How to Learn the 108-Form Wu Style Tai Chi: A Beginner's Path

For beginners entering Wu Style Tai Chi, the most common question is not “is it hard?” but “where do I start?” The 108-form is the Wu family’s traditional long form, preserving the original frame handed down by Grandmaster Wu Chien Chuan. It is more than a sequence of movements — it is a classic written into the body: repeated practice of its 108 postures stamps song (looseness), softness, roundness, and liveliness into muscle memory. This guide gives you a complete, executable path: how the versions relate, the five principles, how the set is structured, and how to train it step by step. The full movement list is on our Forms and Techniques page.

Key Facts

Versions: 83-form (Northern school), 84-form (Southern school), 89-form (Shanghai Chien Chuan association) are merged counts; the 108-form is the detailed count — same core material, different granularity
Slow vs fast form: beginners should practise only the slow form (square frame), about 25–30 minutes per set; the fast form comes later
Five principles: Stillness, Lightness, Slowness, Precision, Perseverance — a mindset to build before you even start
Structure: the set runs in seven sections; memorize anchor postures such as Grasp Bird’s Tail and Single Whip to stay oriented
Three-step path: standing practice and fundamentals (1–2 weeks) → individual postures and short sequences (2–4 weeks) → expanding to the full set (2–6 months)
The biggest trap: greed for quantity. One slow form mastered beats ten forms half-learned

1. First, Understand: What Exactly Is the 108-Form?

Beginners are often confused: one day it’s 83 forms, then 84, then 108… They are all Wu Style Tai Chi — the difference lies in different transmission systems and different ways of counting.

Form name	Transmission	Notes
83-form	Northern school (Yang Yu Ting / Wang Mao Zhai line)	Standardized by Yang Yu Ting, broken into 326 movements
84-form	Southern school (Wu Chien Chuan line)	The core mother frame standardized by Wu Chien Chuan
89-form	Shanghai Chien Chuan association (Ma Yueh Liang / Ma Hailong line)	The handed-down long form, as listed on the association’s site
108-form (square frame)	Traditional transmission (multiple lines)	Also called “joint form” or slow frame; opens with Grasp the Seven Stars; divided into finer sections
108 fast form	Traditional fast frame	Also called “round form” or old frame; contains issuing and jumps

In short: 83/84/89 are merged counts, the 108-form is the detailed count. The core movements are the same; some postures counted once in the 84-form are split into several in the 108-form — “Brush Knee and Twist Step, four times left and right” counts as one posture in 84 but may be four in 108. The story of the two schools is told in Comparing the Southern and Northern Schools of Wu Style; the 83-form and its 326-movement breakdown in Yang Yu Ting: Turning Wu Style Tai Chi into a Textbook.

Slow Form vs Fast Form

The 108-form comes in slow and fast versions. Beginners should practise only the slow form:

	Slow form (square/joint form)	Fast form (round/old form)
Duration	about 25–30 minutes	about 5–7 minutes
Issuing & jumps	none	yes (dantian explosions, double kicks, etc.)
Principles	still, light, slow, precise, constant	still, light, agile, precise, constant
Suitable for	everyone, especially beginners	after a solid slow-form base
Purpose	building qi and softness	practical technique and issuing

⚠️ Beginners should never start with the fast form. Master the slow frame first.

2. The Five Principles: Mental Preparation Before Training

The Wu Style slow form carries a five-character formula: Jing (stillness), Qing (lightness), Man (slowness), Qie (precision), Heng (perseverance). These are not only requirements during practice but a mindset to establish before you begin.

Stillness — calm the mind first

“Practising tai chi is not doing exercises; it is training the mind.”

Stand quietly for 30 seconds to 1 minute before practising; set aside the day’s clutter
Do not practise while emotional — anger and anxiety are poor training partners
During the set, keep attention on the movement and the breath; don’t drift

Lightness — using no force is the first principle

“Hands level, without force; the body carries no strain.” — Yang Yu Ting

The biggest beginner problem is using too much force: shoulders locked, fists clenched, legs stiff
Wu Style “song” is not collapse; it is joints opening, without stiff force
Remember: the looser and softer, the better. Don’t chase “power” early on

The three layers of song and its joint-by-joint method are explained in Song, Chuan Zi Bu, and Xie Zhong Yu Zheng: Wu Style Basics.

