Originally Posted by
Jon_Ray_Brooks
I don't want to start a linage debate or anything like that, but I've got a question and observation about a movement that occurs in most of the wing chun forms that is expressed a little differently family to family. Hopefully, I'll be able to be clear, I don't know all the Chinese terms that some of you clearly do. But, here goes:
Using Si Nim Tao as an example, anytime we heun sao at the end of a section and withdraw our elbow/hand back into it's chamber position, I notice that some families do this fairly linearly and others have more of a swoop, downward curving and then up into the chamber position. I've played with it both ways, but here's what started occurring to me. If I'm focusing my energy on my elbow, it really can't follow anything except it's natural pendulum arc unless I contort my shoulder, which I of course don't want to do. Once my elbow clears my body, then it can certainly start it's natural upswing. Conversely, as much as I like to think about pulling it straight back, I don't think that's physiologically possible without adjusting with my shoulder.
I have more freedom of movement with my forearm and hand of course, but if I should be focusing on my elbows as I think I should, then that's really superficial, right? It seems the most efficient thing to do is to let me hand be pulled naturally by the elbow, which should result in a fairly subtle arc.
The same type of movements, of course, exist in Chum Kiu and Bil Ge (sorry if I botch spelling of Chinese terms)
I'm curious as to how some of you view this. I think it's entirely possible that I'm missing something important, but I wanted to throw the question/observation out and see what you all thought.
Thanks in advance,