Inkling: Panting Means Over-Exerting

If you ever end up panting while pushing hands, it means you are using too much strength. It means you are not relaxing. It means you are over-exerting yourself.

Stay relaxed, and even if things move fast, you will still be able to react to it with minimal force. Stay calm, and things will become clearer. And then you will be able to see just what you need to do in order to counter your opponent's moves.

I have came out of pushing hands sessions panting before. Now I know it was wrong. I was trying too hard not to be pushed, I was trying too hard to push back. When I stay calm, I can instead sense what my opponent is trying to do, and move accordingly to counter it with minimal force. And I can thus come out of the same session without panting anymore.

So if you realise that you are panting during pushing hands, it means you need to relax more.

Moving Into Another Stage

My teacher noted that I am able to relax my kua some of the time. Not all the time, but some of the time. Which is in itself an improvement already. I am thus at the stage in which I know what is relaxing my kua and I am able to do it. But I have not reached the stage in which I can consistently do it, and it will be a long way more before I can subconsciously do it.

Still, it is good to know that I have made headway and am on the right path.

Time for even more practice, so that I can consistently relax my kua.

Pushing Hands Classes In Singapore

Master Kwek Lee Hwa teaches pushing hands classes at community centres in Singapore. Those interested can come and join the classes, which are usually reasonably priced because they are regulated by the community centres.

Every Thursday night, 8:30pm to 10pm
Kreta Ayer CC, Level 2 Activity Room 4
(Kreta Ayer CC is between Chinatown MRT and Outram MRT stations.)

Every Sunday evening, 6pm to 7:30pm
Tampines Changkat CC, Level 1 Dance Studio

You can also get information on the classes from Master Kwek's facebook page.

Inkling: Keep Moving, Don't Stop

One of the principles of taiji is to keep moving. Each movement is supposed to flow into the other. I think I have an idea of what that means. It is like the taiji circle, yin flows into yang, yang flows into yin, there is no end, the end of yin is the start of yang, the end of yang is the start of yin. Just like the end of a peng (ward off) could well be the start of ji (squeeze), the end of ji is then the start of lu (roll back), the end of lu is then the start of peng, and so on. Each movement flows into the other, there is no end.

Something that came up during pushing hands, but which sparked me into thinking about something that my teacher was telling me. He told me that my movements have breaks in them, and I didn't understand before. I thought my movements did not stop, I always kept moving when I am practising. Now I think I know what he meant. He is not talking about the physical movements, but rather the intent of those movements. They need to flow from one to the other. This is something that I will keep in mind for my practices.