Step 5: 上步左棚 (Step Forward, Ward with Left Palm)

1. Sink the whole body and shift more weight to the right foot. Do not lean forward, but keep the body upright.
2. You will feel your left leg getting lighter and your left heel being lifted up.
3. Balancing on the right leg and pivoting on the left toes as fulcrum, slowly turn your whole body anti-clockwise towards the front, initiating the turning from the waist.
4. Throughout the turning, ensure the body is always upright and not twisted. Maintain your hand positions as before (still holding the Taiji ball) while you turn.
5. Until you are facing the front, and is able to balance all your body weight on the right leg, lift up your left leg and place it forward gracefully(do not jerk or be seen as suddenly stepping down as if you are off balance) landing your left heel first, on the spot where your left toes used to be. Step the whole left foot down completely.
6. Sink the body down and using your 'Yi', direct more weight to your left leg until you are well-balanced on both feet. Then continue to direct more weight to the left so that your right leg becomes lighter. Raise the right toes slightly and pivoting on your right heel as fulcrum, turn them anti-clockwise towards the front until the right foot is pointing 45% between the front and right facings.
7. Using the 'Yi', sink the whole body down a little further, with both hands still holding the Taiji ball. Check that the body is upright, facing the front and comfortably balanced by ensuring that the (胯) hip joint is sunk deeper too.
8. Continue to sink the body further, concentrating on both heels and feel the 'Gong Tui' (躬腿) effect pushing up through your legs. This will activate both the hands simultaneously as such - left lower arm rolling outwards and upwards until it is parallel to the floor until the left palm is right in front of your chest (palm facing inwards), while the right palm presses downwards until it is by the right side of your body. When it stops, the right shoulder should be relaxed, the right elbow too, but slightly curved, and the right palm facing backwards with all 5 fingers pointing to the ground, opened and relaxed.

Step 4: 转右抱极 (Turn Right and embrace Taiji Qi)

1. Using the 'yi', slowly sink the whole body lower and shift more weight to the left.
2. When you are ready, turn clockwise to face the right, turning only the right foot using the right heel as pivot. Keep the right toes lifted while you check that the whole body (from the hip upwards) has made a full right turn (90 degrees) and is upright, with both hands relaxed at the sides of the body, palms facing backwards.
3. Sink down the whole body further, tucking the right hip joint (胯) further downwards.
4. Bend the right knee downwards and front-wards. At the same time, feel the right leg also bending lower at the right knee and the 'magnetic' force lowering the right toes down too. When the right foot is completely flat on the ground, the right knee should be exactly straight above the right toes. Do not allow this action to be seen by an outsider as if you are moving your whole body forward to the right facing.
5. Sink further at the hip and direct the 'yi' to concentrate more on both the bottom of the heels. The repelling feeling will give you the 'Gong Tui' (躬腿) effect - the elastic force pushing up through your legs to the back of your waist and up further your body. This will raise both your hands up.
6. Continue to allow both hands to float up, applying the 'running focal point' concept, until they are about 45 degrees to the floor.
7. Relax both the shoulders, leading to both elbows bending downwards.
8. Allow the right elbow to continue bending down with the right palm facing down while you roll the left palm downwards and inwards, as if like rolling around a big ball.
9. When the two palms stop, they should be facing each other, as if like holding a big ball. The 阴阳 (negative/positive or black/white) of Taiji is in place. The left palm should be facing up and the right palm facing down. Feel some subtle force pulling and pushing both your palms. Check that both your elbows are pointing towards the floor and not to the sides.

