Issue 57 - Tse Qigong Centre

Pushing Hands is a unique skill found in Taijiquan. There are manytraining methods, which help you to understand the key principles of Taiji, whilealso developing your fighting skill. How should we approach training in Tui Shou?The Importance ofTui Shou - Pushing HandsPush hands is one of the key skills ofChen Taiji. It is one of the ways thatTaiji can be trained to develop itsmartial aspect, but in itself it is not‘fighting’. Within the Chen system thereare a number of set patterns for pushinghands. They gradually develop from thesimple one handed circle to morecomplex patterns and then spontaneousplay.The key to push hands is tomaintain the basic principles of Taiji ateach new stage of development. Theseare posture, relaxation and smoothmovement led by the Dantian. If youwant to improve, you should concentrateon these rather than trying to ‘win’. Pushhands should be performed with thesame energy, attitude and attention todetail as the form.The difference is that whenworking with someone else you have topay attention to their movements as wellas your own. You may find that theirmovements interfere or block yournatural energy or flow. You have to learnhow to live with this. These outsideinfluences test your ability to maintainyour posture and relaxation in differentsituations.Your Taiji might be quite goodwhen you do the form on yourown, but how can youknow the depth ofrelaxation? Push handsreveals this very quickly.The smallest of tensions orfaults in posture becomeobvious. For this reason it isas important to watch yourself as towatch your partner.Push hands is a type of trainingjust like the forms. By paying attentionto what you are doing you shouldgradually be able to remove faults. If youfind that your energy is broken by aparticular move don’t be afraid to askyour partner to repeat it, and repeat it,and repeat it until you figure out wherethe fault is and learn how to deal with it.“Push hands should beperformed with the sameenergy, attitude and attentionto detail as the form”Within push hands there are manyenergies and thousands of techniques.The complexity of the system would bequite overwhelming if not for the waythat Taiji’s principles provide a clearstructure for understanding and path fordevelopment. The Old Frame push handsequences move from the simple onehanded static, to the two handed static,then the two handed single step, twohanded five step and finally spontaneousplay. Similarly it is important to begin bylearning how to deal with the basicenergies of Yin and Yang before movingon to Peng, Lu, Ji, An - the first four handsof the thirteen character formulaby Glenn Gosslingemail: glenn@qimagazine.comChen TaijiquanQi Magazine 9