I heard that - in essense - Taiji’s 5 steppings and TCM’s 5 element theory are the same thing, just presented differently. Wikipedia explained it as:
These elements were used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. Five phases is another way of translating wxíng — literally, “five goings”. Traditional Taijiquan schools relate them to footwork and refer to them as five “steps”.
What I am currious about is how they are linked, exactly. What steps replace each element? Are the creation of overriding cycles combat-related, or do they exist more for the manipulation of qi (considering this is Taiji, I really shouldn’t have to ask that :P).
It’s footwork. Taiji was a martial art long before it was anything else.
STEP (look or what ever action):
left
right
forward
backward
central equilibrium (not quite so simple)
I think what Buddy’s saying is that the Taoist stuff was attributed to the movements after the fact.
The 5 steps are forward, back, left, right, zhong ding.
These were related to the 5 elements or Wu Xing.
The 8 energy-skills are peng, lu, ji, an, lie, cai, zhou and kao. These were related to the 8 trigrams or the Ba Gua.
Together they add up to 13, which is sometimes referred to as the “13 postures.” But really its 5 steps and 8 energy-skills.
I just attended a workshop on this very topic and my teacher basically said that peng jin and zhong ding are the most important because all the other energies depend on them.