Talking With a Hakko-Ryu Sensei

I had an opportunity to speak with a teacher of Hakko-ryu ju-jutsu (八光流柔術). One thing that he said that I thought I would like to share.

He mentioned that most martial arts spend a lot of time training in things other than sparring. Even a boxer does not spar everyday, but instead steps up on sparring practice only before matches. Most of the time, the training is focused on other things. This made me recall what my teacher said about pushing hands practice before I came over to Japan. He told me not to worry about not being able to practise pushing hands. Instead, he told me to focus on my normal taiji practices.

High Stance

One thing I realised from practising with a high stance during pushing hands. In the past, I practised with a lower stance, it allowed me to move out of danger even though there are parts of my body that is still not relaxed. In a way, I could use distance to neutralise my opponent's force.

But with a high stance, I no longer have the luxury of distance. My body really must be relaxed, else I cannot neutralise my opponent's force. And because of this, it helped me realise the faults with my stance. My chest is still not round enough... I still have a slight force that pushes my chest outwards. My kua still has a tendency to stick out towards my opponent. My elbow still have a tendency to point outwards rather than downwards. Most important of all, I am still not relaxed enough in total... the kua may be able to turn, but that is at the expense of the rest of the body, which is wrong. I was so focused on making the kua relaxed and able to turn that I overlook the real meaning of relax, which is the whole body. When the whole body (from head to toe) is relaxed, the kua will naturally be relaxed as well and able to turn.

A (Slightly) Different Style

In my search for a place to practise pushing hands, I have found a group that practises Wu (吴) style pushing hands. It is very similar to what I have been practising in Singapore, so I decided to stick with it for the time being.

However, there are differences.

- The stance is a lot higher than what I used to practise. My teacher (Mr Kwek) advocates a low stance when practising pushing hands, but this group advocates a high stance (almost like standing). And because of that, the knees are only really really slightly bent.
- I was told not to turn my kua too much, instead to just move my kua in the direction that I want to push, and then only slightly. This is in relation to when I am being pushed. Complete context is: When pushed in one direction, sink down, then move kua slightly in the direct opposite direction. The key is to be very very relaxed at the point of contact. I would say even limp.
- When pushed, my opponents jump around a lot in what seems like an attempt to dissipate the force. I was told that the key to being able to do this is to "withstand the incoming force with my feet" but somehow, I still don't see how that links to jumping around... this is probably going to get some time to figure out.

That's all for now, I guess it will take some time to get used to a different style, but I think there are things to be learnt from this as well. I would say I have a clear idea of how I want to better myself, and this is a good chance to learn something different, to see things from a different angle.

Being Stable

I was observing a taiji class the other day, and the instructor was talking about the importance of being stable. An important thing in taiji is not to overdo something. You should not stretch yourself beyond your ability. You do not move your centre of gravity beyond what is needed to achieve a movement. And therefore you remain stable. While broad, elaborate movements may look nice, stable movements are what taiji is about.

The key:
- Move as a whole. If your kua has stopped moving, your upper body should stop too. A common mistake I make is to do the small little silk-reeling movements of Chen-style taiji with my hands, without linking it to my kua movement. While it may look nice, it is not taiji.
- Shift your weight to the supporting leg before taking a step. When taking a step, the leg that moves should touch down like a feather. Only when the foot is properly on the ground, then should you start placing weight on it. Else you will suddenly shift your centre of gravity, which can be exploited during pushing hands.

Creating Your Own Style (Or Not)

While searching for a suitable taiji class in Japan, I came upon a class where the teacher created his own taiji set, esssentially, his own taiji style. It set me thinking, what is good about creating your own style, and what is good about sticking to what your teacher has taught you.

If Yang Lu-chan did not create his own style, we would not have Yang style taiji today. Similarly for Sun Lu-tang and the other founders of the major taiji styles. Yet, there must be reasons why these major styles have survived for generations, and therefore there must be value in continuing to practise these styles as they were handed down from generation to generation.

I think a style needs to be significantly different in order to set it apart and for there to be benefit in learning it. For example, the Yang style focuses on the soft aspect of taiji, while the Sun style uses a different type of footwork. A style should not be just a gathering of different movements.

