When performing a cycle described in the section of "What's in the name?" the hands are open and kept in the position like they are holding an imaginary globe.
To keep the hands in this position, a ball may be used for beginners.

Depending on how the legs are moving in combination with the hands, SDTC performance is classified into 3 levels:

1. Level 1: Legs are kept locked in the same position.
2. Level 2: Legs are moving forward and backward in the same direction.
3. Level 3: Legs are constantly moving to make the body turn to all 4 directions in the pre-set order

To make it clear on how the body turns, we provide the following example:
A man is facing East (E) with his hands on the right (R) to start a performance. The hands are holding an imaginary globe as always.

• He performs the 1st cycle.
• After finishing the 1st cycle he will face the West (W) with the hands still on R.
• He now moves the hands to the left (L) before performing the 2nd cycle.

• He performs the 2nd cycle.
• After finishing the second cycle he will face back to E but now the hands are on L.
• He now turns to South (S) and at the same time moves the hands to R before performing the third cycle.

• He performs the 3rd cycle.
• After finishing the 3rd cycle he will face the North (N) with the hands on R./li>
• He now moves the hands to the left before performing the 4th cycle.

• He performs the 4th cycle.
• After finishing the 4th cycle he will face S with the hands on L.
• He now turns to W and at the same time moves the hands to R before performing the 5th cycle.

• He performs the 5th cycle.
• After finishing the fifth cycle he will face E with the hands on R.
• He now moves the hands to L before performing the 6th cycle.

• He performs the 6th cycle.
• After finishing the 6th cycle he will face W with hands on L.
• He now turns to N and at the same time moves the hands to R before performing the 7th cycle.

• He performs the 7th cycle.
• After finishing the 7th cycle he is facing S with the hands on L.
• He now moves the hands to L before performing the 8th cycle.

• He performs the 8th cycle.
• After finishing the 8th cycle he will face N with the hands on L.

At this point, if he just turns R and moves the hands to R he will be facing E, he is exactly at the same position where he was 8 cycles ago! It means that he has just finished a big cycle of 8 small cycles. We call this big cycle a Grand Cycle.

Shodo Taichi is just the repetitions of the Grand Cycle over and over. It has no begin and no end: Make the session long if you have time. Otherwise, make it short.

The grand cycle as described above is called the R Grand Cycle (RGC) because it starts with the hands on R.

Before performing the 2nd grand cycle, you are advised to move the hands to the opposite side. In this case, L. The grand cycle is therefore called the L Grand Cycle (LGC).

Each session of Shodo Taichi therfore consists of RGC and LGC alternatively.