Beginning Tai Chi Style for Safe Bending & Lifting

Master Wu Tunan doing tai chi at the age of 100 – something to think about (Not our style of tai chi BTW, but here is a 1937 clip of someone doing Wu Style Tai Chi (nearly the same as ours).

Tai Chi Hand Forms are a series of “Styles” performed in a sequence. Think of Styles as Postures – identical to Yoga “Poses.” Most people think of Tai chi as a continuous movement practice: holding static (still) Postures is also a part of Tai Chi practice. In Tai Chi a “Style” encompasses both the static posture as well as a movement which includes an “opening” and a “closing’ component – as well as other aspects.

Three keys to safe bending and lifting are the Neutral Spine, Knee Rule, and Hip Crease (described in detail in this post). Here I will describe how these critical concepts and principles of safe biomechanics are trained in just one of the Tai Chi Hand Form Styles, “Beginning Tai Chi Style.” (Incidently, this is the third Style in the sequence, not the first: correct breathing, focused awareness and standing up straight come first:-))

From a neutral standing position, feet under hips, upright with an elongated spine, and the arms hanging naturally at the side, the arms come up and out to the front, back toward the body and down the front of the body, palms down; as the hands descend, the knees bend (following the knee rule), the hips sink back and down, and the spine stays in neutral alignment (straight but with the natural curves – think of a Bow as in Bow and Arrow – the Bow has a curve or curves but it also has a straight line).

The "Line" (Ignore the hands, this is not Beginning Tai Chi Style)

As the arms go up and move through their circular arc, the shoulders relax and sink. As the hands and hips simultaneously descend, ending their decent at the same time, the hands separate. They follow a path around the body and back, eventually circling back around to the front – as the hands separate, the weight of the body is shifted to one side (in the Right Handed Form it would be to the right).

With the weight shifted to one side and the hands as far back as flexibility allows, the hands now move forward. As the hands go forward the foot without weight on it steps forward. The leg remains straight, and the foot is set down without any weight on it – the heels are remain shoulder width apart, in other words the foot steps straight ahead. This is Back Stance.

Back Stance: Neutral Spine w/ Hip Crease

The body and the left foot rotate to the right 45* while the hands trace an arc to the right ending at the right hip. All the weight is still on the right leg. From this position the weight shifts from the right leg to the left leg as the right hand pushes straight forward and the left hand accompanies it.

When all the weight rests on the left leg, the right (rear) leg is straight, the heel remains on the ground – the force of the shift comes from pushing through that rear heel. The spine is still in a straight “line.” The neck and head are also an extention of this “line” (you are looking as if over a set of glasses, not tilting your head back). The nose, the right hand, and the knee are in a the same plane.

This is Front Stance, the foot turning part is situational: not part of basic Front Stance. This is also the position of static posture for training this Style.

Front Stance: Neutral Spine & Knee Rule (Ignore the hands, this is not Beginning Tai Chi Style)

By adding the breathing, focused attention and conscious relaxation, and the fact that the hamstring muscles are stretched in the Back Stance and the hip flexor and calf muscles are stretched in Front Stance, you can see that there is a lot going on here.

I mention all this detail only to illustrate that in just this one Style at the very beginning of the Hand Form, you have the opportunity to train and practice correct lifting body mechanics, to learn whole body movement, to develop flexibility, strength, muscular endurance, balance, coordination and alignment. You can learn this in your first hour of Tai Chi practice – most of it anyway. Enough to practice your self at home afterward.

With practice you would get better, more relaxed, more flexible, stronger. As you gain confidence and competence, you can bend the knee more, and get even more flexible and even stronger.

This Style teaches so much. Once you have learned this Style you can practice Tai Chi walking as s drill. Moving from Back Stance to Front Stance, stepping, shifting the weight by pushing off the back heel, and learning to use the whole body to move. When it comes time to bend and lift you will be safer in every way.

By practicing this Style along with Tai Chi walking you will gradually discover all the areas of your body that tense up unnecessarily during these movements, and you will consciously relax them – through practice. Eventually, you will cease to tense up any muscles that are not required during the movement. Think about how efficient you will become; think of the energy you will save.

By stressing correct alignment during this practice you will develop the habit of neutral spine, the habit of following the knee rule, and the habit of the hip crease. These will become unconscious, automatic and normal for you.

Consider that in a 15 minute Long Round Hand Form you will step forward and back into and out of front and back stance many many times from all different angles and with dozens of simultaneous arm and hand gestures. The Form builds in complexity so in the beginning – before Beginning Tai Chi Style, you learn abdominal breathing, you learn to stand up straight – extending the head upward while keeping the chin down; and extending the tailbone downward without reversing the normal lower spine lordotic curve. You learn to have just a little bit of Yang in your Yin – the Tai Chi at Rest Style.

As the Form progresses the demand for flexibility, balance, coordination and strength increases gradually. By the time you get to the kick section, standing on one leg moving the other leg and both arms while turning the body is within your capability: a challenge, but possible.

The mental demands of remembering what comes next offer a means of focusing your attention. Being present is critical to tai chi practice and to safe bending and lifting. You have to pay attention. And that becomes a habit as well.

BTW, I didn’t mention how this one beginning style also helps to improve your shoulder range of motion – especially stretching out the front of the shoulders and chest where most people are tight from slumping over computer screens and steering wheels. Think about what 15 minutes of Tai Chi Hand Form could do for you.