Dan Bian (Single Whip): Large and open or compact?
Today while at class, my main teacher did not come as he was off to be some competition judge so my secondary teacher took over. He sounded out a problem with my Single Whip as he felt it did not look nice. Basically he said that my Single Whip was not wide enough and my left hand was not extended far enough and was also too high.
This is how i usually do it:
Usually when i practise, the hands of my Single Whip are about 125 degrees apart. The direction which the arms face are the same as the directions which the legs face. My left hand would be just above my left knee and not exceeding the knee. The height of my hand is usually around my mouth level with the tip of my middle finger at the height of the tip of my nose. Note that I learn the Yang style here.
However he told me to extend my left hand until it is almost straight and bring my right hand back to about 155 degrees. Bringing my hand that far back would cause it to deviate from the original direction of my back leg so naturally, my back leg would have to shift too.
I don't know if it is correct but i don't like to keep my hands too far away from my body so as to be better able to block off any hits from the enemy. This point is also advocated by my Da Shi Xiong (Eldest Senior) who is more combat oriented. But this second teacher of mine follows more closely to the the guidelines of the Yang Style, or rather, Yang Cheng Fu Style.
I once read an article stating that Yang Cheng Fu used large and open movements due to his large physique when he was older. It is said in the article that because of his large physique, he could easily use large and open postures in combat as his sheer weight and power would be able to push through any small resistance the enemy offered. Moreover, i feel, keeping a compact form would be more defensive which he did not really need due to his sheer power and it may even hinder his movement. Thus i feel he used large postures to put his weight and mass to good effect. Another good point about large and open postures is that it is healthier as they allow smoother qi flow as the body is stretched. This is emphasized by his son, Yang Zhen Duo. I think that is why he standardised his form with large open movements ultimately.
Comparing the pros and cons, i am quite confused as to which style should i use. Should i continue doing it as how i have always done it, compact? Or should i do it the traditionally the Yang Cheng Fu way? Because, after all, i am learning his form!
posted by Eman Rohe | 1:38 pm
2 Comments:
Interesting post. I'm going through a similar thing as I've trained in both yang and chen styles with more recent emphasis in chen. However I'm questioning the whole body movements of the chen style as yang kinda feels more connected and open to me.
Personally, I don't like my postures too open, but not too compact either. I used to train in the TT Liang tradition, similar to CMC, and much preferred the YCF open postures. However now, I mainly train in the chen line via Chen Xiao Wang and he's kinda more in the middle. So now, I kinda do things that's in the middle of CXW and YCF style.. Feels kinda weird though as my styles are starting to creep into one another.
This is a nice blog.
I would like to offer an opinion. Bear in mind, this opinion is made in reference to our taiji. Other styles of taiji may have other take on the same issue.
In our Yang style we have defined principles of what is correct. In this way, confusion over what is correct is minimized. So perhaps you should start by asking what are the principles of your Yang style and how to do the movements such that the principles are conformed to. In our Taiji, as long as the principles are followed closely, then questions of whether the movements should be bigger or smaller, more offensive feeling or defensive feeling would be automatically corrected as one keeps practising.
In playing the taiji form, push hands and application, consideration must be paid to a number of factors. One of the important factors as far as self training is concerned before we even talk about how to apply the movements is to pay attention to how to optimize XYZ such as how to optimize force, how to optimize mobility, how to optimize defence, how to optimize attacking motions, etc. The key is to find the point at which the factors are optimized even when at times these factors may conflict with each other from the point of view of performing the principles correctly.
You raised a good point. Big movements are good for issuing force but makes one feel open and vulnerable. A key principle in our yang style (to use the same example of single whip here) is to keep the elbows aligned to the waist qi ring yet the striking hand must hold on to the shoulder ring. Yet the striking hand and the hook hand must be stretched out and aligned such that both arm bows are primed. At the same time, the elbows can be kept sunk down to prevent an opponent from trying to apply a pulling technique. We can also conform to the application of detain and strike of single whip though in training, the principles of expanding force via the 5 bows is the key consideration in playing our yang style small frame form aside from the other matters. Thus as you can see in this way of playing the form we can learn to optimize attack, defence and maintain power.
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