Introduçao aoTai Chi

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An 
Introduction to 
Tai Chi Chuan 
 
By Ray Pawlett 
 
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Contents 
 
1. Introduction and Training Tips 
2. The Ten Essences 
a. Background 
b. Understanding the ten essences 
c. Essence number 1 - Lift the head to raise the spirit 
3. Thoughts about the history of Tai Chi 
4. Tai chi Warm-up Exercises 
5. The Tai chi form 
a. Tai Chi footprints 
b. Wu chi 
c. Left Ward Off 
d. Grasping the Sparrows Tail 
i. Ward Off 
ii. Roll Back 
iii. Squeeze 
iv. Push 
e. Single Whip 
f. Closing Form 
 
 
 
 
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Tai Chi Introduction 
and Training Tips 
 
 
 
 
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Introduction and Training Tips 
 
The aim of this information pack is to supplement your training sessions by giving you something to 
remind you what the basic movements look like. Tai Chi beginners invariably struggle with 
remembering the sequences of movements in both the warm-up exercises and the form itself. 
The photos and descriptions are intended to help you jump that first hurdle. There is a lot of added 
detail that could be included such as applications, stances, Yin and Yang concepts etc.. This detail 
has been avoided in this information pack to keep things more simple. In the early days, that is what 
you need to do – keep it simple! 
Possibly the most important aspect of Tai Chi is a good understanding of body alignment and 
position. Without understanding these factors, it is impossible to progress with your Tai Chi 
development. If you can understand the Ten Essences described later then you will be well along 
the way to improving your posture. 
The traditional method for teaching body alignment was to make the student practice for many 
hours so that the student’s muscles eventually relaxed and something like the correct body posit ion 
was achieved. 
Whilst there is no substitute for time spent practicing Tai Chi, most modern people just do not have 
the time to dedicate to this sort of practice. There is however a quicker route towards achieving the 
correct body positions required for Tai Chi. To learn more quickly, you need to take responsibility 
for your own improvement – you cannot leave everything to your coach to correct. This means that 
you need to spend time thinking about your body position and how you are training. Read books, 
question your teacher and other students, and watch other styles and sports. 
The more that you put into your understanding, the more accurate that your training becomes. In 
modern times it is easy to get information – we just need to integrate the information into our 
training when we have found it. 
For instance, look at a first class archer. You will see much kinship with Tai Chi such as relaxed 
shoulders, straight back, deliberate weight distribution and coordinated movement throughout the 
whole body. Why is the archer doing this? What are you seeing him or her do that correlates with 
your understanding of Tai Chi? Dig deep, the answers are all there! 
You will find that some sports and pastimes do not follow the rules of Tai Chi. Why is that? For 
instance, in some style of horse riding, it is a requirement that the shoulders are pushed back 
slightly. This is counter intuitive to a Tai Chi player because in Tai Chi, the chest should be rounded – 
not the back. The reason for this is to do with how the body is used in the saddle. Not everything 
follows the rules of Tai Chi, but a lot of things do. 
This sort of research helps you to integrate what you see outside the world of Tai Chi into your Tai 
Chi and vice versa. Sufficient exploration will result in you being able to feel within a micro second if 
your body alignment is wrong – whether you are doing Tai Chi or just taking the dog for a walk! 
 
