In most other forms of Cheng style Ba Gua there are three forms. The first one contains fixed postures. The other one focuses on body changes and the third one on eight animals. In Sun style Ba Gua these are all contained in a single form as follows:
- 兩儀單換掌 (Liǎng yí dān huàn zhǎng) – Two powers, single palm change
- 四象雙換掌(Sì xiàng shuāng huàn zhǎng) – Four phases, double palm change
- ☰ 乾卦獅形張嘴掌 () – Heaven trigram Lion form gaping palm (also called lifting spear, upholding heaven etc.)
- ☷ 坤卦麟形转身掌 () – Earth trigram Unicorn form Turning body palm
- ☵ 坎卦蛇形順勢掌 () – Water trigram Snake form Smoothly following palm
- ☲ 離卦鷂形返身掌 () – Fire trigram Hawk form Overturning palm
- ☳ 震卦龍形平托掌 () – Thunder trigram Dragon form Flat lifting palm
- ☶ 艮卦熊形背身掌 () – Mountain trigram Bear form Behind the back palm
- ☴ 巽卦鳳形回身掌 () – Wind trigram Phoenix form Revolving body palm (also called embracing the ball palm)
- ☱ 兌卦猴形双抱掌 () – Lake trigram Monkey form double embracing palm
There are three ways to practice the form:
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- Ding shi – each movement is clearly separated and distinguished from each other.
- Lian Huan or Huo Bu – one is constantly walking and changes flows smoothly from one to the other
- Ding shi – each movement is clearly separated and distinguished from each other.
- You Shen or Bian Zhang – constantly flowing, changing and improvizing without any particular order or set way of practising (except for adhering to the fundamental principles).
Some branches of Sun style created formalized sets of longer forms such as 64 palms and a separate static postures set etc. Even though most (if not all) of these movements where taught by Sun Jian Yun when she was teaching You Shen Zhang, she did not teach any other formal set of movements except the one listed above.