I used to think of Heaven, Earth, Man (HEM) as some philosophical concept. I have read different explanations over the years and the typical explanation is not really satisfying. Most of the time the writer would go round and round the bush, offering an explanation that could not really be put into practice.

In Yang-22 we have HEM. My teacher, Master L, did not call this sub-movement HEM but the moment I heard his instruction on the very first movement of the 22-form I went – isn’t that HEM – in my mind.

This is the HEM part – before we begin the practice of the 22-form we stand upright with both feet together. Next we use the intent to unify Heaven to the Earth with us, the Man, right in the middle.

I won’t explain exactly how to do this. I could but I don’t want other Yang styles to steal our teaching and claim it to be theirs.

Right after the HEM unification, we next use the intent to create the plumb line for the 2/4 Dots mechanism. However, this is not the end. Our intent carries on and the 2/4 Dots plumb line once it goes out in space about our head becomes……. tada! …… the 3 Passes.

So one line, two usage.

I hope you can see now why I wrote about the 2/4 Dots and 3 Passes first. They are the very first two things to be created by the intent. Without the 2/4 Dots and 3 Passes you will have a problem performing the next movement of parting the feet with good control of your balance.