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The Ten Essences 
Background 
If you have ever looked at other Tai Chi books or Tai chi web sites, you will have come across many 
different formulae to help the keen student understand their Tai Chi better. Examples are “The 
thirteen postures”, “The eighteen loci”, “The song of the eight ways” and so on. Usually there is a 
number in the title to remind the student how many points there are to remember. 
I had studied Tai Chi for a number of years before I met my current teacher, Christopher Pei. I was 
aware of these formulae and had actually got around to reading some of them. Just reading 
something is different to understanding it though and none of these formulae made very much 
impact on my Tai Chi. At least that is until I learned the “Ten Essences” from Christopher Pei. 
Coach Pei has studied Tai Chi for many years with some of the top masters from many different 
styles of Tai Chi along with other martial arts and acrobatic styles. He also has the advantage of 
being able to talk to the Tai Chi masters with whom he has studied in their own language, so that the 
nuances of the teachings are not lost in translation. 
This experience brought him to the conclusion that the Ten Essences, originally devised by Yang 
Cheng Fu, contain much of what the Tai Chi practitioner needs to understand if they are studied in 
depth. Coach Pei did however rearrange the sequence slightly so that they flow through the body 
and actually give ten levels of understanding for your Tai Chi. 
Since those early days of being introduced to the Ten Essences, I have also done research around the 
subject and have found no better methodology than the Ten Essences to way mark progress and 
assist in the understanding of the form. 
I have also found that if you can understand the Ten Essences, other systems like those quoted 
earlier and many more besides will actually be saying the same thing in a slightly different way. 
 
 
 
 
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Understanding the Ten Essences 
If you are serious about improving your Tai Chi, you need to understand the Ten Essences 
thoroughly. This will become the toolkit that helps you to evaluate your own Tai Chi or if you are a 
Tai Chi coach, the Tai Chi performances of your students. 
The first thing that you will need to do is to be able to recite the Ten Essences in their sequence. 
Without being able to remember the Essences in sequence, you will struggle to work with them 
quickly and efficiently. 
 
1. Lift the head – raise the spirit 
2. Sink the shoulders – lower the elbows 
3. Loosen the chest – round the back 
4. Loosen the waist 
5. Separate the substantial and the insubstantial 
6. Coordinate the upper and lower body 
7. Continuity in movement 
8. Unite the internal intent of the mind and the external frame of the body 
9. Use mind and not force 
10. Seek stillness in motion and motion within stillness.Mere recitation is obviously a long way from learning but it is a good first step. I see the Ten 
Essences of Tai Chi as a kind of poem that means different things to you depending upon your level 
of knowledge when you read it and other factors such as your aspirations and dreams at that point 
in your life. 
For example, the Tenth essence could be seen as imparting profound knowledge in a similar way to a 
Zen koan – or self-contradictory nonsense. 
 
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Essence Number 1 – Lift the Head to Raise the Spirit 
 
This is possibly the easiest of the ten essences to get a handle on in the early days. Sometimes 
though, the apparently simple things in life have more to offer us if we are willing to dig deeper. 
An easy way to think about this essence is to imagine that you are going into a job interview. You 
are trying to present yourself as a person who is confident and able to do the job in question. How 
do you look to the interviewer? Do you walk in, look them in the eye, smile at him or her and greet 
them? Or do you shuffle into the room, gaze at your shoes, mutter something under your breath 
and look terrified? 
Obviously, we try to do the former and not the latter – even if we really feel like doing the latter. 
This already brings us to a very interesting concept. We know that other people notice our body 
language when we are confident or nervous . 
If we can lift our heads and straighten our backs then we look more confident. If we look more 
confident then we start to feel more confident and the cycle becomes self-perpetuating. Think 
about some famous people who are well known for their confidence. Even when times were hard 
for them, you did not see great sportsmen like Jesse Owens or Mohammed Ali staring at the floor 
when they were doing their stuff. They looked the world in the eye and took what it had to throw at 
them! 
On the other side of the coin, look at children when they are nervous. Usually, children are less 
adept at controlling how they feel and when put under pressure will do anything other than look a 
person in the eye. 
If you practice any of the disciplines that are said to develop the body/mind/spirit whether they are 
Tai Chi, Yoga or other forms of meditation – they ALL have this message encoded into their teachings 
somewhere. 
The implication here is that this kind of inner confidence can be trained and that methods such as 
martial arts and meditation can help with that training. 
If you lift up your head, the first thing that physically happens is that you become more balanced. 
Think about how much your head weighs. Typically an average human head weight is about the 
same as five bags of sugar. Your centre of gravity is in the Tan Tien point, just below your belly 
button. The distance from the middle of your head to your centre of gravity is roughly the same as 
the length of your arm. 
Next time you go shopping, try this one. Grab a few bags of sugar and hold them out in front of you 
at arm’s length. It takes quite a lot of effort! 
So, the person who walks around with their eyes on the floor for most of the time is inadvertently 
putting pretty much the same sort of mechanical stress on their bodies – just by not paying attention 
to their body posture. 
 
