The Thirteen Postures of Taijiquan
Yang style Taijiquan identifies eight key hand positions and five leg positions in the Taijiquan form. When communicating these positions the Yang masters commonly refer to them as the Thirteen Postures (8 + 5 = 13).
The hand movements are commonly tied to the eight trigrams of the I-Ching, and the foot movements to the Chinese five elemental processes. The three symbols for Taijiquan: the Taiji symbol (commonly referred to as the Yin and Yang), Bagua (Eight trigrams) and the five element cycle (pictured below) are also key symbols in Chinese cosmology, medicine, philosophy, and culture.
The Eight Hand Positions
- Peng- ward off-intercept and control opponent’s advance upward
- Lu-rollback- deflect opponent down and back
- Ji- follow-apply force forward
- An- press weight into opponent, downward
- Cai-pluck grasping and twisting opponent’s limbs with force
- Lieh- split- applying force in two different directions
- Zhou-elbow striking
- Kao- striking with shoulder, hip or knee
The Five Leg Positions
- Jin- Advance (bow & arrow stance)
- Tui- Withdraw (six-four stance)
- Ku- Look Left
- Pan- Look Right
- Chung Ting- Central Equilibrium (horse-riding stance)