T’ai Chi Intermediate Detail

Then, as you shift forward to the RIGHT foot, press your RIGHT wrist forward and up with the LEFT.  The hands move from your LEFT hip to a point ahead of you at about throat height with your wrists crossed.

The final position is identical to that of the Press in part 1.

Roll,
Separate,
Withdraw,
Push, Drop, Wipe, Gather Water, Single Whip

“Gather Qi”: Simultaneously (1) Shift back (to the RIGHT foot); (2) move each hand in a half-circle, ending at solar plexus height with the palms facing each other.  The circle is made by first moving the hands and elbows away from each other, then toward each other as you lower the hands from head to solar plexus height.  When done, the forearms are horizontal and parallel; the elbows are near either side of the body; the palms face each other.  Open the thumbs as if you were about to grasp a vertical pole in each hand.  (3) draw back the LEFT foot into 3-point balance.

“Lift”: Simultaneously (1) lift the LEFT knee until the thigh is horizontal; (2) rotate each arm forward at the shoulder so that the fingers go from pointing forward to pointing up; the bend in the elbows remains constant.  Your hands end at head height.  Imagine an attacker in front of you, reaching out to strangle you with straight arms.  Your hand motion is meant to intercept his arms and push them upward so that they miss your throat and pass harmlessly over your head.  The knee motion is to distract the attacker with groin pain.

“Kick”:  Kick out and down with your LEFT heel as you turn your palms to face forward.   Next lower your LEFT heel to touch the ground directly in front of you.  You have just kicked the attacker in the shin, scraped your foot along his shin and pressed your heel into his instep (OUCH!).

Execute the Lift and Kick as before, except kick with the RIGHT foot.  When done, you are facing north; weight is on the LEFT foot; the RIGHT heel is touching the ground in front of you; your hands are at head height, palms out.

When you have completed the weight shift (to the RIGHT foot), use a circular motion first to bring the LEFT foot in then extend it out into a left bow stance.  Raise the LEFT thigh to the horizontal, then lower it as you extend the foot into bow stance.  Touch down with the LEFT heel only; do not shift weight to the LEFT foot.  As you are moving the LEFT leg, raise the LEFT forearm to about 45 degrees as in the Left Scissors and, at the same time, make a loose fist with the RIGHT hand and move it across your body to a point a few inches below the LEFT elbow.  Bend the RIGHT wrist so that if you opened the fist, the palm would be facing the back (south) wall.

“Square Up”: Simultaneously (1) turn your hips and shoulders to face due west; (2) rotate your LEFT hand so that the palm is up and increase the bend in the elbow, drawing the hand toward you.  The LEFT hand ends with fingers forward and palm up about 12 - 18 inches in front of your heart on the center line of the body.  (3) Bend the RIGHT elbow as you bring the RIGHT hand forward (to the west).  It ends with palm facing forward (west), head height, about a foot to the right (north) of your RIGHT ear.  All of these movements flow together as the turning of the shoulders helps to bring both hands inward from their fully extended position.  Think of this movement as Poseidon hurling his trident, but do not shift your weight from the back (RIGHT) foot.  Before continuing the movement, remind yourself to sink and to relax.  This is the most contracted and ‘lowest’ position within the Repulse Monkey movement.

“Step Back”: Simultaneously (1) turn your hips to the LEFT; (2) step back with the LEFT foot, keeping shoulder width between the lines of the feet.  Place the LEFT foot behind the line of the RIGHT heel.  The LEFT foot points straight west (not to the corner!) (3) push your RIGHT palm forward as you draw back your LEFT hand.  Imagine that there is a ball resting on your LEFT palm that you push off with your RIGHT palm.  (4) Shift your weight to the back (LEFT) foot, pivoting the RIGHT heel so that the foot points due west.  (5) Continue to move the RIGHT hand forward and the LEFT hand backward until you have opened fully into a Reach Back Left position.

If time and space allow, you can perform any odd number of Repulse Monkeys.  Typically in class we do 3: Right, Left, Right.  You should always end with a Repulse Monkey Right.

Optional adjustment: many people find that it is not possible to keep their knees comfortably over their feet in the position just described.  If this is the case for you, adjust the direction of your LEFT foot just after you come in to 3-point balance.  Do this by shifting the weight momentarily to the RIGHT as you swing out the LEFT heel until that foot points to the northwest, then return weight to it.  For geometry buffs, this adjustment reduces the angle between your feet from 135 degrees to 90 degrees.

Once you have placed the RIGHT foot, simultaneously (1) continue turning the hips until they face northeast; (2) shift your weight to the RIGHT foot; (3) lower your LEFT hand to the pat position; (4) raise the RIGHT hand diagonally across the body from its starting point by the LEFT hip to a point about a foot past (to the southeast) of the RIGHT edge of your body.  The palm of the RIGHT hand is level with your forehead and faces to your LEFT (northwest).  (5) bring the LEFT foot forward, placing it a few inches to the west of your RIGHT foot.  The LEFT foot points north and is angled so that it touches the ground along its inside edge only.  The RIGHT foot is flat (and weighted).