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Now, another exercise, if you are reading this the chance is that you have your eyes gazing 
downwards to look at the printed words. Keep your head in that position for a moment or two. 
Perhaps even let it drop a little further. What I suggest that you do here though is really observe 
yourself. How does the “stooped” position make you feel? How are the muscles? What about your 
inner self? Do you feel balanced? 
Now, put the book down and lift up your head to a nice neutral balanced position. How did that 
make you feel? More balanced? Less muscular stress? 
When you let your head drop forwards, it creates a physical stress in your body that is similar to that 
that you felt when you did the sugar experiment in the supermarket, but you gain nothing from it. It 
does not even burn calories for you! 
Your body mind does not really differentiate between physical or mechanical stress of this sort and 
nervous stress. So if your neck is not balancing your head freely then the effort taken by the rest of 
your body to just maintain that position is depleting your energies and putting you under stress that 
is possible to avoid! 
It sounds easy! Just lift your head up and reduce the muscular stress in your body and the reby 
reduce the nervous stress. If only it were that easy, we would all be Yogis and Tai Chi masters. 
The first thing that most people have to contend with is habits that are already programmed into our 
bodies. This is especially true if you spend a lot of time using computers, telephones or driving. 
These are notorious for training our bodies into bad posture. Along with environmental factors such 
as these, there can also be congenital factors such as muscular skeletal problems. 
What can happen is that the core muscles that should be used to lightly balance your head on the 
top of your neck become atrophied and the more external muscles become overworked and tight, 
leading to bad posture and all of the well documented problems that are associated with bad 
posture. 
How do we solve the problem? A good way to start is with Tai Chi because it teaches you awareness 
of your posture. The Tai chi training will also help you with softening the external muscles and 
training the internal core muscles to support your body better. A few nice massages will help as 
well! 
Once the physical side of things starts to improve, your body will straighten and your head lifts – 
perhaps imperceptibly but this will change your energetic structure. Issues that previously would 
have made you nervous or stressed will probably still have an effect on you but the difference will be 
that these events have less impact on your body and mind. You are starting to regain your internal 
balance! 
 
 
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Some thoughts about the History of Tai Chi 
The famous George Orwell quote “He who controls the past, controls the present”, always comes to 
mind when I look on an internet search engine for “Tai Chi History”. Many of the web sites that you 
see will have a family tree on it that starts with Yang Cheng Fu or Chan San Feng and finishes with 
the teacher for the club whose website you are looking at. 
Something along the lines of “The immortal from the south trained a secret group of students the 
hidden secrets of Tai Chi and one of those students was the grandfather of my teacher who has now 
given me exclusive permission to teach my Tai Chi to the public”. OK, so I am using exaggeration to 
make a point but you do actually get web sites that make such claims. 
It is not just Tai Chi that suffers from this affliction. Teachers of all disciplines seek to connect their 
teaching to the original source – not just because it looks good but also as a form of both internal 
and external validation. 
Let’s try and put this very human phenomenon into a Tai Chi context. In Tai Chi, we are always 
looking for balance. This balance is not just a physical balance – remember that Tai Chi is an art form 
thattrains mind, body and spirit. 
Think now about another type of balance. That between the past and the future with the present – 
the here and now being the pivot point in the middle of the two. In meditation, one of the aims that 
we try to achieve is to live in the here and now and experience the moment as it is. 
When one becomes truly aware of the moment, then ones consciousness expands and a new kind of 
awareness develops. Many religions and mystical systems around the world operate either directly 
or indirectly on this premise. 
So, if we mentally re-visit the Tai Chi web site that is making claims about lineages to the fourteenth 
century – do you think that the author is concentrating on the here and now or the past? 
Alternatively, the Tai Chi master who has forgotten the traditions of Tai Chi and is trying to claim the 
“one true way”, seems to also be missing out on the essence of the “here and now”. 
In Tai Chi, we need to be mindful of the past and also be able to define ourselves in our own terms. 
This is what all of the great teachers have done and will do. To become obsessed with the past is 
like being the martial artist who is convinced that he will win or lose the next tournament depending 
upon the result of the last one. 
Each day, each moment should be a new experience. The past gives us our grounding and the future 
gives us our impetus to move forwards but it is the only the present that we can change. 
In this context, our internal relationship with the past and the future is interplay of Yin and Yang. 
We can only truly learn to live in the moment when we balance our Yang tendencies to look forward 
to the future and our Yin tendencies to look towards the past. 
 
