Shoulder joint connection is a complicated one, in this mini lesson, Master Chen demonstrate the correct principle and correct student’s shoulder movement
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2012 Difficulty:3/5 At:Daqingshan Mountain Resort for Taiji
“Shoulder Movements” Mini Lesson
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great lesson! Extremely helpful…..the clarity of separation allows for the 3 types of differentials….and as you state in Rotation 1 video “…..power is directly proportional to how much you DONT move…..”
I have received this same instruction many times from Master Chen. But, somehow I did not take it so literally. I think that when watching him, I could not see this isolation of movement, so, at some level, I did not believe the instruction. I kept trying to imitate other movements that I saw him make. Now, I seemed to be ready to learn this lesson, because now I see so much isolation in his movement. This video is quite clear in the instruction. I am sure previous instructions wear clear as well, but now I can see and believe it.
I am liking the format of shorter videos of single concepts.
Another excellent mini lesson from Master Chen. Very applicable to fighting and push hands work. I’ve played around with this concept for some time and have always been fascinated by it. I loved his analogy of a chain that is then welded into a rod. Similar to the analogy I like to use about a three section staff that is then connected into a staff. In my opinion a lot of taijijuan technique relies on the interplay of yin and yang energies, such as what Master Chen teaches in this lesson. The ability to use the opposites and switch between them is a high point of taijiquan mastery. When I was young we had a toy for kids that was a wooden doll made up of sections, like bones, that were all connected with a string. If you pulled the string, all of the joints and segments would connect and the doll would assume a normal posture. If you released the string, all of the various sections would separate and the doll would crumble to the floor. Watching this video reminded me of that toy. Master Chen’s observations and teachings in this video are very much on the money…..and the lesson deals rather nicely with Taoist concepts of hard and soft….an excellent lesson to say the least…