Learning Self-Defence

A fellow pushing hands student was telling me that he intends to take up aikido to learn some grappling/chin-na techniques, so that he can deal with drunks (he comes across them once in a while in the course of his work). Although he has learnt some martial arts before, he tells me that everytime he encounters a drunk, he feels fear and doesn't dare to do anything. I don't understand his intention for learning aikido, but I think he is trying to get some experience and confidence in using grappling/locks/throws/etc against a partner before trying it out for real.

What I fear is that he will still find himself at square one. Fear.

At the end of the day, using martial arts in self-defence is very different from sparring with a partner in a controlled environment. I have written about learning self-defence (or rather, not being able to learn) through pushing hands. In self-defence, there are no rules. You may have all the confidence gained sparring with a partner, but once the rules change (or disappear, for that matter), how confident can you be that you will come out the winner?

What we learn in class improves our techniques. But to counter fear, to gain that confidence needed to face a real opponent in self-defence, you need more than technique. You need the right mentality.

Before you commit to the fight, ask yourself, are you willing to lose (and either end up hurt or worse)? If not, it is better to avoid the fight (which may mean "Run!") But sometimes, we cannot avoid a fight. That is when our daily life will determine if we can counter our fear. If we live each day to the fullest with no regrets, we can then enter the fight knowing that if we die, we die with no regrets.

Thus, we practise the techniques of self-defence in the classroom/dojo, but we practise the mentality of self-defence through our daily lives.

Performance at 慈济

We put up a performance today at Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation in Singapore. It started with a group performance of an excerpt of Yang style taijiquan.
Followed by a performance of Chen style taiji sword.
I think the takeaway from the performance is not the performance itself (though it did give all of us experience in performing in front of an audience), but the additional practice that we went through, which helped us to correct some of our mistakes. Another important takeaway is the ability to practise as a group, so that we follow each other rather than keep to our own individual rhythms.

How to Neutralise Force

A hint provided by my teacher on how to neutralise your opponent's force. You must not resist his force (that has been said so many times before that it is obvious) and you know that you have neutralised his force when you no longer feel it.

Of course, the next thing to do after neutralising his force, is what to do with it. How do you then deflect it away from you, and then back towards your opponent, or use it against him?

Taiji and Music

This came up during one of the recent taiji classes.

My teacher likes to play music during taiji classes. Recently, he had to leave class early, bringing along with him his set of music. We students were thus left "musicless".

Someone commented that it feels weird practising taiji without music.

I think music helps to create a soothing environment for practising taiji. Yet we must not rely on the music to create the environment. After all, taiji is about cultivating the inner self. The environment we create for taiji is within ourselves. Music may help, but ultimately, it is we ourselves we have to find our own means to create that inner environment. With or without music.

How to Improve part 2

This is to add on to the previous post on how to improve.

Besides just practising each move by itself, I need to practise each move many times by itself. Each time, I need to pay attention to certain details to make sure that I am getting it right. I should not pay attention to ALL the details and try to get EVERYTHING right in one go. That is impossible and likely to hinder more than help. Instead, taking it one step at a time, I need to work on a single problem each time until I am able to correct it, and then move on to the next problem.

For example, taking a single move (Single Whip), and practising it 100 times, with the first 10 times focusing on whether my body is straight, the next 10 times on whether my kua is sunk and relaxed, and the next 10 times on whether arm is relaxed, and so on. At the end of 100 times, I would have gone through all the common mistakes. Repeat this for other moves, and repeat over time to revise and review (in case the old bad habits come back to plague me). It is not easy, it is time consuming, but only with hard work, patience and lots of practice can improvements be made.

Force On Force

Someone asked me during pushing hands class about using shoulder to hit someone. For example, when doing single-hand pushing hands, if the opportunity arises, can we use shoulder bash to counter? He proceeded to demonstrate what he meant by shoulder bash, which is basically zhuang 撞. I told him that taiji is about using soft to counter hard, so using zhuang is a bit contrary to that principle. A better way is to use kao 靠.