 
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Tai Chi Warm Up 
Exercises 
 
 
 
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Tai Chi Warm Up Exercises 
If all that you gained from your Tai Chi practices was an understanding of the following warm up 
exercises and practiced them regularly then you would have gained a valuable tool to assist you in 
your fitness program. 
The sequence shown is a traditional set of Tai Chi warm up exercises that have been used by Tai chi 
players throughout the world for many years. 
Just because they have been shown here within the context of Tai Chi, it does not mean that they 
are limited to Tai Chi. The way that they systematically flow through the joints starting at the wrists 
and going down to the feet means that all of your joints are mobilised with is useful for any sport or 
just for health and fitness. 
As with all Tai Chi exercises, be careful. Do not force yourself to do an exercise that you do not like. 
If it hurts it is your body’s way of telling you to not do it. 
If for some reason you do not like an exercise – do not do it. The exercises work on many different 
levels through your body, mind and Energy. Listen to what your body is telling you and follow it. 
There will always be an alternative exercise that you can perform or just wait for the next exercise. 
The exercises all have health benefits, martial applications and Energy applications. 
 
 
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Wrists 
 
 
Stand in a relaxed position 
 
Gently link your fingers together and rotate the 
wrists 
 
Keep your elbows down so that your shoulders 
stay relaxed 
 
Ensure that the movement is rotational rather 
than pulling the wrist joint up and down to avoid 
injury. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This exercise is especially useful for people who 
use computers or drive because it helps you to 
relax the wrist and forearm. 
 
 
 
 
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Elbow Rotations 
 
(1) Extend your arms out in front of you with 
the palms facing down. 
 
Your intent should be in your finger tips at 
this moment 
 
Time your breathing so that you exhale at 
the full extension of your arms 
 
 
 
 
(2) Pull the elbows back as you inhale 
 
Rotate your forearms so that your palms face upwards 
 
Try to make sure that you do not pull your elbows past 
the midline of your body 
 
Do this by turning your waist 
 
(3) Keep your arms moving as you start to 
exhale 
 
Rotate your forearms again so that your 
palms face the floor 
 
Repeat the movement cycle by going back 
to (1) 
 
This exercise is vital for the understanding of Tai Chi 
as it embodies many of the main principles 
 
 
 
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Shoulder Blades 
 
 
Start by locating the acupressure point called 
“the gate of clouds”. It is located on your inner 
shoulder and illustrated by the red dot on the 
photo. Poke around with your thumb until you 
find a bit that is a slightly more tender. 
 
 When you find the point, place the back of both 
hands on the point and make a rotational 
movement with your elbows. 
 
Try to make the rotations as large as possible 
with the elbows describing the biggest circle that 
is comfortable for you. 
 
Breathe naturally with the exercise. 
 
 
Reverse the direction of movement. 
 
This exercise works with the lung meridian and is 
therefore associated with helping your 
breathing. 
 
It is excellent for loosening the shoulders and 
increasing the blood circulation in the trapezius 
muscles. 
 
