Push HandsPush Hands
Sifu Marc SabinPush Hands

Taiji Push Hands

.............. Taiji is more than a solo exercise.
Working with a partner is an important step.
Push Hands
brings the universal Taiji principles into relationship. Push Hands points out your errors in the Form.
The Form is where you make corrections. .........


Taiji is more than a solo exercise. Working with a partner is an important step. Push Hands brings the universal Taiji principles into relationship. Push Hands points out the errors in the Form. The Form is where corrections can be made.

Focus on is the idea of purifying the center. In push hands, the primary problem that people experience is the inability to maintain a single center. This is made difficult by the fact that we stand on two legs, and therefore easily find ourselves "double-weighted."

Where so many people go wrong in their push hands practice is in the application of force. Even slight force when issued without maintaining a solitary center creates a problem. With many players, the problem is disguised by their ability to use enough power to override their error and obtain the result of a push. This is especially true when learning the skill of maintaining center. Once a person pushes with any sort of muscular tension, a link is created between the center of balance and the source of the tension. The predominant placement of this tension in experienced Taiji practitioners is in the hips. Sometimes called bracing, even when a player has a sophisticated ability to move quickly and deflect another's power, the true nature of the problem continues. If uncorrected, the player creates a ceiling on their abilities that does not rise to the level possible in correct practice.

In order to experience this participants must remain less concerned with winning than in discovering the nature of relaxed power. This is a key component to learning this skill. In my experience, there is always someone who has what I refer to as "overwhelming power." That person can defeat someone working with the proper skills when said person is developing his/her abilities. For this reason, it is most important to remove the power from the practice in order to begin to develop the sensitivity to this unique skill.

The work I focus upon in my teaching is predominantly about helping people to eradicate the unnecessary tensions from their bodies and to come into their true, intrinsic power. The power of structure is one key component to this practice. When correctly executed, pure structure can withstand tremendous forces. However, maintaining that structure while moving and under the stress of another person's pressure is challenging to do.

 

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