Step 3: 太极起势 (Beginning of Taiji)

1. Relax and sink the whole body further, using the 'yi' to focus at the sole of both the heels. It is as if you are leaning backwards, very slightly and not visible to the outsiders.
2. At this stage, stay as relaxed as possible, keeping the whole body upright, head gently locked at the neck area and facing the front, with the 'head chakra' ready for the cosmic energy. You are now in a position ready for '虚灵顶劲' (xu ning ding jing) and it means “emptiness against vigor”. In fact, this is one of the 10 essential understanding of learning Taiji.
3. This 'mind intention' or 'yi' will cause both hands to float up and to the front, with the fulcrum at the two shoulder joints.
4. Relax so that while both hands continue to rise, and both elbows also relaxed and slightly bent (with the cavities of both elbows facing upwards), concentrate the 'yi' at the top central point of the two wrists while the fingers continue pointing downwards. Do not stiffen or straighten the elbow and wrist joints.
5. Until the two arms are parallel to the floor, you will next feel a very subtle sensation running upwards along your back and neck and pushes out through your 'head chakra'.
6. Next, direct your 'yi' onto the sole of the toes, as if like leaning forward.
7. Then start to relax your shoulders, starting the process of 'sinking the shoulder and dropping the elbow' or '沉肩坠肘'.
8. Again, focus your 'yi' at the sole of the two heels.
9. This shifting of the 'mind intention' or 'yi' back and forth between heels and toes is an essential effort that must be practised constantly. It is another basic principle of Taiji that forces moves in waves and is never stationery at any one point.
10. Continuing the process of 'sinking the shoulder and dropping the elbow' or '沉肩坠肘', you will feel the two elbows sinking and bending (the two elbow cavities facing upwards becoming more pronounced too), and drawing both your wrists nearer to your body, as opposed to you deliberately moving your body forward or pulling both your arms nearer to you.
11. Directing the 'yi' from the shoulders slowly down the arm through the elbows and again right to the two wrists (with running focal point), you will find both your palms opening upwards and spreading all the fingers out, as if like the petals of a flower opening up.
12. There will be a tingling sensation felt at the finger tips, as if air is escaping upwards through the finger tips. Qi (气) is actually flowing.
13. Next, direct your 'yi' onto the sole of the toes, then back on the sole of the heels again. At the same time applying the running focal point concept once more, start lowering both your palms downwards, with fulcrum at the elbows.
14. Until both your lower arms are parallel to the floor, next lower both your arms with the fulcrum now at the shoulder joints.
15. When the two arms are completely lowered to both sides of your body, the inside of the palms should be facing backwards and the fingers spread out and pointing to the floor, all in a very relaxed manner. Again, you will feel tingling sensation at the finger tips.

Step 2: 左脚分开 (Start with Parting the Left Leg)

1. Until all the weight are on the right side, slowly lift up the left heel, gently twist the left heel outwards/left-wards using the left toes as pivot, until the left foot is pointing straight to the front and at right angle to your body.
2. Next, land your left heel very gently so that the whole left sole is completely touching the floor with as little force as possible.
3. By now, you should be ready to balance the whole body on the right side and yet NOT visible at all to an outsider that there is a shift of the physical body to the right.
4. Using your 'yi', transfer some body weight to the left side, feel that the whole body is balanced and stabilised, and then transfer all the weight back to the right again.
5. When you are completely balanced on the right side, lift your left leg gently and step left-wards, so that the two feet are apart, about the width of your shoulders.
6. Next, turn slightly to the right, initiating the turn at the waist level, until your torso and head (as a block) is facing diagonally at about 30 degrees to the right.
7. Without being visible to an outsider, slowing shift your body weight to the left side, you must not be seen as moving your whole body to the left side.
8. Then lift up your right toes slightly, with the right heel still on the ground.
9. Using the right heel as pivot, turn the right toes inwards until both the feet are parallel to each other and both pointing to the front.

Step 1:预备式 (Preparation)

1. Stand with both feet forming a 'V' shape, with the two heels touching and the toes apart, pointing forward.
2. Slowly and without being visible to an outsider, use your 'yi' to sink the whole body by bending both knees and also at the (胯) hip joint(as if like sitting onto a chair), with more weight on the left foot.
3. Continue to keep the body upright, facing the front and concentrating more weight on the left foot.
4. Slowly, again using the 'yi' or 'mind intention', shift the body weight to the right foot, again without being visible to an outsider.