“Scoop”: Exchange the positions of the hands.  This is done by raising the lower hand vertically, while the upper hand makes a circular sweep as if you are scooping out some soft material from behind you.  Since the upper hand travels in a circle, its path is longer.  It is therefore necessary to move it faster so that both hands finish at the same time.  As you reach back for the scoop with the hand, relax the hips and shoulders so that they can turn fully to the RIGHT with minimum tension.  Allow the shoulders to turn further to the RIGHT than the hips when the hand is at its farthest back position.  After this extreme position has been reached, continue the circular motion of the RIGHT hand bringing it under the LEFT; at the same time untwist the back so that the shoulders are no longer turned past the hips.  When you’re done, the hips are turned fully to the RIGHT; shoulders are aligned over the hips; the hands directly in front of the center of your body as if holding a large, fluffy pillow, palms inward.  The LEFT hand is at throat height and the RIGHT at tan t’ien height.

“Sink and Step”: At this point, take a moment to be mindful of your body, especially the weight borne by the RIGHT foot.  Relax, sink, melt all tension, and step directly to the west with the LEFT foot, touching down with just the inside edge of the foot.

“Roll”:  Shift your weight to the LEFT foot as you turn your hips as far as you can to the LEFT, but without tension.  The weight shift and turning of the hips cause the hands to move to the LEFT, but they remain on the center line of the body.  While executing the turn, rotate the upper hand from palm-in to palm-out.  The hands remain aligned vertically.  The name of this section, Roll, is derived from the motion of the feet as you shift.  As you put weight on the leading foot, let it come off its edge to rest flat on the ground.  As you unweight the trailing foot, lift the outside edge so that only the inside edge is touching the ground.

Repeat the Sink and Step, except that you step in (to the west) with the RIGHT foot rather than out with the LEFT.  As before, touch down with the inside edge of the foot just moved.

Repeat the Roll, except that you shift your weight and turn your hips to the RIGHT.

Extend the LEFT leg and arm as in the standard Single Whip, except that this is the opportunity to decide if it’s appropriate to challenge your strength and balance by extending farther to the LEFT and forward than usual with the LEFT leg.  If you do extend farther, the resulting stance with be lower than usual.  Shift forward onto the LEFT foot as in the regular Single Whip.

Simultaneously (1) turn RIGHT as you sink lower into the LEFT leg.  Your hips will face approximately northwest, and your head faces north.  Be careful to keep the LEFT knee directly over the foot.  (2) Heel pivot the RIGHT foot to point north; (3) open the RIGHT hand, palm facing north, as you raise it to face height; (4) bring the LEFT hand beside your RIGHT elbow with palm facing north.  This is a defensive position for fending off an attack from the north.

Next you will shift your weight to the RIGHT foot.  Do this in two parts.  During the first half of the shift, maintain your hands in their position.  Imagine that you are pushing someone away to the north.  During the second half of the shift, circle the LEFT hand down and to the LEFT until the LEFT arm is approximately parallel with the LEFT leg -- both arm and leg end up fairly straight, but not locked.  As you sweep the LEFT hand, turn your head to face west.  If you are feeling vigorous and your stance is wide, you can bend the RIGHT knee so that your torso lowers significantly.  Maintain your RIGHT hand at head height, palm facing north.  It’s OK to lean forward slightly here, but do so by bending at the waist and keeping the back straight.

Even though it may appear that the major action of his movement is the rising of the RIGHT arm and leg, focus your attention rather on your torso and LEFT leg, and picture them as sinking.  This will help to stabilize your balance and to make you more grounded.

Feel free to ease up with this posture if you find yourself unable to hold a steady balance.  One method is to lower the lifted leg so that its foot is closer to the ground or even touching the ground.  It’s useful to hold a challenging position to test and strengthen your balance, but you should also spend some practice time finding a posture where you can hold your balance with confidence.  It’s hard to develop confidence if you always challenge yourself too much.

Next, step wide to the LEFT (south).  Then shift your weight to the LEFT foot as you move your hands in a horizontal arc to your LEFT body edge.  Your hands remain crossed at the wrists as you move them from the RIGHT edge to the LEFT.  As you move the hands, first extend the elbows then return them to their initial bend.  This has the effect of moving the hands in an arc rather than a straight line.  Be sure to maintain the palms facing directly toward you and not laying out flat; otherwise you’ll drop the baby out of the cradle!

Next, undo what you just did.  Withdraw the RIGHT foot, and withdraw the hands back to their cross-at-the-wrist position on your LEFT side, except that now the LEFT hand is on the outside.  Note that the outside hand of the cradle is the one on the side of the next kick.  Thus the first cradle has RIGHT on the outside in preparation for the RIGHT kick.  LEFT on the outside now is in preparation of the upcoming LEFT kick.  An interesting image for the hands during the kick is to imagine the palms connected to each other with a thick, gooey, rubbery substance.  You have to stretch this substance as you separate the hands.