Why Chen's

Peace

Forth Principle: Listen

Listening energy is extremely important for Chen Taiji. Shrouded in mystery, listening energy is rarely conveyed verbally. New students are left to their own devices to discover what to listen for. It's a weeding-out process where those talented enough to grasp Chen's finally close their eyes and experience Synesthesia:

"a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

In the case of Chen, different feelings and types of relaxation are associated with specific physical movements, the so-called Eight Energies or Thirteen Postures. We don't know what prompts Synesthesia in martial arts to occur, but a strong "sense of how your body is moving and positioned in space, without relying on sight"––Proprioception––would be my guess.

However, what causes this "strong sense of presence while moving with the eyes closed isn't covered in detail; it is just supposed to happen to those talented enough to reach that level of understanding. Chen's teachers were unable to explain the topic in scientific terms. Still, they covered it under the concept of "Body Leads the Hand."

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