 
 
 
A version of this exercise that will test your 
coordination more is to have the elbows moving 
in opposite directions. 
 
You will have to ensure that your waist is moving 
to achieve this. 
 
If at first you find the coordination difficult, 
persevere. 
 
You will eventually “get it” and when you do – it 
means that you have improved your 
coordination in a visible way. 
 
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Windmills 
 
This exercise continues from where the last one 
left off with loosening your shoulders and 
energising the lung meridian. 
 
Locate the “gate of clouds” and put your finger 
on it. This serves a dual purpose of stimulation 
the acupressure point and giving you a mental 
reference to help you to not raise your shoulder 
during the exercise. 
 
Swing your arm several times in one direction 
and then several times in the other. 
 
Repeat with the other arm 
 
Try “upping the game” again by swinging in both 
directions. 
 
When you can manage this easily, try changing 
the direction of the arm swings. 
 
When you have mastered the exercise you will 
be able to change directions with both arms 
easily. 
 
 
 
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Neck Loosening 
 
With the following neck exercises the ideal 
breathing pattern is to exhale as you work your 
neck and inhale as you come back to the centre. 
If, however this gets a little bit out of sync, then 
do not worry. You will not cause yourself harm 
and practice will improve your breathing and 
movement coordination. 
 
For thefirst exercise, look to the left as you 
exhale. 
As you inhale, come back to the centre and then 
when you exhale again look to the right. 
 
Repeat several times. 
 
Now bring your ear in the direction of your 
shoulder as you exhale. 
 
Inhale and come back to the centre. 
 
As you exhale, bring your ear towards the other 
shoulder. 
 
Try to bring your ear to the shoulder and not 
your shoulder to your ear. 
 
 
Move your chin in semi circles to the left and to 
the right. 
 
When practicing these exercises – especially with 
your neck, you will probably hear popping noises 
from the joints. This is not something to worry 
about unless it causes you pain. If in doubt 
check with your coach or doctor. 
 
Neck mobilisation exercises will not guarantee 
that your neck will always be 100% pain free. 
They will help you to maintain your neck and I 
find with my clients that if they do exercises for 
their necks, they recover from neck injuries more 
easily 
 
 
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Neck and Shoulder Massage 
 
 
Grab the muscles in the back of your neck with your 
hand and squeeze them up and down your neck. 
 
Repeat with the other side of your neck with the other 
hand. 
 
Grab the shoulder muscles with your hand 
and massage them by squeezing up and 
down. 
 
Repeat on the other side with your other 
hand. 
 
Most people enjoy having their neck and shoulders massaged – and it is good for you! It helps to the 
circulation in the muscles and relaxes them. It is not always possible to get somebody else to do it for 
you. 
 
Whilst it is not as much fun and less effective than being massaged by somebody else, we can get 
some of the benefits by massaging our own muscles. 
 
 
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Open the Chest 
 
 
 
Inhale and cross your arms in front of your chest with 
your hands facing down. 
 
 
As you exhale, pull your elbows back. 
There is no need to be highly vigorous with 
this movement. Keep it gentle in the 
beginning stages. 
 
Later, when you have become accustomed 
to the movement, you can make it more 
vigorous. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When you inhale again, cross your arms again but this 
time with the palms facing upwards 
 
As you exhale, open your arms. 
 
Repeat the exercise from the beginning 
several times. 
 
This exercise is excellent for opening the 
chest. It also helps to open the heart 
chakra. 
 
 
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Side Twists 
 
Side twists make the sides of your body softer and 
more supple and can help with your breathing by 
making your chest area less stiff. 
 
Raise your hands in front of your chest and inhale 
 
 
As you exhale, twist your body gently to one 
side. 
 
This first twist should deliberately be quite 
easy to get your muscles looser for the next 
twist. 
 
 
 
 
Inhale and come back to the centre 
 
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Now perform the twist again to the SAME 
SIDE but this time move your body further 
around. 
 
