Stances
Introduction
In teaching new students I am continuously reminded that the stances in Taiji can be hard to get at first.
Maybe they are not strange to dancers, fencers, boxers and other athletes, and they are definitely not foreign to martial artists. ‘Refugees’ from other martial arts come to taiji classes well versed in stances and they can see the differences and understand their importance.
In my typical qigong ‘warm up’, three of the moves use the horse stance (mǎbù (馬步) in Chinese, kiba-dachi (騎馬立ち) (or shiko-dachi (四股立)) in Japanese, and juchum seogi (주춤 서기) or annun seogi (lit. sitting stance) in Korean - Wikipedia). This is really excellent strength training for the legs.
The first form we teach is Cheng Man-ch’ing’s shortened derivation of the Yang family form.
When stepping forward I would say the stance is compact compared to Shotokan karate and Taekwondo stances that I practice in my youth, and probably shorter than the original Yang family style long form.
But looking at the pictures above there is not a lot in it - at least in Single Whip!
Width vs. Length
The guidance I was given, and that I in turn pass on to my students, is that we step out into a shoulder width stance, and step forward into a stance the same length as your shoulder width.
Essentially the stance is square. It has the same width as it has length.
If you step forward with the left foot, the heel drops onto the top left corner of an imaginary square. The right foot turns out at 45 degrees with the heel on the bottom right corner of the square.
⚠️ I am hesitating from calling this stance a ‘bow stance’ (gong bu) although I have used this term in the past. The bow stance is very definitely a long stance and very narrow, the opposite of what I am going for here!
Stepping forward into a shoulder width stance, the right foot pivots out to 45°. Importantly, the width and length are the same.
The aspect that some students seem to need most support with is keeping the width of the stance. They slip into a narrow ‘tight-rope walking’ stance, with the feet in-line.
‘Tightrope walking’. Don’t do this.
To further re-enforce the discipline of keeping a wide stance I ask students to visualise whether they could roll a football between their legs (back to front, and even left to right).
I used to teach at a gym that often had exercise balls lying around. It was easy to show this concept in practice.
How do find your shoulder width other than measuring it?
I was taught that starting with feet together, pop your toes out as far as they will go and then swing the heels out to finish with the feet parallel. Once you have the measure of it, you will learn to step automatically to this width.
Start with feet together, pop the toes out then the heels. Works the other way around too!
In Practice
In the years I have been learning and teaching I have never done this until this week. I cut out a square of cardboard that was supposed to be as wide as my shoulders, only the box was not big enough so it is 9 cm (~3.5”) narrower.
Even this size felt quite wide, so I am going to give my students a break if they don’t maintain full shoulder width.
It’s also given me some confidence to lengthen my stance a little, a Taekwondo habit I was trying to break.
I decided to nerd out completely 🤓. Cardboard stepping template.
Stepping
Stepping.
When stepping:
Start
Turn out the front foot to 45°
Load all the weight onto the front foot and bring the rear foot forward and next to the front foot. If you want to pause and touch the foot to the floor at this point to get your balance, you can do so
Swing the moving (was rear) foot out to shoulder width and drop it heel first, one shoulder width in front of the (now) rear foot
When stepping (3. and 4.0 the stepping foot makes an arc or crescent shape, swinging in and then back out to preserve the required width.
With time, the arc or crescent shape may soften and smooth out so that the foot effectively moves straight forward.
Key Takeaway
The stance should be shoulder width and when stepping, shoulder ‘length’.
Other styles of Taichi
You will know that taiji comes in several ‘flavours’ or family styles and the stances do vary. Later in the Wutan syllabus we learn Chen style and their stances are famously longer and lower, and very athletic and powerful.
Chen style Single Whip. Image licensed under the Unsplash+ License.
Featured image: Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo da Vinci, 1492 — image by Luc Viatour / https://Lucnix.be.
