Saturday, June 16, 2012

Pushing Hands and Taiji Practice

Before I went to Japan, I was worried if I could find a pushing hands class in Japan to continue my practice. But my teacher advised me not to worry. He told me that instead of trying to find a place to practise pushing hands, I should just focus on my taiji practice during that one year in Japan. He really knew what he was talking about.

Just the other day, I was told to try pushing hands with my teacher's assistant (who has been with my teacher for about 30 years now). He doesn't practise pushing hands, but he has been diligently practising taiji for the past 30 years or so. The moment our hands touched, I can sensed that he is someone who knows how to relax, and as we are pushing hands, I can sense that he knows how to push properly as well. So here is someone who doesn't practise pushing hands, but because he has been diligent in his taiji practice, he is able to meet all the requirements of taiji (like relax, linking hands and feet, turning the kua, etc) and thus can straight away pick up pushing hands easily. Each year of practice really counts; it all adds up.

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