards. Shift your weight to the right as you "brush" the right knee with your right hand and push forward with your left hand. Repeat this action one more time ending in a left Bow Stance with the right hand pushing forward, as in the first example.

This completes the second section of the form. If you like you can step forward and perform the first motion, Tai Chi Beginning, to end the form.

The next movement, Needle to Sea Bottom, starts from the end of the last posture. Shift your weight back to the right foot as your left toe rolls up with the toe lifting off the floor (Seven Star Stance). As you do this, bring your right hand to the

centerline with the palm facing left. Next, raise your right hand along the centerline until your wrist is about the height of the top of your head. As you do this, the left hand presses downward and the heel of your left foot raises and the toe touches the floor.

This stance is called the Point Step and is also known in martial arts as the "cat" stance.

To continue, sit slightly into the hips as you bring the hands together in front of the solar plexus (just below the sternum). As in Hands Strum Lute, allow the fingers of the right hand to touch the pulse point of the left wrist. Then bring the left hand to the centerline at heart level while you pint the right fingers down with the wrist at the height of your groin.

Now step forward with the left foot and shift the weight forward into a left Bow Step. As you do this, bring the hands together with the fingers pointing forward. Touch the fingers of your left hand to the pulse point of your right wrist. As you shift your

weight forward onto the left leg allow your arm to extend forward a little. Remember you are now facing ninety degrees to the left of the original starting posture.

Pivoting on the heel of the left foot, turn your hips forty-five degrees clockwise (to the right). Raise your arms so that the wrist of your left hand is at face level. Step back with the right leg and touch the right heel to the floor. Now your left palm pushes to the direction the left knee and toes (remember?) and the right arm pulls to the right. The right hip opens so that the knees and toe of each leg are roughly ninety degreed to each other. This stance is identical to the Horse Step used in Single Whip. The end posture should have you in the Horse Step with the left palm pushing to the left in the same

direction as the knees and toes. The palm faces outward and the elbow points to the floor. The right arm bends at the elbow a little more than ninety degrees with the palm facing to the front. Your wrist should be at the height of the top of the head and in line with your right shoulder. This posture is called Fan Through the Back. The next few moves are a transition to the next posture, Back Fist Chop. In my classes and workshop we will spend a fair amount of time working the basic stances and learning how to transit between these stances.

Shift your weight to the right while pivoting on the heel of the left leg. This brings the feet parallel. As you shift swing both arms to your right so that the palms face each other at face height with your arms parallel. As you shift your weight back to the left leg bring your right arm so that your palm is in front of your groin. At the same time bring your left hand to guard your face with your palm facing out. During this transition be sure that your left leg follows the motion of your hips. This means you may end up pivoting on the heel of your right leg as the hips move. Now for Back Fist Chop. Step your left leg slightly to the side in a Seven Star Step and shift your weight on to the right leg. As you shift bring your right arm up to the inside of the left arm and bring the right hand, now formed into a loose fist, over and chop down by pivoting the arm around the elbow. Imagine smashing something with the back of your fist. Your left hand will end up underneath the right elbow, palm down and you will be in a right Bow Step. Continue the chopping action until your right fist pulls back to your right hip. You left hand rises up your center line and pushes out to the front as the right hand moves to the hip.

Step Up, Deflect, Intercept and Punch begins from the previous posture. Step forward with your left foot into a left Seven Star Step as your left arm makes a quarter circle clockwise from the elbow. This will result in your left hand "patting" down in front of your belly, palm down. Like the name describes, this is as if deflecting a blow coming toward your midsection. Now straighten the same arm forward with your palm facing to the right. Shift your weight onto the left leg into a Bow Step and punch forward with your right fist. The right fist should be loose and not clenched too tightly. Use a "standing" fist that has the palm facing left and the thumb on top. Pace your left palm on the inside of your right forearm as you punch forward.

This is the end of the third section. If you like you can step forward and allow the arms to press down to the sides.

The next movement is Move as if Shutting a Door. From the end of the previous movement, open your right hand so the palm faces upward. Turning your hips slightly to the right, slide your left arm a little to your right so the forearms cross while your right palm turns over, facing up. Now turn back and square the shoulders and hips and bring your left arm parallel to the right with your palms up. This looks almost like you're carrying something in your arms. Shift your weight back to your left leg into a Seven Star Step and pull your arms back and up so that your wrists are about the height of the top of your head. Now spread your elbows outward and bring your hands down the front of your body by pivoting at the elbows. Allow your arms to straighten (but not locked) with your elbows pointing downward. Shift your weight into a right Bow Step. Bring your arms up in front of you exactly like you did in the first movement. However rather than bringing the arms back down, as in the completion of that motion, push the palm outward, as if shutting a door with both hands.

Now we will transit into Tiger and Leopard Return to Mountain. Lower both of your arms, palms down to the height of your navel as you fold forward slightly into the hips. Then bring your arms to your sides and raise them up to shoulder height as you straighten back up. Turn ninety degrees to your left by pivoting first on the ball of your left foot. Then, shift your weight forward into a left Bow Step and pivot on the ball of your right foot to finish the movement. You are now facing the same original position as when you started the form.

Step forward into the neutral posture, as when you began, and circle your arms around to the front of your body. As if you are embracing something, cross your hands so that the back of your left wrist touches the inside of your right wrist. This movement is called Apparently Closing. In the Wu Style Long Form, the movements continue from here, but in this Short Form we are actually closing the form. So for our purposes we can call it Close Up.

We will finish the form same way we began. What was called Tai Chi Beginning at the start of the form is now called, appropriately, Finish. Bring your arms forward, fingers pointing straight ahead. Then draw them back toward your shoulders by bending at the elbows. Allow the wrists to sink as you bring your arms back down to your sides. Take a few deep breaths and close your eyes. Feel all the energy that you have created while practicing the form to collect in the area just below your navel. This area is your lower energy field or dantian, as it is called in Chinese. After standing for a short time, reacclimating yourself to your surroundings, let all the accumulated energy to go back out into your body.

Remember, repetition is the mother of skill, so try to practice this form everyday until you are confident that your can perform the entire sequence without stopping. Clearly just performing any set of choreography is not enough to achieve the vibrant health benefits that Tai Chi is known for, but this is a great start. You will now want to go to the next phase of your training and learn the Inner Structure of your Tai Chi form. I have designed a course that introduces the inner and outer body mechanics of Tai Chi and it is an excellent way to start to learn these skills. Further, you can get much deeper into these skills by taking my course, Energy Gates. Energy Gates is the foundation level of the Taoist Water Method that I learned from B. K. Frantzis, author of the excellent book, Opening the Energy Gates of the Body. The Taoist Water Method is a system of personal development designed by Mr. Frantzis based on his study with the late Taoist sage, Liu Hongjieh of Beijing.