Your Own Place

I once read a book about Sagawa Yukiyoshi (佐川 幸義), a master in daito-ryu aikijujutsu. In the book, there was a portion when he talked about the difference between him and his teacher, Takeda Sokaku (武田 惣角). Master Takeda did not have a fixed dojo, insteading wandering from place to place to teach. Sometimes he would stay in a certain place longer if he can find a suitable place to teach, otherwise he would stay for a short while to give seminar-like lessons. Master Sagawa, however, set up his own dojo, a fixed place for him to teach. Unlike his teacher, Master Sagawa believed that it was important to have his own dojo. And I think I understand why.

A person who teaches martial arts full-time spends a portion of his time teaching. Yet he also has time in which he is not teaching. However, without his own dojo, he cannot utilise that "free time" for his own practice and research. If you have your own dojo, you can use the time between lessons to practice, to research, to ponder, without having to worry about finding a suitable place. In a way, it allows you to maximise the time in honing your skills. Imagine, if you wake up in the middle of the night with an inspiration, if you have your own dojo, you can just walk in and pursue that inkling. Maybe that is why Master Sagawa chose to have his own dojo.

Teaching Taiji Is Not Easy

The title says it all. But what is so difficult?

I have talked about the teacher's mistakes being reflected by the students. That is one of the difficulties, that the teacher must first attain a certain standard before he can teach. Else he will be passing on mistakes.

But there is another difficulty. And that is, is there a syllabus to follow?

Just like an academic class, in which a syllabus helps the teacher to pace the progress of what to teach, in teaching taiji, is there a syllabus to follow? What do you teach in the first class? How many steps do each teach per class? How many repetitions (practices) before you teach a new step? What type of mistakes do you correct in the first month, the second month, etc? When do you start introducing the basic principles of taiji? Because if you try to teach too much at one go, the student will be overwhelmed and learn nothing instead. Yet if you teach too slowly, you run the risk of boring the students.

The problem of syllabus is less obvious when teaching a single student, since you can tailor the class to his learning ability.

A syllabus provides clarity to the students on what to expect for each class, and gives them a sense of progress. But just like in academic classes, slower learners may not be able to keep up with the syllabus, and keeping to the syllabus may mean running the risk of losing these students. Of course, just like academic classes, you can always help these slower learners by paying more attention to them (aka remedial lessons).

Talking about the sense of progress, being in Japan gives me a chance to appreciate how the dan 段 system helps to give a sense of progress and achievement to the student to keep him engaged and interested in continuing to improve himself. There are specific objectives to meet in order to qualify to progress through each dan, and the objectives are in line with a bigger syllabus that works towards a bigger goal. In a way, it provides a systematic approach towards achieving a goal, something which the Japanese are very good at. The question then, is to define what each of these levels (dan) means. There is already a system in China but how do you adapt it for traditional taijiquan?

Teaching taiji is not easy...

Trying to Learn Taiji in Japan - Continuing the Search

As I have written before, I am looking for a place in Japan to practice. I went to observe a taiji/pushing hands class last night. What was taught for pushing hands was somewhat different from what I have learnt, though it is similar to something that I have seen on video before. The similarity only came much later in the class when they started to do single-hand pushing hands like what I know. But it runs so contradictory to what I have learnt from Mr Kwek, that there is no way that I can accept what was being taught at that class. So I did not join the class.

Anyway, the search continues, though I have more or less decided to practise taiji on my own. But I am still searching for a way to practise pushing hands.
東京都内（平日夜）、横浜市内（土日）、横須賀市内（土日）で推手練習できる教室を紹介してください。また、私の推手相手をしてくださる方、よければ連絡してください。メールはヤフージャパンのvntsjpです。コメントで連絡方法を教えてくれても大丈夫です。宜しくお願い致します。
If anyone knows where I can practise pushing hands in Tokyo (weekday nights), Yokohama (weekends) or Yokosuka (weekends), or if you don't mind practising with me, please drop me an email. You can contact me at vntsjp_at_yahoo_dot_co_dot_jp or leave a comment with some way to contact you.

