Tai Chi Journal

The Bow Stance

There are certain stances and steps that crop up again and again in Yang-Style Tai Chi. When I described the opening movements of the Yang Long Form as we are learning it in class — see My Tai Chi Form (Part I) and My Tai Chi Form (Part II) — I could have shortened some of the descriptions by referring to them. One of the most important of these basic stances is the Bow Stance, sometimes called the Bow and Arrow Step or Arched Step.

Front Bow Stance Left

This web page has a thorough discussion of the Yang-Style Bow Stance, or actually two variations thereof. The first variation is called Front Bow Stance.

What is important is what everything but the hands and arms are doing; their positions depend on which particular movement the Front Bow Stance has been incorporated in. Everything else is the same from one Front Bow Stance to the next.

This is a Front Bow Stance Left because it happens to be the left foot that is the front foot. Front Bow Stance Right is the mirror image of this, with the right foot forward. In general, we see that in Front Bow Stance the front foot (whichever one it is) points in the same direction as the eyes and the trunk of the body. The front leg is bent nicely at the knee. Virtually all the weight is on that leg and foot.

Meanwhile, the rear leg is close to — but not quite — straight. It's hard to tell from this picture, but entire bottom of the rear foot is on the ground. The rear foot is turned out at a 45° angle to the forward axis of the body.

The top part of the trunk of the body is upright and vertical ... which means the lower part of the back is arched like a strung bow. Hence the name of the stance.

The Front Bow Stance is an integral part of the Single and Double Ward Off positions, Left and Right, that I described in the earlier posts. Likewise, it's basic to both Press (Right or Left) and Push (Right or Left).

Side Bow Stance Left

The second of the two variations of the Bow Stance is the Side Bow Stance. Here we see Side Bow Stance Left. Side Bow Stance Right is its mirror image.

Again, we ignore the particular hand positions — which in this case are those for the Single Whip Left movement I described in one of my earlier two posts on Tai Chi Form (notice the "hooked" right hand). The only essential difference between Side Bow Stance Left and Front Bow Stance Left is that in Side Bow Stance Left the torso opens up and rotates in the direction of the rear leg and foot (in this case, clockwise). The lower back remains arched like a strung bow.

posted by eric @ 12:53 PM