Continuing our study of the Chinese official instruction video (Pan Huai interpreting): here are some of the important points and details for the first four movements. I gave an overall description and illustration of all the movements in earlier posts, and those are generally correct. So this information is a refinement.

Qi Shi: opening position.

Qi Shi: Preparing form. Feet together, toes facing forward. Arms are at the sides, with a little space between the arms and sides of the body, palms facing back. Step left (first releasing the right heel). Open the arms out to about a 45-degree angle*, then sink and hold the hands in front of the dantian (lower belly) with palms facing in, fingertips about 3 inches apart.

Open arms to sides before assuming Qi Shi position.

This posture resembles what we call Embracing Horse in Nei Kung, but the arms are much lower. The knees are not bent very much, either. From the side:

Shuang Shou Tuo Tian (#1): The hands travel straight up; there is no outward-pushing. Eyes follow the hands, so when the hands are fully extended, the head hangs back.  Then look forward, which allows an even longer stretch straight upwards. Also, when the hands are released, the wrist is flexed so the fingers point up, until the arms are about level, when the hands can scoop down to starting position.

Hands are flexed when lowered. Lead with the base of the hand, continuing the stretch.

Speaking of starting position, each movement ends in position to start the next movement. Qi Shi ends by rotating the hands to a palms-up circle with the arms extended below, ready to interlace fingers and begin Shuang Shou. That movement in turn ends with in cross-hands (a little lower and more level, actually), ready for Kai Gong.

Kai Gong Si She Diao (#2): Lift and separate the crossed hands at chest height, weight centered on the right. Then step out to ma-bu width (this is more than shoulder width). Feet should face front, and not be turned out (which means the tailbone is somewhat tucked).

Extend the left hand and right elbow to stretch at shoulder height. The extended hand is not pointing! It is flexed so the index finger points up. The other hand is not a fist; the fingers are bent at the middle joint (including the thumb), more like a tiger claw.

Look at the extended hand. Then turn to look at the other hand while extending it and shift the weight back to that side. Return to starting position.

Tiao Li Pi Wei Dan Ju Shou (#3): As described before. The only reminders would be that the high hand is flexed so the fingers are point in (palm up and flat), while the low hand is palm-down, flat with fingers pointing forward.

This is left hand high, fingers pointing to the head.

Sink when bringing down the high hand and straighten the legs while lifting. Finish in sunken position with both hands as shown above, ready for the next exercise.

Wu Lao Qi Shang Xiang Hou Qiao (#4): The key point on this one is not to twist the body or bend the back. The head turns to the side without tipping (very much like Owl turns His Head in Nei Kung), chin remaining tucked, so head is suspended. The head turns, but the shoulders do not, although the chest opens. It is not a twist from the waist.

Not twisted at the waist, back straight.

The arms rotate outward, but are not flung back. The hand turns palm-out, thumbs toward the back.

The instructional video is an hour long. Where all the exercises are shown together, background changes, changing camera positions, even clouds! Obscure the movements somewhat. To watch a demonstration of all the movements in real time (with the same music), try Master Faye Yip’s video, which (unsurprisingly) looks correct in every respect–except for one note…

*Faye Yip does not make a point of opening the arms this way during Qi Shi.