Repeat for the other side. 
 
The idea is that the first part loosens your 
body and the second twist really does the 
work. 
 
Moving in the light twist allows your body to 
relax more and you get more from the 
exercise. 
 
 
Waist Rotations 
 
 
Put your hands on to your kidney area and rotate 
your waist in a spiral. As the muscles loosen the 
spiral gradually gets larger 
 
The most common mistake with this exercise is to let 
you head move up and down instead of moving your 
waist. 
 
Stop this from happening by fixing your eyes on 
something. If the object that your eyes are fixed 
upon looks like it is moving up and down then you 
are moving your head up and down. 
 
If it looks stationery, then you are working with your 
waist correctly 
 
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Repeat the exercise in the other direction. 
Gradually build up the size of the movement 
and gradually reduce it when you have 
finished. 
 
You should never suddenly start or suddenly 
stop with these Tai Chi exercises. 
 
This exercise helps you to look after your lower back. The majority of back pain is in the lower back 
so if you practice the exercise regularly you will be reducing your chances of getting the most 
common type of back pain. 
 
 
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Turn the Waist to Swing Your Arms 
 
 
Start with your feet shoulder width 
apart and start to swing your waist. 
 
 
As the momentum increases, allow the 
arms to be thrown out by the circular 
motion. 
 
 
Do not try to throw your arms out – 
allow them to move as a result of your 
waist rotation. 
 
When you decide to finish the exercise, do it by gradually 
slowing down the motion of the waist. 
 
Suddenly stopping this movement can cause injury 
 
There is a playful quality to this exercise that seems to remind people of the school playground and 
uplift them. 
 
The exercise is very good for your spine provided that you keep the spine straight. 
 
 
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Hip Rotations 
 
 
The following exercise is simple. All that you 
need to do is to make big circles with your 
knees in all directions. 
 
The sequence does not matter. In the 
photos the knee is making anti clockwise, 
clockwise, heel push and then heel down 
circles. 
 
In the beginning balancing will be the biggest issue. 
 
Start by holding on to a wall or the back of a chair but 
gradually wean yourself away from these props. 
 
You can also make the exercise easier by placing your 
foot on the floor in between movements. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Doing the exercise slowly makes it harder 
but try to not rush it in the early days. 
 
It is better to do two knee circles really well 
than it is to do several at a more rushed 
tempo. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When you have completed with one leg do the same 
for the other. 
 
 
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Knee Rotations 
 
 
Put your hands on your knees and focus 
your eyes on a point on the floor in front of 
you. 
 
Now start to gently rotate your knees. 
 
Do a few circles in one direction and then 
repeat in the other direction. 
 
NEVER make the circles too large as this 
makes it easy to damage your knee. 
This exercise helps your balance and if done gently helps your knees to stay strong. 
 
 
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Ankle Rotations 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Place your big toe on the floor and make 
circles with your ankles. 
 
 
Repeat in the other direction 
 
 
Then repeat for the other legAs well as helping to keep your ankles supple, it assists your balance and opens the Energy meridians 
in your ankle. 
 
 
 
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The Tai Chi Form 
 
 
 
 
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The Tai Chi Form 
The complete Tai Chi form comprises of 105 moves and takes around thirty minutes to complete. 
However, there is much repetition in the form. These opening moves are repeated several times 
during the whole sequence. If you can perform all of the movements described in this introduction 
you can actually perform around 20% of the whole form and have a good basis for working with the 
rest of the form. 
During my years of teaching Tai Chi, I have found that the people who pay attention to these 
introductory moves find that they understand Tai Chi better than the ones who decide to learn the 
whole sequence and then correct it later. 
 
