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Writer's pictureSifu Dr Mark Stevenson

My first Taiji form: P2 Part the Wild Horses Mane 野馬分鬃 (Ye Ma Fen Zong) stepping


Welcome back to our ongoing series "my first Taiji form". We will be covering the 24 posture Yang Taiji form, one posture at a time. This series is aimed at beginners and you don't need any previous experience to give these moves a go. If you haven't seen the first posture yet go here and check it out. OK great, lets move on to posture 2!


Part the Wild Horses Mane 野馬分鬃 (Ye Ma Fen Zong)


"Horses have hoofs to carry them over frost and snow; hair, to protect them from wind and cold. They eat grass and drink water, and fling up their heels over the prairies. Such is the real nature of horses. Palatial dwellings are of no use to them." Chuang Tse


This second posture is a little bit more tricky than the first. It incorporates both stepping and some more complex hand movements. So we will break it down and work on the stepping first and then add in the hands later.


Here is a short video showing the movement of the feet, broken down to a count:






Key points


1) Start by shifting your weight to the right leg and let the left leg become light and free to move.

2) Bring the feet together and let the left leg hand toe down by the right foot.

3) Your left leg has no weight on it, so is free to move. Let it come out to the left of your body, heel down, shoulder width wide and double shoulder width long. Keep the weight back on your right leg.

4) Shift your weight to the left leg and enter the bow stance.

5) Turn your waist to 45 degrees. This completes the movement on one side.

6) Rock back and let the weight sit back on your right leg. The toe comes up on the left leg.

7) The left leg is yin and light so as you turn your waist to the left the leg turns.

8) Shift the weight forward onto the left leg.

9) Step forward with the right leg and let it hang toe pointing down next to the left leg. This completes the movement on one side.

10) Repeat steps 1-9 with the cues reversed (left leg becomes right)


Take your time to do the stepping slowly with all the of the cues above. Pause at each key point and make sure everything is lined up correctly. Then slowly remove the pauses and make the movement soft, smooth, continuous and slow. We will add in the hands next time.


Have fun learning the steps.





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