Study Taiyi Seventy-Two Finishing Hands with Master Hao Zi Xia from the Wudang mountains.

Taiyi Seventy-Two Finishing Hands is a form of Taiyi Swimming Dragon Style. It’s an internal boxing routine with the main focus on catching, holding, sealing, closing, and throwing. It was kept extremely secret, so not only do few people know how to perform it, but almost no one has heard of it.

The numbers 36 and 72 are often used in Taoism. They believe that 9 is the largest amount, and multiples of 9 are often used to express the richness and perfection of things. The ancients said that in every direction, there were four images and eight trigrams. When we multiply four and nine, we get 36. When we multiply 8 and 9, we get 72. Therefore, there are “36 Heaven Spirits” and “72 Earth Spirits” in Taoist theory. The scenery of Wudang Mountain is described as having “36 Streams” and “72 Peaks”. There are “36 captures” and “72 closes” in martial arts.

“Finishing Hands” is short for the four combat skills that theoretically end the fight with your opponent: to catch, to hold, to lock, to close.

“To catch” means to grab the opponent’s hand, and to restrain their limbs. “To hold” means pinching the fingertips into the opponent’s bones, provoking the opponent’s nerves, meridians and acupuncture points, making the limbs sore, numb and out of control. “To lock” means to restrain the opponents arms and hands so they can’t attack, while facing the side or back of the enemy as to have a favorable position. “To close” is the result of catching, holding, and locking, the result of completely controlling the opponent.

There are two important principles of Taiyi Seventy-Two Finishing Hands. One is to borrow force. The second is to use your whole body in coordination. Using these two principles, the form leverages the opponent’s strength to strike themselves.

This is the yin and yang of Taiyi Seventy-Two Finishing Hands. It not only contains ancient Taoist philosophy, but also helps us work on our body. It’s a very good exercise for stretching and strength. While it can be challenging in the beginning, with time you will get better and feel the benefits it provides.