Slowness — slow is fast

One round of the 108-form takes 25–30 minutes — a dozen or so seconds per posture
Only in slowness can you notice details: hand position, foot direction, weight shifts
The beginner’s taboo is rushing. Learning in three months builds a firmer base than learning in one

Precision — every movement in place

“Qie” means exact and complete. How high are the hands in Play Guitar? How wide the stance in Grasp Bird’s Tail? These details matter
Don’t settle for “close enough”. Make each movement as standard as you can
Better fewer and correct — three postures done right beat thirty done roughly

Perseverance — consistency beats everything

Tai chi is slow work; nothing shows in three or five days
Twenty minutes daily beats three hours once a week
Persist three months and you will feel change; persist three years and you will thank yourself

3. The Structure of the 108-Form: Take It Apart, Then Rebuild

Seven Sections

The 108-form is traditionally divided into seven sections (some count eight; the difference is minor), each with roughly 12–20 postures.

Section	From → To	Postures	Core content
1	Preparation → Diagonal Single Whip / Fist Under Elbow	~20	Basics: Grasp Bird’s Tail, Single Whip, Brush Knee, Parry and Punch
2	Fist Under Elbow → Turn Body Strike	~20	Repulse Monkey, Slant Flying, Cloud Hands, separate and kick with heel
3	High Pat on Horse → Single Whip	~18	Strike the Tiger, Strike the Ears, kicks, lead-in to Wild Horse
4	Play Guitar → Golden Cock on One Leg	~15	Wild Horse Splits Mane, Fair Lady Works at Shuttle
5	Repulse Monkey → Single Whip	~15	Snake Creeps Down, Golden Cock, Needle at Sea Bottom, Fan Through the Back
6	High Pat on Horse → Bend Bow Shoot Tiger	~13	Lotus kicks, Punch to Crotch, Seven Stars, Ride the Tiger
7	High Pat on Horse → Conclusion	~7	Closing, return to the beginning

Anchor Postures: Signs Along the Road

The 108-form contains much repetition. Memorize these anchor postures and you will not get lost:

Anchor	Occurrences	Role
Grasp Bird’s Tail	~7–8 times	the hub of each section
Single Whip	~7–8 times	the marker of transitions
Diagonal Single Whip	2	ends of sections 1 and 3
Grasp the Seven Stars	several	direction changes (a 108-form signature)
Brush Knee and Twist Step	several	the most basic step combination
Play Guitar	several	the gathering after Brush Knee
Cloud Hands	3	each appearance signals a new phase

Memory tips:

Don’t memorize 108 names first. Learn “how many sections + each section’s core postures”
Grasp Bird’s Tail and Single Whip are road signs — each appearance means another section done
The most repeated postures are the easiest to confuse (sections 4–7 all end with Grasp Bird’s Tail + Single Whip); note what follows each one

4. The Three-Step Method: From Standing to the Full Set

Don’t attempt the whole set at once. Walk these three steps.

Step 1: Standing Practice and Fundamentals (1–2 weeks)

Goal: find the feeling of song and build basic body structure.

Daily practice:

Chuan Zi Bu standing: 5–10 minutes. Feet parallel and forward, shoulder-width; knees slightly bent, not past the toes; crown lifted, shoulders and elbows sunk, arms hanging naturally; breathe naturally — don’t force it
Song drills: 5 minutes. Fling the wrists (like flicking water), swing the arms from the hips, loosen the knees (single-leg stand, wall allowed), joint-by-joint scan (head→neck→shoulders→elbows→wrists→fingers→chest→waist→hips→knees→ankles)
Basic stepping: 5 minutes. Weight shifts (move the centre slowly from one leg to the other), lifting and stepping (the empty foot lifts lightly and passes the inside of the supporting leg), landing (heel first, rolling to the whole foot)

Pass criteria: ten minutes of quiet standing without fidgeting; you can tell which leg is full and which is empty; shoulders down, neck easy.

Step 2: Individual Postures and Short Sequences (2–4 weeks)

Goal: make the core postures standard, one by one.

The ten core postures (in order of importance):

#	Posture	Why it matters
1	Grasp Bird’s Tail	the “mother posture”, containing the four primary energies
2	Single Whip	the classic fixed posture; tests your frame
3	Brush Knee and Twist Step	the basic step combination; classic Chuan Zi Bu
4	Play Guitar	the key to empty-full transitions
5	Cloud Hands	lateral movement; trains waist-hip coordination
6	Wild Horse Splits Mane	diagonal stepping; the corner step
7	Repulse Monkey	the foundation of retreating
8	Golden Cock on One Leg	balance and single-leg support
9	Needle at Sea Bottom	folding of the body method
10	Opening + Conclusion	a set begins and ends properly

Method:

Learn 1–2 new postures daily; review everything learned so far
Repeat each new posture 5–10 times before moving on
After finishing a section, link it together and run it
Film yourself with your phone and compare against reference videos

Pass criteria: you can run section one (about 20 postures) continuously, with shape intact and breath even.