A bit on the video that I saw which was similar to what was being taught. It was a video of pushing hands, demonstrated during a wushu and taiji demonstration in the early 90s. There was a mass group display and I have uploaded it below for those who are interested.

Trying to Learn Taiji in Japan

I talked about my temporary stay in Japan for a year, and therefore my temporary break from my lessons in Singapore.

I never knew it was this hard to find a taiji class in Japan.

There are many available, but none like what I am used to having. Plus, they just seem to be the opposite of the schedule that I can afford.

If anyone has information to offer on classes in Tokyo and Yokohama, I am looking for pushing hands class in Tokyo on weekdays and classes in Yokohama on weekends.

Wish me luck!

Not Taking the Advantage

There are times when you do not take an advantage on purpose. It happens a lot during pushing hands, because if you seize every advantage, it may take the fun out of learning. After all, in order to learn, you win some, you lose some. If all you are concerned about is winning, then that goal will cloud your senses and cause you to lose instead. And if you keep winning, your opponent will either lose interest, or become frustrated (and may even turn rough, for example).

It is known as 喂招 and it is something that is very much a part of Chinese martial arts training. You purposely do something for your opponent to respond to. An example is to give an advantage to your opponent so that he learns how to see an advantage and take it.

Temporary Break

I will be taking a temporary break from my taiji lessons in Singapore as I go to Japan for a year. And now I am faced with a dilemma.

If I don't practise pushing hands for a year, I will definitely drop back to square one after a year of not practising.

If I find a place to practise pushing hands while in Japan, it means learning from a new teacher. If I follow what the new teacher teaches, my current teacher in Singapore may not like it. If I continue to do what my current teacher taught me while under the new teacher, the new teacher may not like it.

It is between a rock and a hard place...

Uniform Force

On a circle, every point is the same. That should have given me a clue about how force should be like. My teacher was telling us the other day that force should be the same along my arm, ie. the force at my wrist should be the same as the force at my elbow. One cannot be heavier (or lighter) than the other. Also, when pushing an opponent using two arms, both arms must push with the same force.

In the first case, if a part of your arm is lighter than another, it is an opening for your opponent to move in.

In the latter, if the force from both arms are the same, there is no opening for the opponent to escape towards.

Inkling - Moving With Your Opponent

An inkling again, this time about how to move with your opponent. Taiji teaches us not to resist our opponent, to move with his force. I see two ways to do this.

One is to let him push you around. Once he overcomes inertia, you move. You continue moving as long as he can push harder than the force acting back against him (either friction or any additional force you may put on him). It is like pushing a wooden block. It is easier to move a wooden block on wheels (less friction) compared to the wooden block by itself on a flat surface. In this case, your opponent will feel whatever force that is resisting him (which, if you are not resisting him, is purely friction alone) since by the laws of physics, any force will have an equal and opposite force acting on it. He will feel less force if your kua is relaxed (due to less friction), and theoretically (meaning "impossible") he will feel like he is pushing nothing if there is no friction in your kua.

The other way is to sense his force, then on your own, move in his intended direction. This is like pushing a wooden block that seems to predict your force and moves away from you on its own. In this case, depending on how well you sense your opponent's force, your opponent will feel whatever left-over force after the two forces interact (if you move away with less force than him). If you use more force to move away, you end up losing contact. If you use exactly the same force as your opponent, he will feel like he is pushing nothing.

While the latter may feel like you are not resisting your opponent, my inkling is that that is actually the same as letting go (going limp). When taiji talks about "不丢不顶", it means not to intentionally use force, whether to resist your opponent or to run away from him. Being relaxed "松" and moving with your opponent's force "随" means letting him push you, then using your kua to change the direction of motion to achieve your intended effect.

Relax is a State of the Mind

Once again, the question about being relaxed comes up. I have written before that being relaxed is a state of mind. When your mind is relaxed, you don't have the "fight or flight" mentality, and thus you are able to see more options (other than the two basic ones). This mentality manifests itself in your body, in that your body doesn't stiffen up from tension. Your body is thus relaxed, and when your opponent moves, you are able to sense his movement (direction and magnitude) and through a relaxed state of mind, see the options available to counter his movement.

