From October 1980

You can analyse arm movements in terms of long/short and in/out. In long/short one arm is extended and one contracted, very clear in Sideways Stepping and Low Stretch. When both are contracted or both extended it is in/out. In different positions, depending on the distance of the upper arm from the torso, the armpits are open or closed. Miss Li particularly stressed that there is long/short in Horse Mane, where the front arm is up and out with the armpit a bit open, while the back arm is closer to the body. And in Low Stretch, where the left arm is long and out, while the right arm is nearer in, switching around twice on the way back up.

When Miss Li first thought of teaching Tai Ji in England, she thought that compared to real Grand Masters she knew so little and so she could not teach. But when she was asked to teach Ba Gua to a martial artist in Manchester, when she saw how he moved she knew that he knew nothing: so while she also knew only a little bit, she still felt that she had something to teach as others knew even less. But we have to beware of becoming "fallen angels", like the angel which wanted to be God and was closed out of heaven; or in the Taoist saying "when you become full up, then you begin to decline and fall". That is, that once you think you know so much, then you learn nothing new and begin to decay. So we have to be on our guard so that we do not become "fallen angels", but rather realise how far we have still to go, and how much there is still to learn.

There are two kinds of step, two kinds of direction of the feet. In the first, both feet are pointing out from the centre at the same angle, with the knees bent an equal amount, as in Wide Arch with the elbows stretching out. In the second, the feet are pointing out from the centre at slightly different angles, with the torso rotated forward and the front knee bent more, as in Forward Brush Knee.

In all steps after planting the heel firmly, hold the toes up from the ground for quite a long time: as you transfer your weight onto that foot, transfer it onto the heel and only last put your toes down. This will create much more movement and strengthening of the thigh muscles. Whereas, if you let your toes land more or less straightaway, your leg muscles, especially in the thigh, will be far more passive and loose.

Always stretch the arms in harmony with sinking the weight onto the legs: sitting down and stretching as the same movement. In moving the arms, the movement ripples down originating from the centre and manifesting in the arm, as first movement of the shoulder, then the elbow, then the wrist, and finally right down to the fingers ... like a worm moving across the ground.

Also, allow the elbow to become flexible, so that you do not move with stiff arms held out a long way from your body with your shoulders raised; but rather with shoulders sunk down and arms closer to the torso, and elbows flexing and rolling to allow movement, for example in Sideways Stepping. The joints of the shoulder and elbow will loosen up after much practice, and this sort of movement closer to the torso will build up the qi.