Arching as extension

by Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy on 2009/02/10

At a higher level, stretching moves are changed to arching moves. Arching is really a way of extension without stopping the energy flow.Arching is more stable than stretching. However, arching creates less distance than stretching.

Some examples:

  1. When moving the arm back towards your body, don’t allow your front knee to move backwards. This way, you can extend your foot hand arching length.
  2. When pushing the front arm out,  don’t allow your rear knee to move forward. This will make your rear foot-front arm stretch longer.

About Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy

Chen Style Taijiquan 19th generation disciple. International Standard Bearer of the Practical Method system of Hong Junsheng. Second generation master of Hunyuan Taiji. Been teaching internationally since 1985. Educated in the West with a Master's Degree in Education. Highly accomplished through the lineage of two great masters. Disciplined, precise and powerful. He teaches a complete system of taiji based on the principle of yin yang separation; indirect power as a core concept; movement and tranquility as the source of action. In both theory and practice, his taijiquan deals with the problems of double-heavy. He is a real treasure of the heritage of taijiquan.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Anonymous May 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Very interesting, I do have a question
would it be fair to say that arcing is a more refined way of stretching between 2 points?
2 points can be stretched in a number of ways, but with arcing, it is required to have a defined curvature in which that stretch needs to happen? Is this accurate to say this?

In arcing, I am assuming that the other joints involved must maintain this curvature along the stretch motion, otherwise, it reverts back to simply stretching 2 points away from each other (a form of tossing even though a stretch is present?).

Reply

Gene Hess May 8, 2011 at 9:54 pm

Hi Anonymous,

There is a very interesting video on this web site that addresses your questions. It is called the “Taiji S-Line”. One of the things that it discusses is that a lever is a special case of the S-line. The lever involves the stretch (extension) of a straight line, and the S-line involves arching.

I hope this helps.

Gene

Reply

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