A common mistake is to equate the relaxed body to mean a relaxed state of mind. When the mind is all tensed up trying to tell the body to relax, the body is necessarily going to be the opposite. So the more tensed up your mind is trying to get your body to relax, the harder it is to relax. And then it becomes easy to fall into the trap of "letting go (or going limp)" aka "丢". It becomes a vicious cycle because going limp won't stop your opponent, so your mind become more tensed.

So being relaxed starts with the mind, and that is why taiji is so focused on using intention, "用意不用力".When your mind is relaxed, your body will listen to your mind's commands instead of reacting to instincts, and you are then in control of the situation to change it to suit your needs.

Inkling - Hiding Your Force, Opening Possibilities

Another inkling, this one about hiding your force. When your force takes shape (which means it has direction and magnitude), your opponent can sense it and use it against you. Your force becomes a corner sticking out. To avoid this, you have to hide your force. It must become like an arc, in which every point is the same, there is no corner sticking out. By having no corners, each point on the arc has the possibility of becoming a corner. By not presenting force, you open up possibilities for the force to appear as, when and where it is needed.

Push With Back Leg Part 3

I have written about what I felt about pushing with the back leg before. Recently, I realised that I have been getting it wrong. All the while, I had thought that pushing with the back leg meant that when I am pushing forward, all the force should come from my back leg. Instead, that doesn't generate force to my arms, and cause the problem of stiffening my kua.

After some thought, and talking to my teacher, I realised that to push with the back leg doesn't mean the back leg pushes with a constant magnitude of force throughout. As your weight slowly shifts in front, the front leg takes on more weight, and the back leg should push with less force. Pushing with the back leg is actually a gradual shifting of the weight from back leg to front leg. The reverse (when shifting weight from front to back leg) is the same, of course. This helps you to move your centre of gravity properly and thus allows you to bring your weight to bear.

Power From Stance Training

Power comes from the legs. This is something common to all martial arts. Weak legs, weak stance, and you cannot generate force. Which is why it is important to train the strength of your legs. And all seem to agree that the way to do it is via stance training. It can be static (zhan zhuang) or dynamic (adopting a low stance when practising taiji routines). So don't rush through your routines, use them to practise your stances and from it, build up and learn to generate the force from your legs.

Balance, Weight and Steps

How you distribute your weight determines your balance. After all, it affects the position of your centre of gravity which effectively determines if you are in equilibrium or not (balance or off-balance). However, one often overlooked point is how your lack of balance can affect your steps.

When taking a step, if your balance is off, you will fall towards where your centre of gravity is. This affects where your step actually lands, since it may not land where it is intended. Which is why we need to place our weight on one leg before we step forward with the other leg. That way, we are stable when taking a step, and our step lands where we want it to be.

Turn Here, Turn There

Yet another inkling after thinking about my experience pushing hands with my teacher. It is about how to neutralise your opponent's force and use it back against him.

For example, when your arm comes into contact with your opponent's arm during pushing hands, turn your arm towards him in one direction until you meet resistance. Once you meet resistance, use that to stick to his arm, and then change the direction of turning your arm, all the while still turning towards him. If you meet resistance again, change direction. The thing is to change direction when you meet resistance, all the while your arm is turning in towards him.

A Joke... Or An Insult?

The opening move in taiji is a very simple movement, yet very difficult to master. From the opening move, one can see if a practitioner is able to achieve all the requirements of taiji, such as the body moving as a whole, relaxing the body, not using brute strength, moving continuously, etc.

During one of our classes, a senior student of my teacher was sharing with another student (quite new to taiji, but he has practised Japanese martial arts for decades) that we have been practising the opening move for about 3 years now (though it is more like 30 years for the senior student...) Hearing that, the new student declared that he would master the opening move in 3 months.

I don't know how to treat this statement. Should I take it as a joke? Or an insult? If a person thinks he can master something that we have been practising for 3 (or 30) years, is he belittling our effort, or belittling the difficulty of what we are trying to learn? Or is he so full of himself that he thinks he can do in months what others takes years to do?

I, for one, would think that he should know the importance of training. That as a practitioner of martial arts himself, he should know that there is no short cut. To be good at something, you need to put in effort to train in it. So I was quite shock at his statement. And if he knows the importance of training, would he then make his statement in jest? Or did he mean more than what he said?

