More Yang WenHu

Marin

Lao Tou
Staff member
The earlier Erlu videos is fun, one things had going for him is that he did take a very nimble approach. He was quite fast and light ( in a good way). The tradeoff in this case is that he was not heavy in the traditional sense. His stance structure was certainly troubled in my view; he was big on the knee rolling, and in habitually lacked peng or collapsed inward. Besides those problems, his stance was just not particularly focused on heavy stable root, not at all in the way I was taught by Chenyu, which is certainly very heavy, assertive and substantial. I would not be surprised if the lighter and nimble quality of YWH had some cause in his previous Baguazhang training, if that story is correct.

For what it's worth, Chenyu could also move extremely fast and nimble, but it was never done by sacrificing Peng, substantialness and knee health. Either way though YWH had a great energy about his practice that I appreciate. One thing I notice though, is that YWH's approach did not age all that well. At some point I imagine he just had to stop rolling his knees around like that and overly gyrating his joints. When he stopped doing that it looks like an engine was taken off line, like he no longer could create that nimble power. For me this is an important indicator of an approach that although fun to watch and interesting to consider, I would not want to undertake. Again it makes me reaffirm my Training with Chenyu as an approach that can go the distance. As I get older I feel the power connection in my training getting stronger not weaker. I may become less athletic but the engine becomes more efficient and not less viable.
 

Marin

Lao Tou
Staff member
One of Taijiquan's greatest strengths is also its greatest weakness. Specifically, it is a highly creative art with a lot of personal flexibility in how one develops and applies it. That unfortunately also makes it highly vulnerable to personal whims and the delusion and novelty of "new discoveries" and idiosyncracy. It is an unfortunate fact that the great majority of Taijiquan lines and teachers cannot hand down an intact fist system to the next generation.

It appears the commercial schools that focus highly on appearance do a good job of at least handing down the appearance, almost, but of course that works so well because there are very little martially relevant regulating factors.

Anyhow, Yang Wenhu is no exception to this problem. This guy is I think claiming to be his representative and trying to make a name for himself.


Again it is usually the most personal and glaring errors that become most heartily represented when handed down, so even small errors are best avoided when teaching.
 
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