The Spirit of Competition

Recently, there was a pushing hands competition in Singapore. While I did not go and watch the competition (because I didn't hear about it until it was over), I did hear something from my teacher that set me thinking. Apparently, there was a round in which a big size man in his 40s was pushing hands with a smaller size man in his 70s. The man in his 40s pulled the man in his 70s, causing him to fall. To me, this just doesn't sound right. In pushing hands competitions, shouldn't the matches be organised according to weight? And even then, pushing hands is not sparring, it is friendly competition and should stop before anyone gets hurt. Those who take part in competitions should be at a certain proficiency level that they know when to stop, how to prevent themselves from getting hurt, or from causing hurt to their opponents.

For myself, I have only taken part in one taiji competition so far. To me, competition is not about winning. It is about learning from others, seeing the standards of others, and from there motivating myself to do better. With the competition in mind, I motivate myself to train hard, so that I will not go in and make a fool of myself and my teacher. I don't go in to win. I don't go in to pick on the faults of others. Rather, I go in, do my best, and see where I stand. I look at those who do better than myself, and ask myself what are they doing better. I look at others and see what are their mistakes, so that I don't make the same mistakes.

The spirit of competition should be in learning from one another. Your opponents are not your enemies, they are there to help you learn what you are doing right and what you can improve on. Treat them with respect, as in a way, they are your teachers too.

Pushing Hands and Taijiquan Routine

The relation between pushing hands and taijiquan routine is critical. To improve in one of them, you cannot do without the other. No matter how hard and long you practise your taijiquan routine, you will never be able to perform the movements to reflect their meanings unless you know how to use these movements. And how do you know how to use these movements correctly? That is where pushing hands come in.

During pushing hands, you try to apply the movements learnt and practised during taijiquan routine. The little details that you left out during practice will haunt you when you try to apply the movements during pushing hands. You will come to realise that these little details that are left out will mean you are unable to apply the movements properly. So when you try to apply these movements and do not achieve the results that you want, reflect on why. Ask yourself what are the details that you may have left out, and watch out for these when you practise your routine.

With enough practice, movements become second nature. Thus, reaction when pushing hands becomes second nature. The movements you use during pushing hands become a reflection of your taijiquan routine and how you practise it. If you have practised your movements correctly, it will show in being able to apply the movements during pushing hands. Similarly, any shortcomings in your movements will also become apparent when you try to apply them during pushing hands. However, taijiquan routine is the basis for pushing hands. Practising your routine will help you get better at pushing hands, while pushing hands will help you to improve your routine.

Push With Back Leg

Question: How does one push using the strength generated by the back leg, yet still keep the arms relaxed? If anyone has anything to share, please post a comment. Thanks!

How To Lu 捋

A simple question, actually. But not easy to answer. The key point always lies in not using brute force, in not resisting the opponent's force. One hand at the wrist, the other near the elbow. The key is how to coordinate both hands so that they complement each other. The hand at the wrist must lead the opponent's wrist downwards. The hand at the elbow must lift up the opponent's elbow. Then, the hand at the elbow must turn, and start to lead the opponent's elbow downwards. What you want to achieve is to lead the opponent's arm downwards, away from yourself.

You lead your opponent not with the strength of your hands, but by shifting the weight to the back leg and turning the waist. Your hands are but an extension of the movement generated by you shifting your weight to the back leg, which then turns the waist, and ultimately reveals itself in the movements of your hands in leading the opponent's arm downwards.

A common problem is to try to lift your opponent's elbow up with force. That goes against the basic principle of taijiquan. Another is to try to hook your opponent's elbow towards you. The key is not to hook his elbow, it is to bring it up, then lead it down. And the hand at the opponent's elbow must coordinate its movement with the other hand at the wrist, so as to lead the opponent's arm downwards as a whole.

Basics Are Important

Learning the basics is always very important. Before trying to learn more, one should always make sure that he or she has already learnt the basics, and is able to achieve a certain standard. Otherwise, without a good and strong foundation, a person can learn the moves, but still end up unable to apply it properly because they lack the actual skill and understanding.

