Left and Right

Just when I thought that my taiji journey has slowed down, today, I managed to learn something again, just by observing my teacher while he was talking to another student.

I used to wonder why is it that my teacher can so easily cause an opponent to lose his balance by opening his arms. Today, I realised that is what Sun style's "open" is about. Relax your kua, then turn in one direction to draw your opponent forward. If your opponent stops resisting and goes with your force, he will eventually lose his balance as you bring his centre of gravity further and further away. If he resists and tries to pull in the opposite direction, just reverse your force by turning in the other direction, and he will fall backwards.