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Jun
Fan Jeet Kune Do Centerline Theory
by Bruce Lee |
| Imagine
that your body is divided by a line that runs from between your
legs through the top of your head. In gung fu this line is called
joan sien, or the centerline theory. It is the base from which
all defense and attack are deployed. You must always have your
centerline guarded with one of your hands at a all times, and
whenever you change the position of your hands, regardless of
your position, you must always endeavor to protect the centerline.
The centerline theory allows you to generate more power in your
techniques as it serves to coordinate both arm and body, enabling
a gung fu man to employ his entire body weight with each strike.
Using arm force alone is indeed a characteristic of the untrained
person (in fact, a lot of instructors are practitioners of that),
and since striking is mainly used in gung fu I'll discuss the
relationship of arm power and body power (waist or hip movement)
in landing a punch. From the centerline I was able to construct
a nucleus and, later on, able to jump away from the nucleus
and establish such things as out-of-line and broken rhythm counterattack.
Thus, my theory states:
Learn the center Keep the center.
Dissolve the center Or, it can be stated more generally:
Learn the rules.
Keep the rules
Dissolve the rules.
Emphasis must be made to the students of gung fu to strike
with their body behind their technique because, in terms of
force and power, the arms have but one quarter of the force
of the body when set in motion. Secondly, the movements of
the waist are long and free, while those of the arms are short.
You can say that one turning of a large axis is equivalent
to many turnings of a small axis. Also, the arms can only
exert their maximum strength toward the end of the movement
- therefore, the arms are the vehicle of force that is released
by body through this centerline idea. Boxing also makes use
of this centerline theory but expresses it in too big a motion.
It is all right at first, but later on it should be guided
by the principle of simplicity - to express the utmost in
the minimum of movements and energy.
This article is from Sean Madigans JKD site, and are Excerpted
from Commentaries on the martial way by Bruce Lee |
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