It got me thinking, though. So why shouldn't we use zhuang but instead use kao? I think it is because if we choose to use zhuang and the opponent returns in kind, one of us will become injured. Why? Assuming my zhuang has a force of 50kg. If my opponent returns in kind with a zhuang of 100kg, the impact will be 150kg. Ouch! And the resultant movement will be against me (because his force is stronger), which means 50kg on force pushing me back. Thus, when we meet force on force, the stronger force wins. The weaker force ends up getting very seriously injured.

I guess this is an oversimplified way of explaining things, but it does serve to illustrate why we shouldn't try to use force, because we never know how strong our opponent can be. If he turns out to be stronger, we end up injuring ourselves instead. So the next time you think about using the hard application of taiji, think again. It may not be worth it.

Chen Style Hu Lei Jia (忽雷架)

This is Hu Lei Jia (忽雷架), which readers of the comic ＜拳児＞ ("Kenji") will know. It is slightly different from what you would expect from Chen style taiji.

Taiji For Health, Fame or Money?

There is a recent taiji boom in Singapore. Not just any taiji boom, but rather, a boom regarding a set of taiji routines developed by a group of doctors, supposedly good for people with arthritis, osteoporosis and even diabetes. I guess doctors, being professionals, know what they are talking about and I don't doubt the results of their research. After all, we all know that taiji, besides being an effective martial art, is also very good for health. I mean, nowadays, taiji is known more for its health benefits rather than its original use as a martial art.

So if you have arthritis or osteoporosis, it may be a good idea to start doing some taiji. Now that research by a group of doctors has proven that taiji is good for those ailments.

What I do not agree with is the method it is being introduced in Singapore.

The People's Association is introducing these sets of taiji routines into all community centres. I applaud their noble goal of making taiji available to the masses, in trying to help the masses overcome their ailments. However, what we have now is a new group of taiji instructors teaching these sets. Till now, in order to teach at community centres, PA required taiji instructors to be qualified by the Singapore National Wushu Federation. To be qualified, would-be instructors have to attend a week-long course, coupled with oral, written and practical examinations by a board of examiners (renown taiji masters). This ensured that all taiji instructors meet certain standards. Yet with this new group of instructors, there is no need to be qualifed by the SNWF. All these new instructors need to do is attend a 2-day training session with the group of doctors and at the end of the session, they are given a certificate authorising them to teach the set of routine for 2 years.

First question is, will this dilute the quality of taiji instructors in Singapore, now that SNWF is no longer the single body handing out qualifications?

Second question is, how well does the new instructor know taiji, to be able to teach taiji to students? After all, he/she only attended a 2-day training session. If taiji can be learnt in 2 days (even if it is only less than 10 movements), no one would spend a lifetime trying to master it. And if taiji cannot be learnt in 2 days, then what makes the new instructors qualified to teach? Won't it be a case of the blind leading the blind? If taiji is not taught properly, won't it hurt the students instead of help them? If that is the case, ethically, shouldn't we stop these new instructors from teaching taiji until they are ready?

Third question is, who authorised the doctors to authorise these new instructors? Doctors, being doctors, are professionals in the medical field. They are obviously subject matter experts on things medical. I have no problems with them authorising people to teach physiotherapy. But doctors are not professionals nor subject matter experts in taiji. It is one thing to share their research with people (so that people are aware of the benefits of taiji proven by research). It is another thing altogether to charge a fee to teach someone something that they have no right to teach. After all, are these doctors qualified instructors certified by the SNWF? How do we know if what they are teaching is even correct?

If the doctors conducted seminars (even charging fees for them) to share their research, I would have no issues. After all, they are sharing the results of their research so that people know the benefits of taiji in helping relief those ailments. People can then find the right teachers to learn taiji to aid their ailments. As doctors dedicated to helping people, this would have been a good approach.