Being Relaxed and Accepting Defeat

I keep writing about being relaxed. And I think that is really the key when facing an opponent.

In taiji, we are told to be relaxed. Relaxed is not a state of the body. It is a state of mind that brings about a state of body. It is no use trying to relax the body if your mind is not relaxed. If you are worried or afraid or angry or anxious, it will show in your actions.

Recently, a practitioner of Japanese martial arts was talking about what he learnt. It got me to recall what I myself know about Japanese martial arts, having trained in them before as well as having my own intimate relationship with Japan and things Japanese, including their way of life and their mentality. In Japanese martial arts, they advocate 覚悟, which when translated goes something like being aware of the consequences and ready to accept those consequences. In bushido (武士道) terms, it means being ready to die for a cause.

I think they all refer to the same thing. It means being ready to accept defeat (and the consequences that comes with it, including, at times, death). When you are ready to accept defeat, your mind is no longer cluttered by fear, anger or other emotions. Your senses are then heightened because your mind is at a different (higher) state of awareness. In a way, your mind is now sharper and thus you react faster. You can still be defeated if you never trained hard enough (because your body cannot achieve what your mind tells it to do) but you are otherwise at the peak of your performance.

Don't Let the "Balloon" Flatten

A common mistake, which I came to realise when pushing hands with my teacher, is that I let my "balloon" flatten. This "balloon" is my peng, and when I let it flatten, I mean my elbow bends more than it should, creating a corner instead of the arc/circle that is required in taiji.

Sounds hard to understand? An illustration: When I push, my arm is slightly bent to create an arc. When I hit resistance (my opponent's force resisting back), my teacher taught me to relax and then continue to push. But the mistake is in the relaxing part. What my teacher meant was to relax the kua and then continue to push using the strength of my legs. What I did was to relax my arms (lessening my peng) and allow my opponent's strength to move in, bending my arms a bit more than it should, creating a corner when it should only be slightly curved. When my arms are bent too much, I cannot push properly with my legs, and in order to straighten my arms a bit, I end up having to use muscular strength, and that is when my opponent can use my muscular strength against me.

So the lesson here is that when your opponent uses force, relax the kua, don't let your "balloon" flatten, and then continue to push with your back leg. By relaxing your kua, you draw your opponent's force out, straightening his force so that you can then use it against him.

Gauging Your Opponent

My teacher would tell us that the moment he contacts another person's hand, he knows how good that person is, and whether he can defeat his opponent or not.

I think I was able to experience something similar the other day. I was pushing hands with someone whom I have not met before. Although I was not able to come to any conclusions when our hands first touched, within one circle, I knew what I could do and what I should not try. I owe it to my teacher for teaching me the right mentality, which is to be relaxed and to be willing to lose. By going in with that mindset, I was able to discern just how good my opponent was and thus react accordingly.

You Have The Answer... Again

Yes, the important thing is to reflect, because that is one way to learn. And sometimes, you will find that you have the answer within yourself, if only you take the time to think and look for it.

Like today, when I was thinking about how to handle an opponent if he refuses to move his legs, pushing and pulling using only his arm muscles. It was a question that I was thinking about as I was walking, and I was going to ask my teacher the next time I see him. Then the answer came to me. If he doesn't change his stance, then use that against him. Move him perpendicular to the line joining his two feet. Either lead him forward or push him back along that perpendicular line, and he will fall. His unmoving stance will actually work against him.

Pushing Beyond Balance

There are two ways to push a person beyond his balance.

One is to push him until he is at the brink of balance, and continue pushing till he is beyond and loses balance.

The other is the lead him to move until his brink of balance, and then push him slightly to make his lose his balance.

The first way uses more force, the second is about listening to his force and guiding it towards the desired direction. In the first way, the push is the main tool. In the second, the push is the finishing touch.

There is a third way, which is to lead him to move till his brink of balance, and continue to lead him to move beyond his balance. In this case, there is no push.

You can easily replace push with pull in the above three examples.

Teaching As Reflection

I have talked about teaching being a means of learning before.

Teaching is a means of reflection.

