Pushing Hands- eye, touch; pushing into form

Its been three weeks since my last post and I feel I have gained much.

Within these 3 weeks, I have spent my time doing push hands slowly, watching, reading, observing, feeling, thinking.


Push Hands Slowly:
Doing push hands slowly, I get the opportunity to really feel the change in jin, force, centre of gravity, think of a plan, a course of action, make mistakes, try out new ideas, keep myself relaxed(song) and stuff. I really have to thank one of my fellow classmates for this! Each time I push hands with him, we continue non-stop, feeling for opportunities and testing out stuff for about an hour! It is really really fun!

Watching:
Watching videos mainly on the Wu style push hands of Ma Yue Liang, Ma Jiang Bao and Wang Pei Sheng.
Realising that if we can get the point of resistance of the opponent, we can use it, usually with a peng or a neutralisation, to "force" the opponent to move in a certain dirction.
The peng that you deliver need not even be in the direction of the the place where you want him to fall to. Remembering that you have to stick to the opponent first.
In sticking, I do not mean sticking to the hand of the opponent but sticking to the centre of gravity of the person. Only by finding and sticking to the centre of gravity of the person, can you control the person's balance and movement. And this centre of gravity only appears if the person resists. So, you can also say sticking to the resistance of the opponent. following where it goes so you don't lose sight of his CG. If he does not resist, his centre of gravity cannot be found, and cannot be caught or stuck onto. However, in saying do not resist, I do not mean collapsing your hand/peng structure. If the structure is collapsed, the opportunity opens for a push straight into the body, which is the location of the centre of gravity, which of course would deal terrible damage.

Ma Yue Liang
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8784247348094164056&q=taiji+push+hands

Ma Yueh Liang and Ma Jiangbao http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1048

Ma Jiangbao with students http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1045 http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1046 http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1047

Wang Pei Sheng:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYZ5tk_NlaY


Reading:
Reading up on Yamada Senta's book: Principles of Aikido. Realising that there are many similarities between aikido and taiji. Aikido feels for the opponent's ki and goes by unbalancing him. Taiji goes by listening for the opponent's jin and goes by unbalancing him and maybe fa/expel/push him off(whatever you call it but no english word can quite compare to fa) . Aikido has following step, like in Sun style and Xingyi. And it uses numerous circular movements just like taiji. But one difference is that in aikido, the curriculum is quite well-defined for example like they state very clearly in how many ways a person can be unbalanced and stuff. While in taiji, you sort of just learn this either through your master by mouth or through practice and experience. One thing I gained from the book is that i learnt that(or was reminded that)it is quite easy to unbalance a person if I really take notice of how he is standing, his leg placements, his hand placements, which part of the body I can use and stuff.

Observing:
To me, using the eyes is very important. I don't know about the masters, but the eyes contribute quite largely to my skill in push hands. Observing my partner's body movements while pushing hands. Seeing how and when opportunities appear, seeing when he is vulnerable. Where to push him to such that it is easy for him to lose balance and difficult for him to save himself. Usually I realise that the time when his peng structure is collapsed is the time when I should enter, "chase in withoiut leaving a gap".
One easy thing to look for I find is the colapse of theelbows or arms being too close to the chest. But for this, you must always look out for a possible trick where he uses his body to neutralise as a whole.
Another easy thing to look out for is the position of his legs. Example, in a bow stance, if you are trying to push him to unbalance him backwards, it is always easier to unbalance him in the direction where "there is no leg" as my teacher always says.
Next, the inclination of the opponent's body is also another thing to go by. For example, if the opponent body is inclined to the left in a bow stance, just push his shoulder down to the left and he goes down easily. If he resists too strongly and tries to tip back up straight, you may just push him furhter left or instead use his momentum and push him over to the right, depending on what you feel is easier(meaning which case the situation permits).
Another thing to go by is by how far the person comes into your territory. If his upper body comes too far in(usually when he is executing a push, elbow or lean), it is easy to pull him toward your left rear
or right rear, depending which side is easier for you or which "empty" side you have created for him.
Sometimes, when the opponent is standing too straight or not sitting into the kua, or has his hands raised too high, it is easy to uproot him by delivering a push(peng jin) to his hands or the top part of his body, or under his armpit. Usually, these natural "creases" in the body like the elbows, shoulders, knees, waists all aid in sticking and uprooting as they are difficult situations to get out off.

Feeling:
The feeling part is very closely tied to the other parts. I guess I have mentioned quite a lot about it in the other sections. But it is really about feeling to find the opponent's resistances and weakness and reacting immediately. Usually when I am feeling, I find I don't feel quite deep enough and don't react fast enough. Sometimes I feel the resistance of the opponent but can't catch onto it in time and so I lose many opportunities rather easily. Sometimes, like during single hand push hands, it is not much roll back(lu) as in ward off(peng). Like when he is pushing, you should be warding off and not rolling back. Because rolling back too early only brings the push closer to you if not done properly. If he so decides to change to a peng/ward off then it is end of story for you. Also, if rolling back is done too much, it brings the opponent closer to you(which if he decides to take a step in and do a peng, could easily unbalance you) while also sealing off your path to do the push. However, I have to admit that there is still much more to be desired from me in the feeling department.

Thinking:
Assimilating all I have learnt, I find more often than not, it is a play of keeping your own balance, own centre of gravity from your opponent, making sure that all is properly relaxed, when executing a movement, prepare mentally for the backup step if this fails. Knowing where are your weakness and concealing them, by opening up an empty space which acts as a trap for him to enter and at the same time, thinking of a backup plan or course of action if this fails. So knowing yourself and your opponent is important. While pushing think constantly to find new ways to unbalance the person while observing, thinking of new ways to uproot the person from different directions. Thinking about hand placements, where is good to put, where might provide more leverage. How should you push, which direction to take. Where to move, carefully noting to keep all movements round(with peng) and taking into account your own situations and weaknesses. Taking into account his situation and weaknesses, if there is no opportunity, think of how to create one, how to lure him into a trap. Sometimes, as my teacher always says, fan the east, attack the west. From looking at how he pushes, this seems really useful in people who like to push quite hard.

Lastly, I leave you with a video of a certain Mdm Yue who does a nice Chen form, with similar body movements(shen fa) to my teacher, though they live miles and miles apart. If anyone happens to have any information on this Mdm Yue, like where she learns from and where can i find out more about her, please tell me, just leave a comment! Thanks a million!

Madam Yue:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0LzwnvTcO8