Still And Straight

腰不動，足不發 

The feet do not emit if the waist doesn't move. 

勁從足下起，還得丹田足

The strength rises from the feet on the prerequisite the cinnabar field is full. 

For internal practices, roots are an active relationship between the feet and the waist. Hence, moving the whole body while keeping the feet still is a way to work and enhance such relationship. Semi-static postures in the three-steps training were paying special attention to two things, keeping the feet as still as possible and the pelvis as straight as possible. 

Stretch It A Bit More

弹腿四只手，神鬼见了都发愁

Elastic legs are like four hands, gods and ghosts alike become anxious as they see them.

To be linked with 打拳不溜腿，必是冒失鬼.

Voiding

一步練錯百步歪。

One stage trained wrongly, a hundred wicked ones.

The more professional and elitist one’s training was, the more attention was paid to details. After all, the rule remains the same nowadays in the real martial world, commando training has nothing to do with regular troops instruction. Therefore, martial artists, in the old days, paid particular attention not to the benefits, but to the defects of their training. Quite the opposite of nowadays leisurely schools with their “if you do it correctly then it’s all good” motto.

Healthy Craft

拳講三術，技、醫、藝術。

Boxing stresses on three methods, skills, medicine and craft.

Skills deal with body and mind techniques.

Right Path

一步練錯百步歪

One stage trained wrongly, a hundred wicked ones

Apart from an external understanding, there is also internal understanding of such saying.

Posture With A Little Twist

要知拳精髓，首由站桩起

To get to know the quintessence of boxing, it first starts with standing pillars.

练功不站桩，等于瞎晃荡

Training skills without standing poles, is like blindly swaying.

練拳無樁步，房屋無立柱

Training boxing without stakes, a house without stud.

In old training, first came posture, then stepping. Posture was a very important basis of any training, a way to learn to put one’s body parts in the most beneficial angles. Feet, since their position basically has a great influence on the whole body, head included, were actually probably the most important part to train.

Unreadable

縱橫逆順，直復不聞

Vertical or horizontal, against or following, straight or turned over is not made known.

縱 vertical, to jump in the air

橫 horizontal, at a right angle (as opposed to 縱), unrestrained

逆 to oppose, to go against, backwards, contrary

順 to follow, along

直 straight (as opposed to 彎, 曲 crooked), simply

復 turn round or over, to repeat, to return to an original state, hexagram 24th of the Yijing

不 no, not

聞 hear, smell, to make known

This last sentence seems to stress on the need to be stealthy, to avoid having one‘s intentions uncovered.

Tightrope

一步練錯百步歪

One step trained wrongly, a hundred wicked ones

See Light And Athletic Foot.

Know Your Foot

力由足起

Strength rises from the feet.

足太陽之筋，起於足小趾，上結于踝

The fascias of the Foot Uttermost Masculin, starts from the little toe, linking up to the ankle...*

In internal practices, working on the feet means first posture then motion. Still, before even exploring those, it may be opportune to describe exactly what has to be trained as far as the feet are concerned. For such purpose, the foot is divided into five parts.