For example, peng 棚 lu 捋 ji 挤 an 按 is the most basic of taijiquan's moves. While there are eight main ones, these four are the basic ones, and only after achieving certain standards in them, should someone try to start learning more about cai 采 lie 列 zhou 肘 kao 靠. And out of all these, the most basic is peng. If one cannot peng properly, the other three main moves cannot be done correctly, and of course the other four more advanced moves cannot be properly applied as well.

Using Your Opponent's Strength Part 3

I talked to my teacher today about what to do if I cannot lu my opponent's arm because he sinks his elbow. After all, if I try to roll back on his arm, I will end up using brute force to turn his arm around and pull it downwards. Since that is against taiji's principle of not applying brute force, what should I do?

My teacher's answer was very simple. You don't need to go up against his force. If he sinks his elbow downwards, his force is downwards. So trying to lift up his arm, turn it around and then pull it downwards is to actually go up against his downwards force. This is ding. What I can do here is not to try to lu anymore, but to just turn my palm around and push his elbow towards his body instead. Since his force is downwards, my force towards his body is unopposed and I will then be able to push him down.

I will try to upload some photos of what I am trying to say. Have to find a few people to "model" first.

Using Your Opponent's Strength Part 2

Hua 化 allows you to neutralise an opponent's attack. But in order to use his strength against him, you need to use dai 带. To do so, you must be able to feel where your opponent's force is going, and then follow that force. Then change that direction slightly towards where you want him to fall.

For example, during lu 捋, if your opponent's force is forward, follow it forward, but slightly divert it downwards and away from your body. If he resists by pulling back his force, follow his force upwards, divert it towards him so that he falls backwards instead. The important thing here is to follow where his force is going, not against it. Aid his force to make him fall.

During pushing hands yesterday, my teacher was able to lift up a person using lu because the person resisted and was using brute force to stop my teacher from bringing him forward and downwards. By observing my teacher, I realised that my teacher was able to sense when the opponent resisted. The moment his opponent resisted and started to pull his force back and up, my teacher followed that force and lifted up his arm following his force. As his opponent was using brute force and his whole body was stiff, that simple lifting of the arm resulted in him being lifted up as a whole.

Light is Heavy

My teacher once told me that "light is heavy" when I asked him how to prevent others from lifting my elbow up when pushing hands. What happened was that, whenever I practise pushing hands, there were occasions when my opponent was able to lift up my elbow (and thus bring up my whole arm) and push me off balance. My teacher's reply to my question was that I need to "sink my elbow". By that, it is not to use strength to push my elbow downwards when someone tries to lift it up. Rather, I am supposed to relax, use no brute force, and just try to make my arm as light as possible. The lighter my arm, the heavier it will be for my opponent when he tries to lift it up.

I tried this during last week's pushing hands session. And guess what? It works! When I consciously relax my arm and try to make it as light as possible, my opponent was not able to lift up my elbow. But everytime I lose concentration, and use just a bit of brute force to bring my elbow downwards, my opponent was able to sense my force and up went my elbow, and my balance. It goes to show how important it is to relax and not use brute force. The lighter you are, the heavier it is for the opponent.

Applying What You Learn

During the pushing hands session today, there were a few times when I was unable to neutralise attacks from my opponents. Even though I didn't fall or anything, I felt that I was using brute force to maintain my balance or to fend off the attacks. On my way home, I started to think about this. I came to the realisation that I had the solutions to all the attacks. Yet why was I unable to apply those solutions when I was actually pushing hands with someone?

The answer, I guess, is because when I practise, I don't think enough about application. I keep thinking about how to make my movements conform to the requirements of taijiquan, to carry out the small details that my teacher taught me. Yet I lost the big picture. I have left out visualising how to use these movements in actual application. If I had diligently practised visualising while practising the movements, I would have known how to react when my opponent starts to push my elbow upwards.