I too don't quite understand what the OP means by "paralleling".

In the original post, it seems he either means: different inversions of the same chord, up or down the neck; or he means different, straightforward chords up or down the neck. I think what he means by 'paralleling' is, say, moving the same barre chord shape up and down: moving your hand.

I don't quite recognise that picture of bossa nova though. For one thing, the thumb often plays a rhythmic bass note in between those finger-plucked chords he desribes.

For another, guitarists such as Baden Powell hop all over the place when they play bossa, playing all sorts of inversions and rhythms. You can bet he's moving his left hand a fair old bit! Even Joao Gilberto's playing is deceptively simple. While bossa has a lot less left-hand movement than flamenco, it hasn't any less hand movement than, say, traditional american or british folk guitar styles.