Step 3: Expanding to the Full Set (2–6 months)

Goal: complete the 108-form.

Suggested pace:

Phase	Progress	Time	Focus
Month 1	sections 1–2 (~40 postures)	4 weeks	basic steps and frame
Month 2	sections 3–4 (~70 postures)	4 weeks	Wild Horse, Fair Lady, complex moves
Month 3	all 108	4 weeks	Snake Creeps Down, Golden Cock, lotus kicks
Months 4–6	polishing the whole set	2–3 months	continuity, softness, rhythm

Advice:

Run the full set at least once a day (half a set if time is short)
First three months: remember it. Next three months: loosen it
Grade yourself after each round: looser than yesterday? Slower? Steadier?
Film the complete set monthly and compare

5. The Eight Most Common Beginner Mistakes

❌ 1. Raised shoulders and elbows Shoulders creep up, elbows lift. Cause: force in the arms. Fix: imagine holding an egg under each armpit — not crushed, not dropped; elbows always point down.

❌ 2. Chest out, stomach in (military posture) Puffing the chest and hollowing the abdomen. Cause: mistaking “upright body” for standing at attention. Fix: Wu Style is Xie Zhong Yu Zheng — uprightness held within a slant. The chest stays slightly contained, the abdomen relaxed.

❌ 3. Knees twisting in or out Knee collapses inward or toes splay too much in the bow stance. Cause: Chuan Zi Bu not set correctly. Fix: feet stay parallel and forward, knee and toes aligned (three-point alignment: nose, knee, toes).

❌ 4. Bobbing centre of gravity The form looks like walking, up and down. Cause: sending the weight out with the stepping foot. Fix: sit into the leg first, then lift the foot, then step; the centre moves level between the legs, like sliding on a bench.

❌ 5. Going too fast The set finished in ten minutes. Cause: impatience, or not knowing what slowness is for. Fix: use a timer and force yourself to slow down. Only in slowness do you find where you are stiff.

❌ 6. Looking down at the feet Eyes glued to your own feet. Cause: fear of losing balance, or forgetting the sequence. Fix: gaze level ahead; feel the feet with the body. An occasional glance is fine — just don’t stare down.

❌ 7. Forcing the breath Chasing “sink the qi to the dantian” and abdominal breathing until you are breathless. Cause: too much theory, too soon. Fix: beginners should ignore the breath entirely — breathe naturally. Once the movements are familiar, breath aligns with movement on its own.

❌ 8. Greed for more Barely into the 108-form, already wanting sword, sabre, push hands. Cause: curiosity, or the belief that more forms means more skill. Fix: less is more. One slow form mastered is worth ten half-learned. When the slow 108 runs smoothly and loosely, then consider the rest.

6. An Action List for Absolute Beginners

If you want to start today, follow this list.

📅 Week-one plan (20 minutes daily)

Find a quiet spot (living room or balcony is fine)
Wear loose clothing and flat shoes
Chuan Zi Bu standing: 5 minutes
Song drills: 5 minutes (wrist flings, shoulder swings)
Learn the Opening + Grasp Bird’s Tail: 10 minutes
Stand still for 30 seconds to close

📚 Recommended resources

Book: Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan Explained in Detail, ed. Ma Hailong (Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2018) — the most authoritative modern manual, with the complete handed-down 108-form (its story in Ma Hailong: From Laboratory to Legacy in Wu Style Tai Chi)
Classic: Authentic Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan by Wu Ying Hua and Ma Yueh Liang — the family teaching in its original voice (their lives in Wu Ying Hua: The Matriarch of Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan and Ma Yueh Liang: The Physician Who Carried Wu Style Tai Chi)
Theory: Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan by Hsu Chih Yi — science before its time, still readable (see Hsu Chih Yi: The Accountant Who Explained Tai Chi with Science)
Video: search “traditional Wu Style Tai Chi 108 form”; choose demonstrations from the Chien Chuan association or recognized masters

⚠️ Final reminders

Self-study can get you started, but find a true teacher when you can — “ming” means clear-sighted, not famous
Tai chi is a study of the body. Watching and thinking achieve nothing; you must practise
Form without foundation work is empty. Fundamentals matter more than sequences
If you feel unwell, stop and see a doctor