Tai Chi Pushing Hands

Tai Chi Chuan Pushing Hands – Effective Martial Art at Work

Pushing hands is a fantastic way to improve your martial art capabilities. In this two person drill you will learn to develop your reflexes, hand eye co-ordination, speed, sensitivity and timing when working together with your partner.

The most fundamental attribute that you will gain from practising Taichi pushing hands, is to listen to your partners intentions. What this actually means is that if your partner pushes you with force, you will learn to absorb that force, re-direct it safely away from your body.

The human instinct is to usually tense up and resist force; this urge must be resisted with pushing hands. If your partner pushes gently, you will return or re-direct their force in the same gentle manner. Never using excessive force or unnecessary actions, but always working with your partner in unison to develop both your martial capabilities.

All of the methods worked on are hidden in the forms, which are unlocked with this two partner training drill. The power that is developed is called ‘jing’ which is a listening power. You will be able to sense and feel the direction of your partners’ intent.

A must for developing good martial skills, is to neutralise your partners force and re-direct it away from your body centre line. The beauty of this skill is that it is acquired in a very safe learning environment.

In this skill you will acquire eight separate leverage applications with five different steps. This will equip you with all the skills necessary to defend yourself if attacked for real!

Eight Gates

P'eng – Usually described as an upward circular motion, that will put your opponent off balance. This is also known as ‘ward off’ which can be done either forward or backward with a yielding or offsetting motion. It is important that every motion has an energy feel to it.

Lü - Rollback
Chi - Press
An - Push
Tsai – Translated as ‘Pluck’ or ‘Grasp’
Lieh – To ‘Separate’ or ‘Split’
Chou - To strike or push with the elbow.
K'ao - To strike or push with the shoulder or upper back.

The Five Steps:

Chin Pu - Forward step.
T'ui Pu - Backward step.
Tsuo Ku - Left step.
You P'an - Right step.

Chung Ting – This is a very important condition that all movements must have at their core, central balance, which is only achieved through relaxation and good biomechanics. This will then create a positive body alignment at all times, in all postures.

The five gates correspond with the five elements (earth, metal, wood,fire,  and water) and the eight gates with the eight trigrams of the I Ching. As a group they are known as the thirteen postures of Tai Chi Chuan. These are found in all the solo forms of Tai Chi.

Taichi pushing hands reinforces all of the above and builds very effective reflex actions which are an essential part of all martial arts. If a student just practices solo forms they will never learn the subtleties of training with a partner for effective self defence. This vital essence of Tai Chi Chuan will be lost to them.

You will learn in pushing hands to work at all levels (low, medium and high), in different directions with separate combinations of movement. This will teach you how to defend yourself against many different fighting strategies, in a very relaxed way.

Any tension will hinder this development, during each session you will be asked a question by your partner, in which you will reply with a response to their question. You will learn how to respond in a relaxed way without aggression, or retreating, but by listening to the strength and direction of your opponent and delivering the appropriate reply.

In Taichi pushing hands you will learn to deliver an effective response to any given attack in a safe effortless way, with intention. Your reflexes will eventually be honed to a very high level; any force will be redirected so that it becomes ineffective. This is done in a soft, gentle coordinated fashion.