Friday, December 10, 2010

The Tiger's Mouth revisited





You can link to the Classical Tai Chi of Buffalo Facebook Page.  I made a video in order to thank my teacher Hwa Laoshi for his analysis and articulation of the following rationale.  It is very appreciated.  This gives me a sense of wonder now as well at all the many arm rotations in the Classical Tai Chi form.  In particular, the aspects of arm rotations that accompany the complexity and combinations of internal discipline.  Wherein, I never had pause to reflect on this in the past, now more than mere explanation, his statement motivates further investigation.


We are speaking here of the photo of Wu Jianquan in the most recent blog preceding this one.  The photo above which shows Hwa Laoshi gripping the arm of a student was taken at a workshop given on his birthday.


I quote my teacher, Hwa Laoshi:  "There is another important reason to have an open grip.  If Wu uses a tight grip on the white shirt arm.  The white shirt person could simply rotate that arm. This rotation, due to the physics of leverage, is much more powerful than the power of the arm with the grip.  This means Wu's grip will have to move and follow the rotation.  Now the white shirt is controlling Wu's movements instead of Wu controlling the white shirt.  With an open grip, Wu is not affected by the rotation of the arm and can keep his control on the white shirt"

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