This video uses Happeh Theory to discuss the stability of the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance. The material in this video is not part of any actual Yin Fu Ba Gua teaching.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cD_RNtykoY]
A web page duplicate of this video is also available for those who prefer to read, and for more leisurely study.
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This video is titled The stability of the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance
The creation of this video was motivated by a viewer comment. The viewer said the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance demonstrated in this picture was no good,
because the stance looked unstable.
This video is going to use The Single Cylinder View of the Human Body, to provide a simple way to visualize, why the stance shown in this picture is stable.
According to The Single Cylinder View of the Human Body, the human body can be treated as a large cylinder located as shown in this picture.
The cylinder is centered on the body,
and covers the entire body from side to side,
and front to back.
This picture provides an overhead view of the relationship between the cylinder and the human body.
According to Happeh Theory, the diameter of the cylinder can be treated as if it is determined, by the location and size of the pelvic bones and the shoulder blades.
This picture shows an overhead view of the pelvic bones.
The pelvic bones have a generally semicircular shape as emphasized by the curved line in this picture.
Extending the natural curve drawn on the pelvic bones
creates a circle as shown in this picture.
For the purposes of this video, the front edge of the cylinder will be treated as if it’s position,
is determined by the location of the front of the circle created by the pelvic bones.
This picture shows an overhead view of the shoulder blades.
The shoulder blades also have a semicircular shape as highlighted by the semicircle in this picture.
Extending the natural curve drawn on the shoulder blades,
creates the circle shown in this picture.
For the purposes of this video, the rear boundary or rear edge of the cylinder will be treated as if it’s position,
is determined by the rear of the circle formed by the shoulder blades.
Tai Ji is the name of a physical exercise developed in China. The practice of Tai Ji consists of a series of connected body movements, collectively called “The Tai Ji Form”. The first movement of the Tai Ji form is to assume the ready position.
This picture shows a human skeleton in an erect posture
that will be used for the following demonstrations.
This animation shows the skeleton moving into the Tai Ji ready position.
The human skeleton in the Tai Chi ready posture,
looks different from the human skeleton standing erect.
The differences that are pertinent to this video, include the shoulder blades in the Tai Chi posture being further to the rear of the body,
than the shoulder blades of the body in an erect posture.
The pelvic bones in the Tai Chi posture are slanted,
compared to the pelvic bones in the erect posture,
and the pelvic bones in the Tai Chi posture are in front of,
the location of the pelvic bones in the erect posture.
It was stated earlier, that the size and location of the shoulder blades and the pelvic bones, determined the size and location of the cylinder, from The Single Cylinder View of the Human Body.
If the shoulder blades are moved to the rear of their normal position,
and the pelvic bones are moved forward of their normal position,
when the human body assumes the Tai Ji ready posture,
then the distance between the shoulder blades and the pelvic bones has become larger.
That means the diameter of the cylinder of The Single Cylinder View of the Human Body, must also be larger.
That concept will be demonstrated next.
This picture shows two discs,
representing the circles that determine the size and location of the cylinder.
The disc at shoulder level is aligned with the rear edge of the cylinder,
while the disc at the level of the pelvic bones is aligned with the front edge of the cylinder.
This animation shows the skeleton moving into the Tai Ji ready posture.
In the Tai Ji ready posture,
the shoulder blades have moved a small amount behind their normal location in the erect posture.
The front of the pelvic bones in the Tai Ji ready posture,
have moved a large distance in front their location in the erect posture.
Because the shoulder blades and pelvic bones have moved,
both discs need to be properly re-aligned on the shoulder blades and pelvic bones.
This animation shows both discs moving back to their proper alignment on the shoulder blades and the pelvic bones.
Now the cylinder is too small.
The front of the cylinder is supposed to line up with the front of the pelvic bones,
and the rear of the cylinder is supposed to line up on the shoulder blades.
The cylinder needs to be re-sized,
so it is aligned on the pelvic bones and the shoulder blades in their new location.
This animation shows the cylinder growing larger until the edges are again aligned on the shoulder blades and the pelvic bones.
The purpose of this video, is to discuss the stability of the human body. If the human body can really be treated as a cylinder, then the stability of the human body, can be equated to the stability of a cylinder.
The stability of a vertically standing cylinder, depends on the diameter of the cylinder. A small diameter vertically standing cylinder,
will be less stable than a larger diameter vertically standing cylinder.
In this comparison picture of the cylinder on the erect skeleton and the Tai Ji ready posture skeleton,
the diameter of the cylinder on the Tai Ji ready posture skeleton,
is obviously much bigger than the diameter of the cylinder on the erect skeleton.
That means a human body in the Tai Ji ready posture,
is more stable than a human body in an erect posture,
because the cylinder associated with the Tai Ji ready posture has a larger diameter base,
than the cylinder associated with an erect posture.
The viewer comment that motivated this video was, “The Yin Fu Ba Gua stance does not look stable”. The method just demonstrated on the Tai Ji and erect stances, will now be used to investigate the stability of the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance.
This picture shows the skeleton in an erect stance.
This animation shows the skeleton lowering into the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance.
The legs are bent to lower the body towards the ground.
The arms are pulled up by the side of the chest.
The pelvic bones have been rotated to the rear.
The skeleton is not finished moving into the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance. The movement of the skeleton into the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance has been split into two sections to help emphasize what the skeleton is doing.
This animation shows the skeleton completing the movement into the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance.
The body has dropped lower to the ground,
while the pelvic bones have moved even further to the rear.
The rib cage has moved farther forwards.
The diameter of the cylinder in the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance cannot be determined using the method that was used on the Ta Ji and erect stances. The diameter of the cylinder in both of those stances, was said to be the distance between the shoulder blades,
and the front of a circle created by extending the natural curve of the pelvic bones.
That method cannot work for the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance, because the shoulder blades,
are in front of the pelvic bones.
For the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance, the boundaries of the cylinder of The Single Cylinder View of the Human body, need to be redefined.
The front boundary of the cylinder in the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance is treated as if it located wherever the front of the rib cage is.
The rear boundary of the cylinder is treated as if it is located wherever the rear of the pelvic bones are located.
This picture compares the cylinder on the erect stance,
to the cylinder on the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance.
The cylinder on the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance has a larger diameter,
than the diameter of the cylinder on the erect stance.
Because the stability of a vertically oriented cylinder, is related to the diameter of it’s base, the cylinder on the Yin Fu Ba Gu stance,
would be more stable than the cylinder on the erect stance.
This picture compares all three stances.
The cylinder on the erect skeleton has the smallest diameter,
so the erect stance is the least stable of the three stances.
The Tai Ji skeleton has a larger diameter cylinder on it,
which means the Tai Ji stance is more stable than the erect stance.
The cylinder on the Yin Fu Ba Gua skeleton,
has the largest diameter cylinder of all three stances.
That means the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance, must be the most stable of all three stances.
This video has demonstrated why the viewer statement that, “the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance is not stable”, is not a true statement. This video used The Single Cylinder View of the Human Body to clearly show,
that the Yin Fu Ba Gua stance is extremely stable.