Peace

Five Elements: Stable: Follow

In the overarching paradigm of Sifu Chen's Nine Cages, the objective of stealing a step is to gain information and reveal the other's intention. This demand made "following" of the foremost importance. Whether a push, punch, or pull, elastic recoil in Peng and Stabilization allows one to follow the opponent's intention instead of blocking it. On the wooden fence in the backyard, Sifu Chen had a poem that spoke to this,

"when he applies such power, he will be incapable of altering his direction once he has started along it. I follow his direction and tempt him farther along it."

Once the opponent's target is missed, following means supporting the intention of their force and encouraging it to continue farther than the other player intended, robbing them of the opportunity to adjust and re-target.

"I follow his direction and tempt him farther along it. His attack thus lands on nothing."

This takes the force beyond its intended endpoint, which tilts them when your "four ounces are added to their thousand pounds." As the poem says," I will tug with four ounces of force to move his of a thousand pounds." The most important aspect of the footwork is that it is in the same line of force as the attack.

"If he takes the slightest action, his action will assuredly be in some direction, so my intention will move ahead of his action by going along the path he wants to take. I will then take the initiative before he does." In conveying this concept to us, Sifu would say, "make their movement the first half of yours."

"But it is essential that I stick to him and move along with him rather than pull away from him or crash into him, for only then will I be able to draw him in."