Tai Chi Chuan - The Push NOT! Part II

Tai Chi Chuan – The Push NOT!
Part II


An illusion happens once all three are sequenced correctly. It is not enough to be able to do each of these singularly. Tying it all together is yet another skill. All three become one continuous movement. There is a fluid change going on continuously. A push is not some static shove or thrust. It is a dynamic, organic world in motion.

There are two feelings that occur to those who are pushed. The first is that this is inevitable and inescapable. The second is that you don’t “feel” the pusher.

I actually think you do feel the pusher, but only after it is too late, once you hit the wall. You can’t “catch” the feeling of the push until you have already been pushed. This creates a sensation of “softness”. The sequence masks your ability to track it from a feeling perspective. If it goes wrong, you feel it.

To the pushee, a good push feels like this: if I get stuck or trapped, the pusher seems to drop out of site for a brief moment and my body is confused. My body thought it was getting a pressure and suddenly it is gone. My body reacts a bit by falling in space and trying to reorient itself, even if for just a micro-second. By this time the pusher has moved her body under (the drop in the hip joint) and forward. As her body does this, her arms stay connected to my body. The pressure between us is being transferred to the partner’s feet. My energy is being put into her feet. By the time I realize that her body is moving forward, I’m hitting the wall.

The sequence, if done well, confuses my expectations and my body can’t register what is really going on. My expectations are turned upside down. My body thinks it should be other than where it is. In essence, I am relating to my stuck place; the pusher is relating to my entire body and to the ground.

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Is there anything more? Is this it? (Did you notice that in this sequence, you never actually “push”?)

Of course there is more! Lots more! But this is quite enough for the time being.

Frankly, it’s about as much as I can handle!