Stance of the week: gōngbù (bow stance)

This week's stance is one you should know the name of already. It appears many times in the 16- and 24-step forms and we practise it in the warm-ups as well. Gōngbù is usually called bow stance, short for bow and arrow stance, because your front leg is bent like a bow and your back leg is straight like an arrow (but still with the knee soft). Most of your weight (about 70%) will be on the front leg. Your front foot should be pointing forward, in the direction you are going. Your back foot will be angled outwards at about 45 degrees. Both feet are flat on the floor. You should take care that your stance is not too narrow - if you look forward into a mirror you should see a small gap between your feet. A wider stance will give you better balance. Ideally if you brought your back foot straight forward in line with your front foot they should be shoulder-width apart.