I assume you know the Taijiquan position “Single Whip”. And you might be familiar with that strange position your back hand gets into: the Beak Hand or Hook Hand. In Chinese, it is called Gōu Shǒu (钩手). Continue reading
Category Archives: Taijiquan Moves
The meaning of Grasp the Bird’s Tail (揽雀尾 Lǎn Qùe Wěi) explained
One of the most important movements in Taijiquan is to Grasp the Bird’s Tail. Actually it is a series of very basic moves: Peng, Lü, Ji and An. Continue reading
White Crane Spreads its Wings: how does a crane fight?
As far as I know, the move “White Crane Spreads its Wings” is part of many different Taijiquan forms. And it truly is a nice movement. I like the openness of it. Continue reading
The significance of 108 – a magical number
Do you have a favorite number? Mine has been 13 for a long time and recently I added 108. As you may know, the long Yang form is also called 108 form as it is supposed to have 108 movements. So I had a closer look at the significance of 108. Continue reading
What is a Pipa?
If you are learning the Taijiquan form for a longer period of time already, you probably know the movement “play the pipa”. Some call it “strum the lute” or “play guitar”. And I asked myself, what does this music instrument actually look like? What is a pipa? Well, here it is: Continue reading