The Song of Push Hands

The past several classes we introduced the Push Hands exercise and spent a good deal of time considering movement from the ground, shifting the weight and turning the waist to guide hand and arm movement. Just as there are many solo postures and form sequences, so too, there are many variations on Push Hands which vary in complexity and difficulty.

In the solo forms, we are individually learning the core principles of Tai Chi. While the forms are a critical tool in understanding and applying these principles, they are not entierly sufficient to comprehend the dynamic use of these principles in our interaction with the world around us. This is where the Push Hands exercises come into play. The Push Hands allow us to explore these principles in a co-operative way, with a partner who provides both resistance and external force for us to deal with in a dynamic way.

The solo form practice is the critical foundation to Tai Chi practice while the Push Hands leads to a dynamic, interactive understanding of the core principles, and teaches the additional priciples of adhereing, yielding and following.

Here is a short poem with commentary on Push Hands.

Tai Chi Song Of Pushing Hands

Be serious about ward off (peng), roll back (lu), press (ji), and push (an).

Up and down following each other.

This makes one's opponent feel that it is very difficult to enter.

(Ward off, rollback, press, and push are the fundamental movements of Tai Chi push-hands. The practitioner must not neglect their study. While practicing, you and your partner should adhere lightly to each other, following the motion back and forth, up and down.)

However he uses monstrous power to attack me, I use four ounces to guide him aside, deflecting his thousand pounds.

(The principle of Tai Chi Chuan is to not use any strength against strength. When the opponent attacks with enormous strength, you should adhere lightly to him by following his movements instead of resisting.)

Lead his strength to nothing, and then attack immediately.

Adhere, stick, and follow him without losing him.