Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 212

Body Movements – Part 1

Chén Shì Tàijíquán 陈式太极拳 – Chén Style Tàijíquán has eight body movements or eight kinds of body energy or body skills. This means that is has eight kinds of body movement that each have an energy, attitude and meaning. They are :

1. 縱 Zòng
2. 橫 Héng
3. 高 Gāo
4. 低 Dī
5. 進 Jìn
6. 退 Tuì
7. 反 Fǎn
8. 側 Cè

The first, 縱 Zòng means let go, do not hold the back, like in Fā Jìn 發勁- Release Power, or jump over, jump up, or any direction. Do not hold back use power, Fā Jìn and go for it – that is Zòng.

橫 Héng means with power, but with internal strength. For example, when we are holding our opponent’s arm and they are fighting to pull away, but we just hold it using the internal power to go against them. We cannot Fā Jìn, because Fā Jìn begins with soft energy. Héng is using power to go against the opponent’s power and is very physical. Of course, when we know how to use Chán Sī Jìn 纏絲勁 – Silk Reeling Energy, we make a circle and use Héng to overcome our opponent’s strength.

So Zòng and Héng are a pair one is let go, is fast and the other is hold on and is sow. They both require a lot of internal power or Gōng Lì 功力, which is developed by practising the Tàijíquán forms.