Getting Value from Push Hands

– Authored by Sifu Alan Ludmer

Over the long course of my martial studies I have been very fortunate to visit numerous martial arts schools.  I regularly noticed a dramatic difference between my visits to internal (Tai Chi, etc) schools and external (hard style) martial arts schools.  Almost all my visits to both types of schools would began the same.  I would met the teacher and the students, exchange thoughts and perspectives on a variety of topics, and demonstrated various Tai Chi forms.  In almost every external school, someone would politely ask if Tai Chi was really a martial art.  I would respond with; “Let’s find out.”  I would then spar with some number of people at various degrees of intensity.  It was a good learning experience for both parties.

My visits to Tai Chi Chuan schools were different.  I was almost never asked to spar, but occasionally I was asked to do push hands.  Often, this was a strange and disconcerting experience.  Tai Chi people would wonderfully talk the internal talk. They would cover chi flow, energy, softness, body unification, etc in a comprehensive and thoughtful manner.  When we began push hands, things went off the rails. Either my partner was an ethereal bowl of Tai Chi mush or things rapidly descended into Tai Chi Sumo with hard shoving and poor martial technique.  I have no idea how either of theses push hands approaches benefited anyone.  The Tai Chi Sumo people’s constant hardness and opposition would greatly hinder any health benefits and would never stand up to a experienced fighter. The Tai Chi mush exercise might be useful if your goal was to be a lo mien noodle, but hardly beneficial for developing mindfulness and energy awareness.  In fairness, there was the rare knowledgeable practitioner, but they were disappointingly few and far between.

I realized that the external schools had a clear primary objective;  to develop high level martial ability. They saw sparring as a vehicle to help them improve their art.  They knew what they wanted from sparring and how to teach it.  Unfortunately, the large majority of Tai Chi schools had no clear idea of what they wanted from push hands, what it was, and if and how it could it help them.  I concede that my thoughts are based upon an admittedly small statistical sample.  However, I do feel that the question what of exactly is push hands, why do we practice it, and what do we hope to get from it, needs to be addressed by the Tai Chi community.

Why Practice Push Hands?

The following are my perspectives and I understand that there are many other equally valid ideas and perspectives.  I am a huge proponent of respectful exchanges of ideas.  I believe that as long time passionate Tai Chi students, we need to constantly examine what we are doing and evaluate how it help us get where we want to go.  This is how we grow as people and as martial artists. 

A good place to start is questioning what we want from our Tai Chi investment.  The old quote, if you don’t know where you are going then any road will take you there is especially pertinent in Tai Chi study.  Do we want to be martial artists, moving yoga people, mindfulness practitioners, or some mixture of the above?  I’m not placing judgment on anyone’s goals.  My point is that it is critical to have a goal in order to evaluate if your actions are helping you achieve it.

My Tai Chi teachers, Professor Huo Chi Kwan and Master Tuey Staples always stressed that push hands was a mechanism for students to experientially understand the martial and health aspects of the internal martial arts.  These aspects include energy interpretation and redirection, centering, and circular movement. They felt that push hands works to undo a person’s natural instinct to resist force with force, and teaches yielding and redirecting of force. Push hands helps to overcome our genetic fight/flight instincts. We learn to be to be fully present even when scared or under pressure, or feel that we have lost control.  This is essential for either martial or personal health goals.

Getting Value from Push Hands

Master Tuey Staples teaches that push hands starts as an exercise in energy interpretation. Initially students learn to issue energy gently and slowly to help their partner deal with a variety of situations.  Their partners needs to do the same. If one finds themselves speeding up, tensing or disattaching, then they are off course.  To get back on course, slow down and focus on listening. Start with slow movement and a light touch because it is easier to relax if you don’t feel pressed.  In time one can move with speed and focused energy while always retaining a light touch. When you can relax, accept and redirect under fire, then you know you are growing.  

Push hands allows students to learn how to respond to external stimuli using techniques from their forms practice. Training with a partner allows a student to develop listening skills and the sensitivity to feel the direction and strength of a partner’s intention. Students learn to generate, coordinate and deliver power to another and how to effectively neutralize incoming forces in a safe environment. Students who have difficulty feeling what’s really going on in their own body can become more attuned to it through the sticking and moving practices conducted with a partner. 

Key points 

The following are thoughts on how to use push hands to help advance your art. I’m focusing on introductory fixed steps using two hands. Moving steps and Tau Lu are topics for future conversations.

1.  Push hands is not a contest.  It is not sparring or fighting.  Forget about winning and losing.  Lose the emotional content. Your initial plan is to discover where and when you are tense or stiff.  Start slowly, always stay attached to you partner’s hands, touch softly, listen to your body.  Always stay in good posture.  Push hands is an exercise in the interpretation of energy.  When you issue energy gently and slowly you help your partner learn to deal with a variety of situations. