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.