Push Hands

One way sustainable change happens, I believe, is when one is able to:

• see the  situation from the other’s perspective;
• encounter and work with whatever is happening while making it clear that you are not willing to let the other person’s energy overwhelm you;
• connect with yourself and the other person in a deep and loving way;
• move with the other person’s momentum instead of fighting against it.

Underlying these thoughts are concepts we use in our mindfulness courses from Aikido. I believe the concept of Push Hands taught in Tai Chi also embodies these principles.

Pushing hands works to undo a person’s natural instinct to resist force with force, teaching the body to yield to force and redirect it.

Training with a partner allows a student to develop ting jing (listening power), the sensitivity to feel the direction and strength of a partner’s intention.

The three primary principles of movement cultivated by push hands practice are:
• Rooting – Stability of stance, a highly trained sense of balance in the face of force.
• Yielding – The ability to flow with incoming force from any angle. The practitioner moves with the attacker’s force fluidly without compromising their own balance.
• Release of Power (Fa Jing) – The application of power to an opponent. Even while applying force in push hands one maintains the principles of Yielding and Rooting at all times.

Wikipedia and Jeff Patterson,  “Understanding Tai Chi Push Hands”. nwfighting.com