weight transfer and structure in tai chi chuan

[brucereiter]

here is a videos clip talking about some yang tai chi chuan ideas of weight transfer and structure using brush the knee as the example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9tQ70MQI-w

please add your ideas about this subject.

[cjurakpt]

well, his mechanics per se are not incorrect, if you want to talk about generating power for a forward palm strike - and the way that he is doing it in terms of the path that his right hand travels, if that is how he does it in his version of the form, then that would be a reasonable explanation of the usage;

however, in almost every other version of Yang-based TJQ that I've ever seen, when stepping into Brush Knee that is not the path that the right hand takes to do so; in other words, he brings the high right hand down in a counterclockwise direction from high to low and shoots it out straight from the hip; in pretty much every other version, the high right hand comes down in a clockwise direction and the moves forwards starting at the level of the shoulder, sinking down as it travels forwards and then rising back up a bit (think about a wave crashing into the sore, that's the general arc of motion)

what's more, if talking about the use of BK, the real "problem", IMPO is that if you look at the entire movement interpretation of it as a palm strike just doesn't make sense (even though I know that 99.9% of people out there like to "interpret" it that way); basically, if to consider the somewhat circuitous path that the right hand takes, it really doesn't serve to do that if you are striking with a palm - you don't need that sort of "wind up" to have an effective palm strike; the "secret" to what I believe it really is going on is all in the name: Brush Knee; the question is, WHICH knee is being brushed...