But now, they are charging people to learn from them, and allowing these people to teach others. First, as far as I know, they are not the authority on taiji, so they have no right to charge others. (Maybe the descendants of Sun Lutang should charge these doctors a fee, since the movements are from Sun-style taiji.) Second, as far as I know, they have no authority to authorise others to teach, so they shouldn't charge fees for those as well. Third, how ethical is it to allow just anyone who has attended a 2-day training session to teach taiji? This could cause more harm than good. As doctors having to uphold their set of professional ethics, they may want to seriously relook at how they want to help those with these ailments. It is one thing to have a large following, it is another to have them all doing the movements correctly so that they can benefit from it.

A proposed approach would be for the doctors to share their research results through a series of seminars, target audience being taiji instructors, plus those interested. Participants can then be given a certificate of attendance. Those who want to teach this set of routine can do so, but only if they are already qualified instructors certified by the SNWF. Those who are yet to be certified by the SNWF can of course get themselves certified when they are ready. This way, we ensure that the instructors have a certain standard in taiji and proper understanding of taiji to know what they are teaching, and thus be able to teach it properly to students. The doctors probably won't earn as much directly from this, and are likely to be less well-known, but helping patients is their aim, not fame or money, right?

无招胜有招

A fellow student at pushing hands class asked me if pushing hands is the only way to learn how to apply taijiquan. I told him what I have written about before, that besides pushing hands, there is also the use of sparring routines and learning tecnique application. However, these methods train us to react to certain movements, ie. when the opponent moves in this way, I will counter using this move. This is "有招".

Pushing hands trains in the principles of taiji, the fundamentals of taiji as a fighting skill, which is to know force, redirect it, and use it back against your opponent. There are no fixed moves in pushing hands. Yet without fixed moves, by feeling your opponent's force and sticking to the principles of taiji, you are able to counter your opponent's moves. This is "无招".

So which is better? I think pushing hands will bring us to the higher level, because we will not be restricted by fixed movements. If we learn the applications of fixed movements, when our opponent moves in an unexpected way (which we have not trained to counter before), we will not be able to handle it. But if we train in pushing hands, even if the opponent moves in unexpected manners, we will be able to discern the direction of his force, redirect it and use it back against him. Thus, "无招胜有招".

A Gentle Lock 2

Previously, I have written about my teacher gently locking my arm. Yesterday, during taiji class, he was explaining taijiquan to a few beginners, and was demonstrating arm locks (one hand at the wrist, the other at the elbow). A student commented that the lock felt very strong, which my teacher explained that it was because she was struggling. So she was actually feeling her own force. To show that he wasn't using any force, my teacher proceeded to demonstrate the same lock (one hand at wrist, one hand at elbow), but this time, instead of using his hands, he placed one index finger at the wrist, and the other index finger at the elbow. He was using his index fingers to lock the student's arm!

It will indeed be a long way before I can even get near his level of proficiency.

Yang (Dong/Tung) Style Fast Form 杨（董）氏快拳

Terry asked about the Yang style fast form that I practise. Yes, it is also known as Dong/Tung style fast form, since it was created by Dong Yingjie based on Yang style taijiquan.


This is Master Lin Bo Yan (my teacher's teacher) practising the fast form. You can find more about him here (where I took the video).

Chinese Martial Arts CCTV Series 《中华武功》 and 《武林传奇》

《中华武功》is a CCTV series on Chinese martial arts that was showing in Singapore a few months ago. For those of you who missed the show, it is now available on DVD. I saw a shop at Bras Basah Complex selling it. Of course, if you don't mind the resolution, it can be viewed on the Internet as well.

CCTV 中华武功 page
CCTV 中华武功 videos online

Another series is 《武林传奇》, which you can find here under the broader series《走遍中国》, introducing the history and development of different Chinese martial arts.

CCTV 走遍中国 page
CCTV 走遍中国 videos online

Imagine The Opponent

A fellow student said something which I felt was very good to share with everyone. When you are practising taiji, you need to imagine there is an opponent there. When you are pushing hands, you need to imagine that there is no opponent there.

