Wave Hands with Feet in Back Cross-step Exercise in Chen Style Taiji

5. Wave Hands with Feet in Back Cross-step Exercise
1) Stand upright with your feet together. Hang both arms naturally downward at the sides of the body, with the entire body relaxed. Eyes look forward. Relax the right hip, turn the body slightly to the right, shifting your weight to your right foot, lift the left leg and take a step to the left with the heel of the left foot landing on the floor and the toes lifted upward. At the same time, move the right palm left and up as high as the shoulder with the arm rotating counter clockwise. Move the left palm forward to the front of the abdomen so that it is facing right. Eyes look forward left. (Fig 2-67)

2) Continue from the previous movement. Move the right palm down and left in an arc until it is in front of the abdomen, rotate the arm clockwise so that the palm faces left. Move the left palm up and left until it is in front of the left shoulder, with the arm rotating clockwise so that the palm faces out to the left. At the same time, take a step to the rear left of the left foot with the right foot. The ball of the right foot lands on the floor. Eyes look forward-right. (Fig 2-68)

3) Turn the body slightly to the right with the right palm moving left and up in an arc and rotate the arm counter clockwise so that the palm faces out to the right. Move the left palm down and left in an arc then cross to the front of the abdomen, with the arm rotating counter clockwise smoothly so that the palm faces right. At the same time, shift the weight on the right leg, lift the left foot up and take a step to the left with the heel of the foot landing on the foot landing on the floor and the toes lifting upward. Eyes look forward-left of the body. Return the movement to the position shown in Fig 2-67 and repeat this movement. You can do it for the right side as well. Take a step to the right. The essential points of the exercise are the same as described above, simply reverse left and right as mirrored movement.