Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Centerline Theory
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.
Excerpted from Commentaries on the martial way by Bruce Lee
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