Saturday, June 19, 2010

One (Hand) Versus Two (Hands)

Sometimes, when you are doing single-hand pushing hands, do you inadvertently use the other hand as well? Ending in you using two hands against an opponent who is only using one hand?

Being a guy who likes to observe the rules, I would say that using two hands when doing single-hand pushing hand is against the rule and thus is a no-no. But at the same time, I don't think it is fair to say that we should totally avoid it. Because sometimes, we can't.

For example, sometimes your opponent is a bit rough and uses more dangerous moves, and the only way to counter him (and avoiding getting injured) is to use two hands. In such cases, I think we should. Pushing hands is after all a practice and it is not worth getting injured.

But if the reason for using two hands is because we cannot avoid being pushed by our opponent (who is using one hand), and we want to avoid being pushed (aka losing), then I feel that it is wrong to use two hands. After all, pushing hands is practice, we should not be afraid of losing. If our fear of losing (or our need to win) is so great, maybe we shouldn't be pushing hands.