I think the basic mentality is correct. However, as with all things in taiji, the "between the yes and no" is very important. So while practising taiji, you should imagine that there is an opponent there, you must not be overly focused on the imaginary opponent. This should allow you to instill spirit/meaning into your movements, without them becoming overly stiff. And when pushing hands, while you should imagine that your opponent is not there, you should not be overly focused on ignoring the presence of your opponent. This should allow you to relax while pushing hands, without becoming limp.

Yang Style 13 Movements 杨氏十三式

For those interested in Yang style taijiquan 13 movements (杨氏十三式).

1. 起势
2. 云手
3. 单鞭
4. 肘底捶
5. 白鹤亮翅
6. 搂膝拗步
7. 手挥琵琶
8. 高探马带穿掌
9. 撇身捶
10. 搬拦捶
11. 拦雀尾
12. 十字手
13. 收势

Training Together Part 2

A year ago, I wrote about the importance of training together in a group. Recently, this issue surfaced again. I was too slow for the rest of the class. I was slow because I was trying to enjoy the practice, to complete each move properly. But by being slow, I am not able to react to the changes around me. So should I follow the rest?

Yes, and no. Yes, I need to follow the pace of the class as a whole, because that teaches me how to react to the pace of others. Taiji is about keeping pace with your opponent, and group practice is a good way to learn that.

No, because even when trying to keep pace, you must not end up speeding through each movement without completing it properly. Even when trying to keep pace, you need to continue to complete each movement properly, otherwise, the practice becomes just an exercise to move your bones and does not add to improving your skill.

What is Relax part 2

I have written about what it is to relax in previous posts (here and here). But that is just the physical portion of relaxing. While physically relaxing the body is part of being able to apply taiji, it is not the complete picture.

Taiji is about the mind. The most important part of this is to relax the mind. Whether you are practising your form, or pushing hands, or facing a real opponent, the most important aspect of taiji is to do it with a relaxed mind. So what is a relaxed mind? It is one which is not overly focused, yet does not wander all over the place. For example, while practising your form, you may be paying some attention to your kua to make sure you sink and relax it properly, yet at the same time, your attention is not so focused on your kua that it becomes your single preoccupation. When practising your form, while you try to practise each move to show its application, you are not so focused on showing the applications of each move. When pushing hands, while you try to listen to your opponent's force, you are not actively seeking to know where his force is going.

This "in between yes and no" is the most important thing about relaxing your mind. The focus is there, but it is not sharp. In a way, it is like aiming your camera at a specific nearby object, yet not focusing the lens to get a sharp image. In this way, while the specific nearby object appears slightly blurred, the surroundings are not lost.

Proposed Training Programme

Just a thought I have on how train from now on.

Basic foundation exercises 基本功 for 30min
Specific movements 单招练习 for 30min
Form/routine practice 套路练习 for 1hr

The first 30min is to build up a good foundation, to instill in the body the correct posture and requirements for taiji, to improve the movement of the joints, etc. This will include basic warmup exercises to increase flexibility, as well as silk reeling exercise.

The next 30min is to rectify and improve the execution of specific movements within a routine. This should help to get rid of bad habits and aid in application. An example will be continuous practice of Grasp Sparrow Tail (拦雀尾).

The last 1hr is to put into practise the principles of taiji, focusing more on the internal aspects such as staying relaxed, using the mind to lead the body, etc.

Comments? I will be happy to hear about how you train too, because I may be able to draw reference from that for my own training.

Bajiquan Videos

Here are some more baijiquan 八極拳 videos from Youtube.

A sparring routine used to practise application (and response).


Matsuda Ryuchi 松田隆智 performing bajiquan. He is the author of the comic Kenji 拳児, which is a comic about a person's bajiquan learning journey.




This is the competition form used for wushu competitions nowadays.

Learning to Relax

Just when I thought I had made a bit of headway in learning how to relax, I realised how far away I really am.

