Sun Style Tai Chi Form
孫氏太極拳
The form of the youngest of the five family styles. It is known for the following step and for high stances — both carried over from bagua and xingyi.
Quick Facts
About this Form
Sun style was created by Sun Lutang (1860–1933) who, unlike the founders of the other families, was already a recognised master of two other internal arts — baguazhang and xingyiquan — before he came to tai chi. This shows in the form at once. The steps are short and following: after every step the rear foot draws up behind the front, so the body moves as a whole and never remains straddled as it commonly does in Yang style. The stances are high and the knees bend only slightly. Turns are led from the waist as in bagua. The practical consequence is interesting: Sun is the gentlest of the family styles on the knees, and Western health programmes therefore recommend it to people with arthritis. The number of movements is given differently across lineages according to how sections are divided, and Impaku does not state one, because we could not verify it reliably. A run takes about fifteen minutes.