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Doing Pushing Hands (Tui Shou). Written by Knud Erik Andersen © 1998 |
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Doing pushing hands (Tui Shou) is an exercise for two partners, who is facing each other. The exercise is divided into two parts; circles with one hand and circles with both hands. The purpose with the exercises is to make the practitioners to work with circles in the waist, arms, hands etc., but pushing hands is also an invaluable help to learn the applications and principles of Tai Chi Chuan. When You are doing pushing hands, You test the applications of Tai Chi Chuan in a harmless manner, where You get an instant reply if they are useful or not. When we are doing pushing hands, we are co-operates in doing the circles correct. We do not "fight" each other. We learn to adapt to the situation and the circumstances. If my partner is hard; then I yield. If he's fast; I'm fast. If he's slow; I'm slow. When ever we have the opportunity, we don't have to push our partner hard, because then he will not have the opportunity to learn the technique, which he could use in the exact situation. We have to give him the opportunity to use the body to evade or yield any attack, by turning the waist and using circles in the arms and hands. You have to recollect, when You are doing pushing hands, You have to be relaxed in the whole body and be sensitive to the partners movements. In addition You have to be completely concentrated of, what's happening around You. Some of the results of doing pushing hands is greater flexibility, greater sensitivity, greater understanding for Your own and the opponents weakness and how to improve them. You develop a better Self-Defense repertory, You develop an effective attack and it improves Your bodies co-ordination.
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Here are some points You have to have in mind, to get good results in pushing hands: 1. Be willing to accept a defeat and learn from it. 2. Don't react with to much violence to an attack. Partly because it weakens Your possibility to learn a good defense and partly because the partner can profit by this. 3. Don't move Your feet to much, it damage the opportunity to learn the use of the waist and shoulders to neutralize an attack. 4. Be relaxed, so You can feel the opponents intentions. The more tense You are, the less sensitive You will be. 5. Yield in circles. 6. Try to find out, where You and Your partner are strongest and work on doing it even better. 7. Find out where You are vulnerable, but without freezing. Even though You lose several times in the progress, You will be victorious in the end. ©1998 Knud Erik Andersen
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