When I pushed hands with my teacher, I still feel force, and I know that is brute force coming from me. Yes, it is a bit, very little, but still, it is muscular force that can be used against me when pushing hands. It is muscular force that is preventing me from being able to apply the soft side of taiji properly. It is muscular force that comes about because I still cannot relax.

And I think it is because I am still using a lot of muscular force when I practise my routines. Taiji is about the mind moving the body, but I still end up using my muscles to move the body. While it may sound funny/ridiculous (how else to move if not to use muscles?), the muscles here I am referring to is the muscular force that we are so used to using, the brute force that we are used to using. So, after some thought, I think the way to improve and learn to relax is to go away from the muscular force and work towards using the mind to move the body, to use the mind to make the movements when practising my routines. Once I can do that, maybe I will be able to relax better and not like the muscular force manifest itself when pushing hands.

A Gentle Lock

Just to share an experience I had.

I have previously talked about the hard and soft applications of the same move in taiji. Last night, my teacher was using me to demonstrate a move. When he used lyu 捋 on my arm, placing one hand on my wrist and another at my elbow, I had the strangest kind of feeling. I felt that I couldn't move. I felt that if I tried to move my arm, no matter which direction, the hands being placed at my wrist and elbow would not allow that movement. And all my teacher did was to place his hands on my arm. It was not like he was locking my arm with force. It was what I call a gentle lock. It is because his "listening" is so good, that every small movement that I make, he was able to detect and move in the smallest/slightest way to counter it, while still maintaining his hands at my wrist and elbow.

This is what taiji is about. Winning without having to fight. Just like what Sun Tzu said is the highest form of winning. Without an overt expression of force from my teacher, I (whose arm was being locked) knew exactly what was in store for me should I try to struggle and fight back. And I knew that I had no way out of it.

It will be a long way (if ever) before I get to this stage. But at least it is something to remember, and slowly work towards.

Trimming Your Fingernails

Once thing that I learnt back in the days when I was learning wushu, and have since been practising, is to keep my fingernails short at all times. Because for someone who practises martial arts, it serves practical reasons to have short fingernails.

1. There is less chance of your nails catching onto your opponent's clothes and breaking at the worst possible time and causing you unnecessary pain and distraction.

2. Your nails won't break when you are trying to punch or poke someone, causing you unnecessary pain and distraction.

3. Your nails won't scratch your practice partners, causing them unnecessary pain and injury.

So, for yourself and the people you practise with, I would advise keeping your fingernails short. It will benefit you (or at least prevent a disadvantage for you) and is a courtesy to others.

Videos of a Younger Chen Xiaowang

Found this on Youtube. It is Chen style old frame first routine, but see how different it is from what we are used to seeing nowadays. It is softer, just like what the first routine is all about.



And here is another video of Chen Xiaowang when he was younger. The video is clip of his first and second routines combined.

Taking Comments

An incident at class. An old man (a friend of my teacher) came over to talk to my teacher, and saw us practising. He saw a fellow student, and commented that his moves were too stiff. After the old man left, the student made a rude remark about the old man. My teacher chastised him for not being open to comments.

I know the old man. He is also a practitioner of taiji, and practises daily (except for rainy days). And he probably has been practising taiji even before I was born. I thought about bringing this up to my fellow student, but decided to keep my comments to myself before he thinks I am trying to be smart.

I think that in order for us to improve, we must be open to comments. Not just from our teacher, but from fellow students and even passerbys. When someone makes a comment, we need to reflect to see if that comment is true, because there is no smoke without fire. Usually, an external party can notice things that we would otherwise miss out. We think we are correct, but when someone thinks otherwise, we need to ask ourselves why is it that someone else is perceiving things differently from us.

Be open to comments, because they can only help to improve you. And be thankful that the person giving you a comment actually bothers to spend his time looking at you and telling you what he thinks can help you improve.

Why Practise Taiji Slowly?

Why do we practise taiji slowly? It is, after all, a martial art, and you don't move slowly at all when you are applying taiji. So why not practise it at the speed that you use it?