After a long break from helping my teacher lead some of his classes, I went back again today to help out. Instead of the students that I used to lead, I helped with a group of newcomers. This gave me a chance to see those older students that I used to practise with. It made me feel ashamed and enlightened. Their mistakes were mine, and I am guilty of causing them to make those mistakes. They copied my mistakes when I made them, and continued to make those mistakes without being corrected.

The student is the teacher's reflection. The student's mistake is the teacher's. I have written about that before. In a class, the one who learns the most is actually the teacher. The student learns only from his own mistakes (as pointed out by the teacher) but the teachers learns from the mistakes of all his students.

When you lead a class, you need to be correct in your own moves. And that is why I appreciate my teacher for giving me the opportunity to help him lead some of his classes. I learn a lot more helping him lead his classes compared to when I practise on my own.

Drawing Out The Force

When two hands come into contact and don't move as both try not to use force, it is still resisting. Not moving because both are not using force is not relaxing. It is still resisting, albeit using minimum force.

My teacher is able to draw out force. No matter how relaxed and how much I try to avoid using force, once my hand comes into contact with his, he can draw out my force and then start to move me, at his choosing. When we both don't use force, our hands are just in contact. Then, he uses peng and draws out my force, I use a bit of force and he uses it back against me.

If I had used force from the onset, he would have of course used it against me. But even when I try not to use force, he is able to draw out my force. That is what a master in taiji is about.

Don't Push

It may sound weird, but that was what my teacher told me. He told me not to push. I think what he meant was not to focus on pushing, since he continued on to tell me to focus on neutralising my opponent's force. I think the lesson here is to focus on listening to my opponent's force and then try to neutralise it, rather than try to use it against him. So I think that will be my focus for a while, to try to figure out my opponent's force and how to neutralise it. After all, if I push back, things can sometimes become rough...

Pushing Hands is Not About Accommodating... (Huh??!!)

After telling me that pushing hands is about pushing the hands, the same fellow student told me that he cannot accommodate what I tell him when we were pushing hands. The context was: I was trying to tell him where he should place his hands so as to counter my push when we were practising two-hands pushing hands, so that we can work on drawing the circles first.

As I said, he probably did more years of taiji than me and thus know what he was talking about... but still, isn't taiji about trying to follow your opponent, and from there counter him? Isn't taiji about accommodating to your opponent (舍己从人)? But still, there is still a lesson to learn here.

Pushing hands is not about learning how to push someone. We can easily do that, just by you pushing me and I pushing you. Pushing hands is about learning how to sense your opponent's and your own force. I think the important thing when learning pushing hands is to know why you are even learning it in the first place. If the objective is to be able to push someone, you will learn how to push people. If your objective is to learn how to sense force, you will learn how to sense force and use it against your opponent.

And of course, if your objective is to learn to push but mine is to learn to sense your force, while you may be able to push me around at first, I will soon be able too use your force against you. The more I let you push me, there more I learn how to sense your force and eventually use it against you. If you never let your opponent push you, you will not know how to sense force.

Pushing Hands Means to Push the Hand (Huh??!!)

Life is really about learning, and we continue to learn new things each day.

Like today, when a fellow pushing hands student told me that pushing hands is about pushing the hand. Thus, I am not supposed to push anywhere else except the hands... of course, the definition of hand (手) here is a bit wide, it includes the arm (手臂) as well. So if his hand moves down, I am supposed to follow. I am not supposed to push his chest even when he leaves a big opening, because I am supposed to follow (随) and his hand has moved down.

I tried saying that taiji is about not giving up and not resisting (不丢不顶), but that seemed to fall on deaf ears since my fellow student was quite certain that he is correct. Well, he is older than me and probably learnt taiji for a longer period than me, even though he is new to the pushing hands class. I guess that gives him the right to say things like he knows what he is talking about and doesn't need to listen to others.

It reminded me of the famous Zen lesson. When your cup is full, you cannot receive anymore. When we come into class with pre-conceived notions about what is right and wrong, we cannot learn what the teacher has to offer.

One thing positive that I learnt. I learnt how to push with my back leg better. It is still something that I don't do well but I am slowly progressing. And I must thank my fellow student for that. He was the one who pointed to me how to push with my back leg better.