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The last four seconds of this video suggest another possible explanation for the open hand in the archer move, other than just an energy thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NExY14Nwn8c

Is it...

That's a good analogy, so then, is it a multi course meal? One instructor implied that it was a cumulative "sequence". I've always done it pretty much in that order and just swapped-in similar...

Perhaps it had something to do with a crossbow, sort of like this:

Okay, I DO want a "want a technical, academic" answer for the following. I've always wondered if there were historical bows where the outward hand presses against it like that, but I don't know how...