Basic Yang Style Tai Chi Movements

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Bob Waers, and I am here at You Health Center in Orlando, Florida. Today we are going to be discussing some basic postures of the yang style tai chi. The first basic posture is called peng. Pong is a relaxed, but alive posture, and probably the best angle to look at it is like this. Collapsed is not good, too far reaching is not good. You want to find a middle place, and while you are relaxed you also are alive. This we would call peng, warding off is also peng. Peng is in every part of your posture, because it is an aliveness. The next is Li. Li means to pull, receive. So the Li posture instead of being forward is moving from forward to back guiding and deflecting to a side. Chi is a press. The hands come together at the heels where those grooves are you create a nice round structure in your frame. And you shift forward letting your weight do the work for you. Letting your legs, and feet do the work for you rather than pushing with your arms. That would be chi. An, you open receive and deflect downward, shift your weight, and move forward pushing. Not shoving, which is arms let your feet, legs, and waist do the work for you by pushing thusly. If you watch carefully you will see that it lifts, and uproots as it pushes in that direction. Next is the bo stance. The bo stance has the front foot pointed almost straight ahead, and the rear foot comfortably turned so there is no tension in the quads or the ankle. Hips are turned under, back is straight, head is straight, and this is the bo stance of tai chi of which almost all movements pass through. Last will be catch tai chi as if you are holding a beach ball, and you can pass that from side to side keeping the same roundness and structure. And those are some of the basic postures of the yang tai chi style. Thank you."