I think the answer is because we practise taiji slowly so that we make sure that each movement is done correctly. When we move slowly, we are able to check ourselves to ensure that each movement is carried out exactly as is required, so that we move in line with the principles of taiji. With time, each time we practise a movement, it is correct, meeting the requirements. After practising the same movement a few thousand times, the correct way of moving becomes such a part of us, that instinctively, whether moving fast or slow, we are able to carry out the movement in the exact same way, just at different speeds. Then, when we need to apply that movement, we are able to meet the requirements of the movement, but moving at a faster speed.

But slow is not necessarily good. Each time we practise, while we move slowly, we must not have breaks within our movements. Because one of the main principles of taiji is to move continuously (绵绵不断). If we move so slowly that there are breaks in our movement (usually because we take too much time checking ourselves), and it becomes a bad habit, what happens is that when we try to apply that movement (moving at a faster speed), the same break will happen, because we are so used to it. And then we will find that we are unable to properly apply that movement, because the break in it causes the force to be disrupted.

So while practising slowly is good, remember, the movements must be continuous. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of practising slowly, and we might as well practise at the same speed as we expect to apply the movements. And then it becomes like changquan.

Questions on Taiji

Do you have a question on taiji? Do feel free to post them here as comments. It will give me ideas on what to write about, and who knows, maybe someone else can provide you an answer as well.

Hard vs Soft

I was watching a video on Chen style fajing training. It introduced 42 methods of training fajing, which can be stringed together to become a continuous training routine. Below is an example taken from here.



The video I watched showed applications as well (I couldn't find it on YouTube, so you will have to make do with the example above), but watching the video, I started thinking about how the applications seem to stress the hard part of application, without touching on the soft part of application.

I think taiji movements can be applied in two ways, hard and soft. By hard, it means striking. Basically, like a punch, you start without contacting your opponent, and suddenly make contact. The force is usually more explosive. Much like what you will see in Chen style second routine.

By soft, you are already in contact with your opponent, then you listen to his force and redirect it to use against him. The movements are more fluid and is what you will find familiar in Chen style first routine.

For example, the double peng can be used to strike away an opponent's arm when he tried to use both hands to push you. That is the hard method of applying it. It can also be used to turn and lift up his arms, and his whole body with it, when he similarly tries to push you with two hands. That is the soft method of using it.

The hard method requires power, which can be developed via constant practice. What you need to remember is that the movement must be smooth and relaxed. Power comes naturally when your body moves as a whole. There is no need to specifically exert force.

The soft method requires the ability to listen for and redirect your opponent's force. This is achieved through pushing hands training. This may be the harder method to train, since it requires that you have a partner available to train with.

So while it may seem more interesting to train in the hard method of application (after all, the explosive nature of the force exerted makes it look more impressive and more "useable"), let's not forget the soft method of application, which is what allows one to use "four ounces of strength to move a thousand catties" (四两拨千斤).

Taiji Mentality

A lot about taiji comes from the mind. After all, one of the basic principles of taiji is to use the mind to control the body (用意不用力). So the correct mentality towards applying taiji is very important, since the mind controls the body.

A common misunderstanding (I would think) is that taiji is about yielding (see previous post about yielding vs following) to the opponent, so that you don't resist him. I would think the correct mentality is not about yielding. Rather, it is about not resisting. But how not to resist? It does not mean to yield, to let your opponent has his way. Rather, in order not to resist, you listen, then follow, then lead your opponent in the direction that you want. Starting out passive, you end up taking the lead. The correct mentality is to remain passive until your opponent makes a move, but all the time you tell yourself to look for an opening to take the lead. You need to end up like water, flowing into every nook and canny available.

Martial arts is about defeating the opponent. That usually means you have to push forward (not to be taken in the full literal sense). If you need to move back to gain an advantage, by all means go ahead. But you need to press forward (need not be taken literally, it can be a mental kind of thing) at some point in time in order to defeat your opponent. If you keep running away, at best you avoid losing.

So the mental model to adopt is to be like water, be like the sea, flowing into every nook and canny, crushing itself upon the shore, retreating only to strike again.

