Chen Taijiquan - Er Lu
- Thread starter Teapot
- Start date
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Chen Yu, Grandson of Chan Fa Ke
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Teapot
Orange Belt
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- Nov 2, 2023
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- #4
Here is an old clip of Chen Yu where his body mechanic is probably exaggerated in order to make it clear to see.
To connect this to another thread regarding "Internal", I think the body mechanic he shows here is "Internal", but he's making it more visible and observable.
One characteristic is that his Dantian (just look at his belly button region) is physically moving.
A lot of people talk about Dantian in the context of breathing such as breathing into the Dantian. A lot of people seem to view Dantian as just a mental thing. Maybe they only just visualize it.
But in Chen Yu's case, Dantian is a physical moving entity.
A practical definition of "Internal" that I like is a high ratio of torso-to-limb connection.
For example, a bad Wing Chun punch is very localized to just the limb; the torso makes very little contribution to the power.
Western Boxing would have more torso connection. They use their waist/hip/back for their powerful right cross.
But they also rely on the pivot of their rear foot to deliver that punch. When the movement of the leg is involved, there is less need for the torso to contribute. If a boxer were to throw a right cross while keeping their feet flat on the ground with no pivoting, I'd imagine they would have a harder time delivering power.
When a restriction is placed on the legs, there is no choice but to rely more on the torso. In Chen Yu's case, the torso is so "alive" that his Dantian is physically moving along multiple axes - all while his legs have rather minimal movements.
So the ratio of torso-to-limb in connective power is my preferred definition.
To connect this to another thread regarding "Internal", I think the body mechanic he shows here is "Internal", but he's making it more visible and observable.
One characteristic is that his Dantian (just look at his belly button region) is physically moving.
A lot of people talk about Dantian in the context of breathing such as breathing into the Dantian. A lot of people seem to view Dantian as just a mental thing. Maybe they only just visualize it.
But in Chen Yu's case, Dantian is a physical moving entity.
A practical definition of "Internal" that I like is a high ratio of torso-to-limb connection.
For example, a bad Wing Chun punch is very localized to just the limb; the torso makes very little contribution to the power.
Western Boxing would have more torso connection. They use their waist/hip/back for their powerful right cross.
But they also rely on the pivot of their rear foot to deliver that punch. When the movement of the leg is involved, there is less need for the torso to contribute. If a boxer were to throw a right cross while keeping their feet flat on the ground with no pivoting, I'd imagine they would have a harder time delivering power.
When a restriction is placed on the legs, there is no choice but to rely more on the torso. In Chen Yu's case, the torso is so "alive" that his Dantian is physically moving along multiple axes - all while his legs have rather minimal movements.
So the ratio of torso-to-limb in connective power is my preferred definition.
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