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Adult Rank Testing Requirements for Tai Chi
Here is a list of the skills studied at each level.
Beginner: 0 months and up
• Daily warm-ups
• Universal Post
• Seven fundamental stances
a. Horse
b. Bow
c. Back
d. Cat
e. Crane
f. Box
g. Dragon
• Dan Tian (belly) breathing
• "Push the Mountain & Move the Sea" qigong form
• Peaceful Dragon lineage
• Basic Tai Chi definitions
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Novice: 3 months and up
• "Beat the Heavenly Drum" chi kung exercise
• Tai Chi chi kung exercises:
a. Pick the Fruit
b. Polish the Mirror
c. Shoot the Bow
• Seven stances stepping
• Yin/Yang pushing & yielding drill
• Defining three categories of breathing
• Bar & partner leg stretches
• Ch'ang Style Solo Form - Part I
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Intermediate: 12 months and up
• Tai Chi chi kung exercises:
a. Pick up the Suitcases
b. Step Over the Fence
c. Crane Kicks Up Legs
d. Monkey Hears a Noise
e. Lean Forward and Search for the Sea
f. Catch the Insect and Eat the Grain
g. The Leaning Drunkard
• Stance training:
a. Three planes
b. Lean Forward and Search for the Sea
c. Rhino Looks Up at the Moon
d. Angel Looks in the Mirror
e. Li Kwai Pointing to the Winner
f. Swallow Skims the Water
g. Lying Leg
• Cleansing breath techniques
• Single-hand Tuishou (push hands) basic patterns,
fixed and active stepping.
a. Grasping the Sparrow's Tail
b. Vertical circle
c. Polish the Vase
• Ch'ang Style Solo Form - Part II
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Mid-Intermediate: 24 months and up
• Tai Chi rooting exercises w/ partner:
a. Horse-stance palm pressing (high & low)
b. Elbow pulling drill
c. Grasping Sparrow's Tail drill
d. Clasped-hands push and pull drill
• Ch'ang Style Solo Form - Part III
• "White Snake" push hands pattern, fixed & active steps
• Diagonal stepping drills:
a. Double pulling
b. Grasping Sparrow's Tail
c. Two-hand press
• Explain key excerpts from Tai Chi Classics translations
• Power breathing technique
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High-Intermediate: 36 months and up
• Ch'ang Style Solo Form - Corrections and clarifications
• Two-hand tuishou basic patterns, fixed and active steps:
a. Grasping the Sparrow's Tail
b. Four corners
c. Lu-an
d. Brush knee
e. White Snake
• Tai Chi weapons form: Three-quarter staff
• Linear free tuishou
• Advanced stepping: Bamboo, Santi, Ting zi bu
• Cyclic breathing: 5,7,9 seconds
• Self-defense basics:
a. Chin na (joint locks) - finger(s), wrist, elbow, shoulder
b. Strikes to vulnerable targets - eyes, throat, groin, knee
• Explain key excerpts from Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" (Taoist philosophical text)
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Advanced: 60 months and up
• Da Lu forms I and II
• Sanshou two-person form (solo and with partner)
• Reverse breathing
• Eight neutralizing and releasing energies
• Tai Chi advanced weapons forms: Broad sword, straight sword, fan
• Wall qigong
• Medical qigong fundamentals:
Five viscera qigong in accord with five element theory
• Basic Taoist meditation methods
• Basics of Feng Shui
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Optional Training for Advanced Students: 60 months and up
• Ch'ang Style combat applications: throws, strikes, locks
• Free sanshou/sparring
The above are mandatory for those who want to be
proficient in combat and self-defense, particularly those who want to
teach tai chi as a combat art form. They are not required for those
who want to be certified to teach tai chi as a health art.
• Pakua Chang essentials:
a. Circle walking
b. 8 animal chi kung - fixed and on circle with three versions
c. 8 kua "mother" form, slow and fast
• Hsing-I Chuan essentials:
a. San Ti standing
b. Five-element drills
c. Five-element form
d. 12 animal forms
e. Animal-element linking form
f. Ker Fu two-person set
Proficiency in the Pakua and Hsing-I essentials listed above is
recommended to be A.C.C.S. certified to teach tai chi, but it is not
required. Obviously it is required to be A.C.C.S. certified to teach
Pakua or Hsing-I.
Note: To be promoted to Lao Shr (instructor) level, the student must
have competed in a minimum of five CACMA or Kuoshu sanctioned
tournaments at the Advanced Level, in the following three divisions:
Empty-hand forms, weapons forms, push hands.
Lao Shr (Instructor): 120 months and up
Ongoing assistance instructing Peaceful Dragon classes, or forming and
instructing new classes or schools.
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