Tai Chi Footprints 
The following images or “Tai Chi Footprints” are designed to help you understand how you should 
shift your weight when practicing Tai Chi. A dark footprint carries the weight and a light footprint is 
“empty” or not carrying weight. Examples are shown below. 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Weight is carried equally in both 
feet 
The left foot carries the weight 
and the ball of the right foot 
touches the floor gently 
The left foot carries the weight 
allowing the right foot to be 
opened to a 45o angle 
 
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Wu Chi 
Wu Chi is the name given by the Taoists for the state of the Universe before the complementary 
forces of Yin and Yang came into existence. It is sometimes called “the great nothing”. 
Wu Chi is the start of the Tai Chi form and is symbolic of that primordial state of the Universe. In Wu 
Chi, we train our bodies to be straight and relaxed and our minds to be calm. When practicing Wu 
Chi, we do nothing. 
Doing nothing is not as easy as it sounds! Sometimes it is difficult to even stand still physically for a 
beginner. 
When we practice Wu Chi, we set ourselves up for the rest of the Tai Chi form. You cultivate mental 
stillness and physical relaxation. Errors made in Wu Chi will usually be reflected throughout the rest 
of the form. 
The experienced Tai Chi player will use the Wu Chi posture to create the internal and external 
feelings that he or she will then carry through the Tai Chi form. 
 
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and parallel. Go 
through the following check points:- 
 Feel your feet in contact with the floor. Check if the 
weight distribution is even. Push your toes into the 
floor gently. 
 Check that your knees are not locked. If they are 
release them. 
 Tuck under slightly with the sacrum so that the spine 
is straight 
 Feel upwards through the spine and relax 
 Feel your shoulders dropping away from your spine 
 Keep your neck straight, head up and chin down 
 Eyes forward 
 Relax your breathing into your lower abdominal area 
 Re-check your feet and legs 
 Let your mind relax and become “empty” of random 
thoughts. 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
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Common Mistakes 
It is important when practicing Wu Chi to let the body and mind relax. As the body relaxes, so does 
the mind. 
If we have tensions in our body and mind, they will be reflected in this posture. This means that if 
the mechanics of the movement as described above are correct, by just standing in this posture will 
help you to start to dealing with those inner tensions. 
It is therefore helpful to not consider imperfections as mistakes or even to judge them as something 
bad. If, for example when you are practicing Wu Chi, your shoulders become stiff; it is good to 
regard it as an opportunity to improve yourself. This way, our posture will gradually relax. 
If you decide that the stiff shoulders are a problem rather than an opportunity for improvement, 
then the path towards improving your posture and calming your mind will be slower. 
It is good for Tai Chi practitioners of all skill levels to practice Wu Chi as a standing meditation with 
this kind of intent. 
 
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Opening Form 
As the Energies in Wu Chi, the great void began to coalesce; they created the polarities that are 
called Yin and Yang. 
The opening and closing movements of the Tai Chi form are the same. At the beginning of the form, 
they represent the formation of Yin and Yang from the void. At the end of the form, they represent 
the closure of the current cycle of Energy with a return to Wu Chi, giving readiness for the next cycle. 
 In the Tai Chi form, we start to sink the weight and create intent. These are the only movements in 
the form where the weight is equally distributed in both legs. 
 
 
 
 
 Point your fingers 
forwards 
 Relax the elbows 
 Inhale 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
On the exhalation, push 
your fingers outwards 
and extend the Chi 
through them 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
Side view 
Side view 
 
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Inhale and sink your elbows, thus 
drawing your hands towards your 
body 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
Exhale and press your hands 
down 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
Common Mistakes 
When you practice this movement, you need to be aware of your intent. If you are just waving your 
arms up and down without thinking about it, there is no intent and the movement is not being true 
to the requirements of Tai Chi. 
 
Side view 
Side view 
 
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Left Ward Off 
In “left Ward Off”, we create the first of the “eight Energies” of Tai Chi with the strong ward off 
Energy. We also have the other energies present. We are starting to define ourselves on our Tai chi 
path. 
At the beginning of the form, the movement has us making our first steps into the routine and 
teaches us the beginnings of the Tai Chi footwork. 
 
