Push Hands

Push Hands -

Pushing hands is said to be the gateway for students to understand experientially the martial art aspects of the nei chia (內家 nèi jiā or internal style) martial arts; leverage, reflex, sensitivity, timing, coordination and positioning. The theory being that there is a limit to the amount of physical conditioning available from performing solo form routines, so pushing hands adds the weight of the training partner's pushes onto the legs of the student, legs already bearing the student's own weight. The student then has to deal with the extra work load effectively from a martial point of view before returning their own pushes to the partner in turn. In that sense pushing hands is a contract between students to train the defensive and offensive movement principles of their martial art; learning to generate, coordinate and deliver power to another and also how to effectively neutralize incoming forces in a relatively safe environment.

Okay, I'm curious how many people training in tai chi here also train in push hands?  what type of exercises do you do?  is it competition or strict deleopment of technique?  Experiences…. both good and bad? 

I've trained push hands for quite some time.  In my school we started pushing (unless someone just happend to slide in) after a good deal of the form was already learnt.  It would start with the development of ting jing (listening skills) using sensitivity drills.  Both with single and double hands.  Then it would progress to more difficult and competitive (but not nessecarily competition) exercises. 

I'm curious what others are doing or have experienced.

John

Re: Push Hands

Push hands is cool if you have a partner, theres so many different kinds. In the chen style we do a basic static push to correct posture. Its the only way to get the stance right. There are 5 or six types after that but we dont do those. My brother has been studying at a proper tai chi academy in boston. The students cant do push hands until about a year and a half of hard training.  The method they do  is painful on the arms.

Re: Push Hands

Distance and time prevent me from practicing push hands with some very competent players.  In my first 10 years of Tai Chi, I had no real knowledge of what push hands was.  In our community college class, we'd perform the cooperative circling exercises and that was about it.  I had a very nice “appearing” form up to that point, and for most people that would have been (and is) sufficient.

But once I started practicing push hands, I began to understand the internal experience of energy that one ought to be experiencing when performing Tai Chi.  The external expression of my form changed significantly because I better understood the Tai Chi principles and energies that each posture can evoke.

I'm of the feeling that push hands should be taught to students sooner rather than later.  It doesn't make sense to have to learn an entire form, then to have to re-learn it based on better information.

I also understand that you can't force everyone to participate in the push hands practice and that you can still have a very meaningful Tai Chi practice without pushing hands.  At the other end of the spectrum, I think some push hands players give lip service to the form, and underestimate the meditation and wellness aspects of the Tai Chi in doing so.

Re: Push Hands

good thoughts!  in my teachers class push hands was voluntary… and not encouraged until 6mo to a year into training… but then if you wanted to advance… you need to do push hands.  As you said… it redefines the form… rooting… balance… peng… etc… push hands, standing meditation and the form are a trifecta that balance and further each other. 

good post  :-)

Re: Push Hands

I find push hand to be the most fulfilling part of my tai chi practice.  It, as a form of interaction alows me to self assess with greater objectivity how my form is.  Also, I find that as I play it I get in tune with my opponent.  I actualy wrote a paper on push hands and that phenomena in particular when I was in college. 

Re: Push Hands

Would you mind posting your paper here (in part or in whole)?