13 steps (9) (Rerun in English)

Ninth step: Cloud hand swinging
There are 3 parts in this step, which are top, middle, and down. Two feet have to be 2 shoulders width apart. Keep the head looking forward, neck is upright. Four fingers combine together and let the thumb slightly apart each hand. Left hand raises to eyebrow’s level, and palm faces to self. Right hand puts next to the waist, and palm outwards. We called it “yin” when your palm faces to yourself, and called it “yang” when your palm faces outward. We need to distinguish yin and yang with your hands clearly. So left hand is yin and right hand is yang for the opening position.

First part is to turn your body from right to left with your waist. Your eyes follow your hands, and your hands follow your waist. Your left hand will slowly moving down, and your right hand will slowly moving up when you can’t turn your body anymore. It’s like your hands are drawing 2 semicircles at the same time. One is drawing from top, the other one is drawing from below. It’s like drawing a Taiji circle (please see the graphic about “cloud hand stand” below). Let two hands switch from yin to yang, and from yang to yin. Rotate your palms slowly, until your left hand is yang, right hand is yin. Then repeat the movement for 5 times.

The second part is still using the waist to make your body turns. From right to left, this time is pulling with your left hand and pushing with your right hand while your body is turning. Left hand is pulling toward to the back of your left-hand-side, right hand is pushing toward to the front of your left-hand-side at the same time, and vice versa. Pulling with your right hand and pushing with your left hand while your body is turning. Repeat it 5 times.

The third part is to squat down first, use your waist and knees to shift your whole body from right to left. You need to distinguish the difference between solid foot and void foot while shifting your body. When your whole body is on the right side, your left foot doesn’t use any power at all. It may be very hard to shift your body from right to left since your knees may not be strong enough to lift up your bodyweight when you just start practicing. Your knees will get strong enough after a week. Please be patient and do it really slow.



Blue line indicates YIN, orange line indicates YANG. Please pay attention on the third person, when he rotates his hands, YIN and YANG are switched.

The first part came from a real Taiji pose called "cloud hand swing".
If keep the waist still, it's called "cloud hand stand".

(中文)
(日本語)

To Be Continued...