Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:52 pm
DPasek, thanks for your contribution as a Chen practitioner. You said what I did not dare to formulate for the fear to misinterpret some concepts since I am not a Chen practitioner. However I was introduced to chen style once in the past and tried to do basic exercises. Based on that I'll try to express my viewpoint which is consonant with Louis's one. DPasek, please correct me if I'll make mistakes describing Chen's exercises and its underlying theories.
The basic exercise in Chen stile you usually start with is elementary rotation of the arm(s) in front of your body. In this exercise you are supposed to get the basic idea of what chansi jin is. I would describe the chansi jin as a spiral movement of the hand. In some sense it goes "around" along your arm. The feature of this kind of spiral movement is almost constant rotation of the hand in process of arm circling. Once you get the idea of this spiral movement of the hand you may learn and try to do beginning movements of the form launching this kind of hand turning in them. Almost all movements from the Chen style are designed so that this spiral turning would go freely. Look for example on the hook hand in Chen style. It is bended only slightly to not interrupt chansi jin. Compare it with Yang's hook hand. After practicing chen style some time you get the internal feeling that this or that movement (trajectory, hand position) will permit chansi jin to occur in the most optimal way. You get the idea of the style.
I'll dare to say that in Yang style not all movements and hands position optimally suits for this kind of spiral movement "around" along the arm. The most basic movement in the Yang style – PENG ARM may be an example. Yes, the forward hand is turning a little but the accent is on the pushing forward by the forearm not on the screwing forward. The push forward performing slowly is IMHO pulling silk (chousi).
About concept of pulling silk itself I cannot add anything to Louis's words
Feel free to disagree and make comments
Take care,
Yuri
[This message has been edited by Yuri Snisarenko (edited 03-08-2006).]
The basic exercise in Chen stile you usually start with is elementary rotation of the arm(s) in front of your body. In this exercise you are supposed to get the basic idea of what chansi jin is. I would describe the chansi jin as a spiral movement of the hand. In some sense it goes "around" along your arm. The feature of this kind of spiral movement is almost constant rotation of the hand in process of arm circling. Once you get the idea of this spiral movement of the hand you may learn and try to do beginning movements of the form launching this kind of hand turning in them. Almost all movements from the Chen style are designed so that this spiral turning would go freely. Look for example on the hook hand in Chen style. It is bended only slightly to not interrupt chansi jin. Compare it with Yang's hook hand. After practicing chen style some time you get the internal feeling that this or that movement (trajectory, hand position) will permit chansi jin to occur in the most optimal way. You get the idea of the style.
I'll dare to say that in Yang style not all movements and hands position optimally suits for this kind of spiral movement "around" along the arm. The most basic movement in the Yang style – PENG ARM may be an example. Yes, the forward hand is turning a little but the accent is on the pushing forward by the forearm not on the screwing forward. The push forward performing slowly is IMHO pulling silk (chousi).
About concept of pulling silk itself I cannot add anything to Louis's words
Feel free to disagree and make comments
Take care,
Yuri
[This message has been edited by Yuri Snisarenko (edited 03-08-2006).]