Learn By Looking

There is a limit to learning by looking at what your teacher is doing. Because when you are looking, you are not able to comprehend what is going on within your teacher's mind/body.

For example, when you look at your teacher pushing hands with someone else, you may notice him moving his hands, his legs, his body in certain ways to neutralise an attack. But when you try to imitate his movements, you find that you are unable to achieve the same effect. Also, everytime you look at him, he seems to be moving in a slightly different way, yet the effect is the same. Why? Because your teacher's movements are a response to his opponent's movements/force. Each situation is a different situation, and thus each response is different from the other. You cannot achieve the same effect imitating him because firstly, you lack his level of skill/understanding of taiji. Secondly, your opponent's movement/force is different. So your situation is different from your teacher's.

It is the same when observing your teacher performing a taiji routine. It is difficult to imitate your teacher because you don't know what is going on inside his mind, what he understands from each movement of the routine and how he visualises applying it. If you try to imitate his movements without knowing how he interprets each movement, you will end up with an empty shell, a form without substance. You are better off performing each movement based on how you yourself understand each movement is applied.

Does that mean there is no value in looking at your teacher? No, there is still value. You look at your teacher is learn the broad movements, after which you must ponder on your own their applications (and ask if you cannot figure it out). You look at your teacher to see what can be achieved, thereby allowing you to set goals for yourself. You look at your teacher to see if you have made any gross mistakes in the movements (usually because when you first learn the routine, due to your lack of understanding, you didn't pick up enough details, and now that you know better, you realise that your hand is too low, your feet too wide apart, etc.)

Pushing Hands For Self-Defence

Is pushing hands a form of self-defence?

If you were to ask me, I would say that strictly speaking, pushing hands is not a form of self-defence. Rather, it is a way to practise taiji skills related to self-defence.

A real attacker is not going to touch hands with you before he continues his attack. So the basic movements (single-hand stationary pushing hands, double-hands stationary pushing hands, etc.) that we use in pushing hands will not be useful when we are really under attack. So if you think you are going to be able to defend yourself just by learning pushing hands, you may need to relook your options.

What pushing hands does is that it trains you in the basics of taiji, which is 掤履挤按採挒肘靠. It teaches you the importance of staying relaxed, and trains you to turn your kua properly to neutralise an opponent's force. You still need to couple this with your taiji routine training (which is a form of shadow boxing), during which you visualise how to apply each movement in your routine. Taiji routine practice allows you to know how to apply each movement; pushing hands training allows you to apply each movement correctly (the correct amount of force, the correct point to make contact, etc.)

So pushing hands alone is not self-defence. Practising taiji routines alone is not self-defence. Only when you put both of them together, can you make taiji a form of self-defence.

Thoughts on Peng

I just wrote about why we need to practise single-hand pushing hands. This post is about additional thoughts on peng related to that article.

As mentioned, the most important thing about single-hand pushing hands is to learn about peng and other basic skills of taiji. So what exactly is peng all about? I think peng is wrongly translated in English when we use "ward off". Because peng is not just about warding off. Rather, the most important thing about peng is learning where to meet an opponent's force. It is about where to make contact, and that is why it is the most important move in taiji. Because only after making contact, can you continue to perform other things, like leading your opponent's force away and thus neutralise it, and then return it to your opponent.

For example, a common mistake is to make contact with your opponent's hand (when he pushes) using the back of your hand. Why? Because when you make contact with the back of your hand, your wrist will become stiff, thus allowing your opponent to make use of your stiff wrist (aka brute force) against you. If instead you make contact with your forearm (near the wrist), your wrist can remain relaxed.

Is peng just about making contact with your hand? No. Any part of your body that makes contact with an opponent can be peng. Peng is about how and where to make contact, and is not limited to the hand/arm. It can be the shoulder that makes contact, or the back, or the shin. Peng is about shifting the point of contact to that which is most advantageous to you, so that you can then make use of your opponent's force against him.