 
 
 
 Inhale 
 Shift your weight on to your rigt leg and 
open your right toes to a forty five 
degree angle 
 Turn your waist 
 Relax your elbows 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 On a continued 
inhalation, shift 
your weight back 
over to your left 
leg 
 Soften the elbows 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
Side view 
 
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 Exhale and step 
forwards 
 Left hand rises to 
create ward off 
 Right hand 
presses down 
 Look to the right 
 
Tai Chi FootprintCommon Mistakes 
The most common mistake with this movement is to forget about keeping the feet shoulder width 
apart and step narrow. When this happens the bow stance becomes unstable. The feet should be 
as though they are on either side of a railway track – not a tight rope. 
If you are training in a room that has floorboards or other straight line markings, the beginner can 
use these to make sure that they have maintained width in the stance as well as length. 
The cause of the narrow stance is sometimes because you are trying to make your stance too long 
and are unable to balance sufficiently to make a wider stance in that position. Both points should 
be noted. 
It is also common for the beginner to look the wrong way in this stance. You should be looking to 
the right. 
 
 
 
 
Side view 
 
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Grasping the Sparrows Tail 
 
 
 
 Inhale 
 Sink your weight on to your right leg 
 Repax your elbows 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 As your inhalation continues shift your weight on to your left leg 
 Pick up your right foot and touch the floor with the ball of your foot 
 Keep your elbows soft 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Step forward with your right foot and place it flat on the floor in a 
bow stance 
 Look to the front 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
Right Ward Off 
 
 
 
 As you exhale push from the back leg and expand into right ward 
off 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Push your weight down into your right leg 
 Turn your waist clockwise 
 Allow your arms to float upwards with the movement 
 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
Roll Back 
 
 Sink your weight back on to your right leg as you exhale 
 Turn your waist anti-clockwise 
 Pull back with your left elbow as you push out with your right palm 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Inhale as you sink further into the left leg 
 Squar your hips 
 Touch your right inner forearm with your left palm 
 Relax your elbows 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Squeeze 
 
 
 
 As you exhale, push your body forward from your back leg 
 Lift your arms up and push outwards with them 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Open your hands 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Inhale and sink back on to your left leg 
 Pull your elbows back to your body 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
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Push 
 
 
 As you exhale, push your weight froward from your back 
leg 
 Push with both hands 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Single Whip 
 
 
 
 Inhale 
 Sink back on to your left leg 
 Pull your elbows in 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adjust your right foot by turning it slightly to the front 
 Turn your waist 
 Shift the weight back on to your right foot 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Push the weight from your right leg to your left and extend your 
arms 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sink the weight back on to your right leg 
 Turn your waist clockwise 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Adjust your left leg so that you are in the empty stance 
 Push out with your right hand 
 Make “ward off” with your left hand 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Step acrross with your left leg to make a bow stance – keep 
your weight in the right leg at this stage 
 Make a “hook” with your right hand 
 Place your left hand in front of your body 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Shift your weight forward on to your left leg 
 Extend your left arm 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Closing Form 
 
 
 
 Shift your weight on to your right leg 
 Turn your right toes inwards 
 Raise your arms 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Exhale and sink lower into your right leg 
 Make a “chopping” motion with both hands 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Step forward with your left leg so that both feet are parallel 
 Continue in the direction of the previous chopping motion with the 
arms to sweep close to your chest 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 
 Extend both arms forwards 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
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 Separate your arms 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 Rotate your forearms 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
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 Pull your elbows in 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
 Press down 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
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 Relax your wrists 
Tai Chi Footprint 
 
 
 
 
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Tai Chi Sequence 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Wu Chi1 
 
 
Opening Form 
 
2 3 4 5 
 
 
Left Ward Off 
 
6 7 8 
 
 
 
Grasping The Sparrows Tail 
 
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 
 
17 18 19 
 
 
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Single Whip 
 
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 
 
Closing Form 
 
27 28 29 30 31 
 
 
32 33 34 35 
 
 
 
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