十三势 (13 Postures)

In Chinese internal martial arts practice there are 13 postures sometimes called powers. Bamen or eight gates describes the eight hand techniques while wubu or five steps describes the five cardinal directions.

The eight hand techniques are in direct relationship with the diagram of th Bagua.  Four straight directions and four corner directions.

Technique	Direction
Peng	South	Ward Off
Lu	West	Roll Back
Ji	East	Press
An	North	Push
Cai (tsai)	Northwest	Pluck or Pull Down
Lie (lieh)	Southeast	Split
Zhou (chou)	Northeast	Elbow
Kao	Southwest	Shoulder

The five steps follow the theory of the Wuxing (5 element or 5 stage theory).

Wuxing		Direction	Element/Phase
Jin Bu	進步	Forward Step	Fire
Tui Bu	退步	Backward Step	Water
Zuo Gu	左顧 (simpl.: 左顾)	Left Step	Wood
You Pan	右盼	Right Step	Metal
Zhong Ding		Central Equilibrium	Earth

The interplay of the eight gates and five steps is a key component found within all the internal martial arts styles.  While the concept seems simple enough, remember that all the movements are initiated with the mind. the mind leading the chi and chi initiating movement. A hand technique or step, therefore, is the external manifestation of the internal process.