Relating form practice to push hands

I remember that in my previous posts, I wrote that I had no idea how form practice is related to push hands. But now, I am gaining a bit of insight.

In form practice,

1. Imagine you are facing an enemy
2. Relax like in push hands
3. Be ready
4. Listen for your opponent
5. Know the uses for every move
6. Move and act decisively

In push hands, we learn to relax, and listen for your enemy's jin or force. A form is a compendium of moves you should use in a real situation against real enemies, so listening should be implemented into form practice too! Taiji functions by feeling your enemy’s jin, it is originally part of the form, Feel for your enemy, be ready!

Every taiji move has an attacking and defending part to it. While doing these moves, be clear about the uses of all the moves and how best to execute with taiji principles. When moving in and out, know where, when and how you are defending, know when where and how you should attack. Have in mind a back up plan if the opponent should dodge your attack or attack you from somewhere else. When in front, be ready to move backwards according to the opponent’s force. When behind, be careful of your opponent who is attacking. React according to your opponent’s force always.

Next, push hands helps in using the form.

· Know how to approach your opponent

After undergoing push hands practice, you should clearly know how to approach your enemy, where is the best position to place your hand or attack so that your enemy will be locked down, pulled away, diverted away, will lose balance etc.

You should know how to stand, how to retreat, how to advance, how to move.

You should know how to best use the moves in situations, you should have these not in you mind, but in your natural reflex. This is the use of push hands in form practice.

Push hands makes form practice useful. It is the brain behind the body. While forms are the ways to express push hands. They go hand in hand and are inseparable for taiji practice.

Fu Zhongwen and Hao Shao Ru Videos! And even more downloadable taichi videos!

That day when I was doing a random search on videos, I found Hao Shao Ru's video at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4799565770272737492&q=hao+shao+ru&pl=true

While Fu Zhong Wen's video can be found at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2684733084214920600&q=fu+zhong+when&pl=true

But the guy who uploaded it spelled the great Fu Zhong Wen's name wrongly!!! How could he! Anyway, my senior was just commenting that Fu Zhong Wen's video looks a little like a scene out of The Ring, haha!

Next in line, I have found a site with many nice downloadable old taichi videos of famous masters like Sun Jian Yun, Liu Gao Ming(Yang), Li Bing Ci, and many more! Other than that, it has videos of Wudang style martial arts, Bagua, Tongbei and a few other eclectic chinese martial arts. Its address is: http://pigua.dankin.net/tradicionni.htm

Gone Away? Gone the right way

Today's push hands practice was terrible! At first I still had it but I seem to have lost it half way through the session.
At the first part of the session, I could still feel opportunities within the push hand practise and was still sticking quite well to the opponent's hand but half way through the practise, I kept getting locked down by my seniors! After reviewing my practise, I have these conclusions:

1. Was I daydreaming, not responding to the incoming force?
2. Was I using the wrong techniques?
3. Or was it simply because I have been sick this whole week??

One of my seniors even said that i kept using my elbow in practice! However if he has pushed my right hand across my chest to my left side, doesn't my elbow naturally come up in front of him??? It's in the physiology of man!

He was also saying how unethical it is and how this could injure people in push hands practice. But I remember reading that the Dong family used to train with people flying all about the house!

Nevertheless, I still learnt something today. Today i was pushing hands with Poet Saint/Cissyn of http://taijistudent.blogspot.com/ fame. His push hands was slow;my teacher always tells us to push slowly, first time someone in class did it!

He taught me how to feel when someone is using the elbow in single hands push hands and how to keep it in check in the single hands push hands. Which is by pushing out with your palm on the forearm of the opponent. Doing so, his elbow is immediately checked in position.

To push or not to push

That day i was pushing hands in class with my teacher and he told me something:

When guiding the enemy's hand back using lu(roll back) or peng(ward off), do not guide it too far back or too far out as it opens up an opportunity for an elbow attack directly to the chest or solar plexus!

Just a note, to give balance to my comments on the last post about the loosening shoulders part.

My teacher always says, there are 2 parts to push hands(tuishou). One is technique and the other is kungfu(depth of skill).

Technique is knowing how to place your hands and how to move such that you would not be caught in a disadvantageous position.

Kungfu(depth of skill) is how developed is your listening, sensing and timing skills are.

Technique and kungfu go hand in hand but if you concentrate on one and neglect the other, then you are doing tai chi the wrong way.

A lesson on Sun Style

Today in the Sun Style lesson, my teacher told us to demonstrate the Single whip for him to see. Mine had problems right from the opening and closing of hands.
Open to shoulder width
Close to face width

Next, for Single Whip(dan bian), while i did it, he said i did not have the required opening "look". This is when i remembered that sometimes in his demonstration when he closes, he seems to be absorbing everything around him. It is that kind of "look" that he wants me to have. It is a qi shi, a sort of impression that you project. It is not easy to learn....so I'll just have to work on it......This kind of thing cannot be taught in words, only in action....

More Push Hands

Recently, it has been quite a barren time for push hands for me. Haven't had any really great discoveries. However, I realised that this is all part of training. My aim now as a beginner is to learn to follow.

I once read that in taichi push hands(tuishou) training, first you learn how to stick to your opponent. I split this into:

1. How to stick to your opponent,
How not to lose him.

2. How to sense
Sense for his strength, speed and direction.

3. How to react to that,
Keeping the first principle in mind.

Next:

4. Learn to recognise situations.
Know which situation is good for him and which is bad.
Know which is good for you and which is bad.

5. Know not to follow blindly,
If going into disadvantageous situation, respond!

However, the most important thing is to concentrate on sensing! Once you lose your concentraion, he has the advantage.

Well, basically i am here. So i figure the next level is the neutralising followed by issuing, which i would delay first until i feel that i have reached an approriate level.

Oh yes, another thing,

Benefits of loosening the shoulder:

1. Your opponent can't pull your whole person over that easily.
2. You won't get that irritating ache in your shoulders while pushing hands.
3. You can last longer.
4. You are so light that your opponent usually stretches out too much without realising it, giving you an advantage.
   
   Recently we had a new student in class. he was very stiff all over and he was questioning if tai chi principles can really work. Well, in the end, he was forced to move around to maintain his balance while we were just doing our usual circles.