Tai Chi Chuan – a Push
Hands Thought
None of the following is
all that original – I am borrowing heavily from a greatly admired tai chi
colleague and teacher. I’m not sure if I
have it right. But I’m OK with giving it
a shot! I might add, there is more to
say on this topic. Because this is
complex, I’m more than likely to miss the mark…. Ready, Aim, FIRE!
I have an exercise where
your partner A is trying to trap you. This is done in a slow deliberate manner with
one hand. This partner A can go left or
right, or in a straight line, but always moving forward. He is slowly “doing” and trying to trap you. I call this the “cat and mouse” exercise
because so many partners try to trap you like a cat that controls a mouse. These partners do not listen to where you are
going; they do not follow the movement.
They try to force you into a corner.
This is doing. For most
beginners, this is bewildering. If this
partner is clever, they may be trapping you in a soft way. Soft or hard, they are trying to control you.
There are a few
considerations here. Some tend to think
of Push hands in terms of strategy. But
there is a much more satisfying and challenging way to engage the art.
Strategy can lead to
doing and not really listening to the partner.
Therein lays the problem. A
subset of strategy is preparing for what you think is coming your way. This can give your partner the push you are
trying to avoid in the first place.
If you see where the
partner is taking you, can you get out in front of it and move somewhere
else? Is it “strategy” to dodge the line
of attack? I would agree this is
strategy but I feel it is legitimate. Others
might not. You can dodge a punch. It
goes left, you go right. But this
situation is not cat and mouse where it is slow and they try to toy with you…
The other way to deal
with it is to let them tell you where to go.
You don’t solve the problem by getting away from the threat; you let
THEM solve the problem by letting your body be moved as if it is a ping pong
ball in water. They are responsible for
the movement of that ping pong ball. The
ping pong ball does what nature requires.
It really doesn’t have a mind of its own. However, it has access to three dimensional
movements, a buoyant connection to the ground and the laws of physics. Eventually the doing partner goes too far and
(s)he loses their own connection to the ground.
There are a few elements
in play here:
1. the point of contact
(their hand and your body),
2. the line from the
point of contact into the ground,
3. the whole body,
4. the mind.
When you put your mind
in 1 and/or 2, you weaken your ability to respond. Yet you can’t ignore the point of contact and
you need the connection into the ground.
You might observe the
point of contact, but then you put your attention into your whole body. You don’t ignore that hand, but you don’t
engage with the hand as a solitary threat. The vision here is too small. This is like “doing” in response to their
hand.
The line to the root is a
necessary but insufficient part of the picture.
It is not something you do, it is something that exists if you are
structurally aligned and relaxed. If you
mentally isolate this line, it gives you little room to navigate. You have a line going from the point of
contact to the root. You don’t ignore
that line, but you don’t engage that line at the expense of the whole
body. Ultimately, this doesn’t really
require any mental effort. It exists
like your toes exist. Toes don’t need
special attention. You don’t “do” your
toes in order to use them. They just
function as they should. That being
said, it might help to give this line of connection a bit of isolated attention
to have a strong tactile sense of this line.
It seems that if your
whole body is listening to the instructions of the partner’s hand and the mind
is not trying to solve the problem, then you are fully engaged not as an exercise
of strategy or manipulation, but as a body response. The mind/strategy/preparing disappears. There is a natural place for the body to move,
under the direction of your partner’s hand.
Whether that hand moves you in a straight line or if your body rotates
around that point of contact, it has to be the whole body that is involved. Listen to what your body tells you.
I might add that even
here you might be “doing” the body in order to respond to the partner. The movement of the body is the result of
what your partner commands, not a strategic choice. So taking your mind out of
the body may in fact be a way to avoid “doing” a body response.
Remember, you are not
trying to trick your partner or manipulate the situation. They are already doing that for you in this
exercise! What does it mean to take your mind out of your body? Well, here we get into what works for you and
world of words. One player might say the
mind is EVERYWHERE. Another might say
the mind is NOWHERE. Another might want
to focus exclusively on the tan tien.
Other creative options may come to mind.
The word(s) you choose matter in that something may help you… or not!
If the whole body is
responding, going where that partner’s hand tells it to go, you have the
answer. You might feel the partner’s
hand is YOUR hand and you are directing movement to yourself. If you were a
ping pong ball in water, the entire ball rotates. Getting as close to this
dynamic is where to start. Here there is
no separation, and that is the key. Ping
pong balls don’t predict, nor are they late in responding. They respond as they do. Ping pong balls lack guile.
No strategy, no
predicting, no preparing. Give partners control and they will lose (they are
doing.) Take control and you will lose
(they see your strategy.) Let them move
your body and your body will be in charge of the outcome. Let your mind get in the way and your partner
will be in charge of the outcome.
Try to have the mind
solve the problem, and you are too late.
Let the body solve the problem, and then you are where you need to be.
Which leads us to a
deeper dynamic: You and your partner are one.
This may sound corny or cliché. But
it is this physical dynamic that creates solutions where before there were only
problems.
You simply “be” with
your partner and “be” with the movement that is generated. Now you are scaling the Buddha mountain!
And how does this all
take place? You may be a genius and –
snap – it happens.
