Step 10: 白鹤凉翅 (White Crane Spreads its Wings)

1. Check that your left thumb is still touching your right shoulder while your right last finger is touching your right thigh.
2. Sink back onto your left leg, allow the left knee to bend further so that it points downwards. Shift more weight back onto your left leg, sit back and sink your hip down so that you can straighten your right knee at the same time. Do it such that it does not appear as if you are shifting your whole body backwards.
3. Balance yourself on your left leg, so that you can lift your right toes and turn them together with your body, anti-clockwise 45 degrees, pivoting on the right heel.
4. As you put down the right toes, shift more weight onto the right leg. Continue to sink onto your right leg and turn your body anti-clockwise while you lift your left heel and turn it anti-clockwise using the left toes as pivot. As you turn, feel the whole right arm rotating anti-clockwise until the right palm is facing inwards and then being raised. As it is being raised, the right elbow also starts to bend. Simultaneously, the left palm folds down onto the right upper arm just below the shoulder, before brushing over the whole of the right arm, and over the right palm. The two palms should cross in front of your chest.
5. Stop when you have turned 90 degrees.
6. Still balancing all your weight on the right leg, reverse and turn your body clockwise and at the same time, lift up your left foot and keep it barely an inch above the ground and keep it in the air and turning together with your whole body.
7. After turning clockwise for about 60 - 75 degrees, stop and reverse the turning of the whole body again, until you have turned a complete 90 degrees to the left (the original left facing). The continued turning of your body should automatically and effortlessly lower your left arm in a sweeping manner, downwards and leftwards across your left knee and stop when it is about 6 inches in front of your left thigh.
8. Simultaneously, you will also feel your right shoulder being lowered, bringing the right elbow down and turning your right palm up in a clockwise direction until the right palm is at your shoulder level, and slightly to the right of your body, as if to stop an opponent's fist coming.
9. Time it precisely to land your left foot lightly on the toes at the end of this move, feeling the 'Gong Tui' (躬腿) effect gracefully manifesting through the spreading of both your palms.

Done gracefully, this step resembles how the white crane spreads its wings.