Pushing Hands Was Never Designed For Competition

I have been watching small clips of pushing hands on Facebook often these few days (somehow, they often appear on my timeline). Most of them are clips taken during pushing hands competitions (I think there were a few recently) but there are also some clips taken during pushing hands practice sessions.

A trend I noticed is the people in these clips are all very focused on winning. Instead of the pushing hands that I know and practise, these clips look more like a mix between wrestling and judo. These people grapple at each other, try to throw each other, and basically just exert a lot of force. A lot more force than what taiji is about.

One even commented that he ran out of stamina because his opponent was much younger than him.

But if pushing hands is about exerting force and having stamina, then all those old masters, who are obviously not as strong or have as much stamina as fit young men, will definitely lose. But no, true masters of taiji do not lose with age. Instead, the more they practise, the better they get.

I find it sad that people are grappling and wrestling with each other and calling it pushing hands. No, that is not pushing hands. Pushing hands is a very specific exercise designed to teach people how to sense force. In the first place, it was never designed for competition. Turning it into a competitive sport is turning away people from what pushing hands is really about.

I hope more people can realise this, and bring pushing hands back to what it really is, an exercise designed for its practitioners to learn how to sense force. Those interested in competitive sports can always design their own system with a different name, just like sanda.

New Start, Again... Back to Practice

A new start.

Again.

Now to get back to practice.

Back to Practice

After a few months working at the new job and not having time to practise as much taiji as I want, I am beginning to rethink this whole thing about the new job.

Life is a balance, and is this current balance what I want?

Or should I find a new balance?

A Short Reunion

I was back in Singapore for a very short while, and managed to squeeze in some time to visit my teacher, Mr Kwek, for a short reunion. Nothing fancy, just some time to catch up, talk about how I am getting on in Japan, and how his lessons are progressing. Then he wanted to see how much I have dropped, and so we did a bit of pushing hands. I don't think I have dropped, but neither have I improved. First time pushing hands in a year... my teacher commented that my force is not stiff, which is a good thing. And he gave some tips on what to focus on given my lack of time for practice (compared to the past).

A short visit, but a meaningful one.

Inkling: Taiji Everyday

It has been a while since I last posted. That's because I have started working on a full-time job which is quite a commute from where I stay (3 hours to and fro) so I haven't been practising much too. Still, I try to practise when I can.

And that brings me to this inkling of mine, which came into my mind when I was chatting with a fellow student, as well as some of the books that I have read in the past.

It is all about how to make taiji a part of one's life, to see how to practise taiji while doing all those mundane tasks in our everyday life. Because one can only attend so many lessons to practise taiji (unless we quit modern-day life and go full-time into taiji). So the trick is to be able to practise taiji anytime, anywhere.

And to do that, one must understand what taiji is all about, because with that understanding, one can then incorporate it into one's life. And then one is able to practise taiji anytime, anywhere. And with so much more practice, how can one not improve?

A New Place For Taiji

After many days of practising in my small room, I finally managed to go out and practise today. Found this new place by the river to practise. Nice scenery, and even more beautiful when the cherry blossoms bloom in a few days time!

Going to be Busy

Looks like March and April will be busy months for me... hopefully, I can still find time to squeeze in some practice.

Meanwhile, I am trying to make use of whatever is left of February.

(Almost) No Break

Since practising on my own, all that time spent practising had been quite... continuous. Each practice session may last only 30 minutes or an hour, but the practice is non-stop (almost). After each set, I maybe take 6 to 10 deep breaths, then move on to the next set; for longer sets, maybe a drink of water and then it is back to practice. Very different from the past, when I attended lessons. Each session could be one and a half hour to two hours, but in between would be breaks, small talk, or just looking at others practising.

Now, there is no one to talk to, no one else to look at. Breaks are only for myself, so no one to wait for too. Which means almost the entire practice session is devoted to practising. Which is good.

Looking forward to more practice!

Snow is Like Rain...

I was thinking: 雪后公园打太极，天黑地白太极图。

So scenic, definitely must go...

So I changed, got ready the gear I needed, and left the warm house to brave the cold as I walked to the park.

And then reality hit me.

Snow is slippery, and snow will melt. After the snow, the park is a slippery and soggy place.

Snow is beautiful, but snow is like rain... no outdoor practice when there is rain or snow.

Tracking My Training For 2016

In a previous post, I tracked my training for 2015.

For 2015, I practised:
71 sets of Chen style Old Frame First Routine
140 sets of Yang style 108
127 sets of Sun style taijiquan
(total 338 sets of taijiquan in a year)

156 sets of Chen style taijijian
125 sets of Yang style taijijian
(total 281 sets of taijijian in a year)

185 sets of Yang style taijidao

And also many hours of pushing hands and basic exercises.

Total number of practice hours in 2015: 342.5 hours

I am also keeping a training log to note down the exact details of what I have been training on.

Looking forward to more practice in 2016!