Push
hands works in several ways, if you are pushed 1000 times the same
way, and you try to neutralize it correctly each time, you will
probably succeed,....if your pushed over and over by a more advance
player, she/he will point out the possible neutralizations, and you
can practice them.
Tai Chi is Taoist in nature, it doesn't
clash, it yields, it follows the natural path, it “Rides the horse
in the direction its going”. It gently leads the strength that
seeks to topple it, off balance, off center, so that it topples
itself.
“Man,
born tender and yielding
Stiffens
and hardens in death
All
living growth is pliant until death transfixes it.
Thus
men who have hardened are “KIN OF DEATH”
And
men who stay gentle are “KIN OF LIFE”
A
hard hearted army is doomed to lose
A
tree hard fleshed is cut down
Down
goes the tough and big
Up
jumps the tender sprig.”
“Lao Tzu”
#76 (Trans. Witter Bynner) 600 B.C. |
In
push hands you learn that the principles you learned while doing the
form do work. All you need to do is keep relaxed, aligned, centered,
balanced, rooted and aware of the space you're working in.
After
you have gotten the basics of Push hands down, and you no longer need
to think about the moves, you begin to notice that you
automatically/spontaneously do moves from the form. You “discover”
the self defense application on your own. In this way you really get
the idea—then practice.
Most find that any
psychological/social problems show up as soon as they start Push
hands, and that it is a compact safe condition in which to work them
out.
As
you advance farther into Push hands you begin to develop more and
more sensitivity t the other person's energy (Listening to energy),
to the point that you can tell just how someone is going to move any
part of their body by being in contact with one small point on their
body, (Interpreting energy).
This sensitivity transmits itself
to your occupation, sports and your social life.
AXIOMS
AND PRINCIPLES
—Tai
Chi is process, the point of it, is the evolution of
the
practitioner, not the acquisition of the art.
—Have
no holes or breaks, no hollows or projection.
All
moves are appropriate, no excesses or deficiencies.
—Don't
let your knee go farther forward than your toe,
in
70%—30% position, don't sit all the way back onto your heel.
—Push
the “opponent” from within your space, if they
enter
into your space (all things equal) they are yours.
—The
push is in a straight line, as when you try to find
the
center of a Ping Pong ball and push it down into the water, the
neutralization is circular, as when the Ping Pong ball slips away.
—Neither
puff up nor collapse, do not brace
or
run away from.
—It
is not good to balance by gripping the floor with
the
foot, or by shifting the weight, left and right side, like a tight
rope walker. Balance in a vertical line like a plumb line, through
the ground on the bottom, and through the top of the head to the sky.
—Excess
of hardness (yang) brings softness (yin), just as
excess
of sorrow brings joy, and excess of joy brings sorrow.
—“Appear
like a hawk after a rabbit”, seek a perfectly
straight
line of attack towards your quarry's center...“With the spirit of a
cat after a rat”,. When a push is neutralized, immediately realign
on the opponent's center.
—Be
cohesive in the center and expansive on the outside.
—Discern
the full from the empty,..Root in one leg at a time
while
the torso revolves like a vertical cylinder on top of it.
—Feel
the air around you so that it becomes heavy and begin to
notice
its ebbs and flows.
—The
body is rooted a the bottom, and light and flexible
on
top like a tree.
—Don't
use force against force, borrow the imposing force
and
return it
—Where
there is tension, the life force (chi) is suppressed, when
tension
leaves, chi returns
— The
bull is a great strong beast, and can be handled by one
small
person if they apply a small amount of energy to the right place (the
ring in the nose).
—The
head is held up as if a string is attached to the sky, like
a
marionette,...the coccyx is held down as if there is a weight on
it....the spine is stretched between the two.
—The
arms do not move independently, they move with the body.
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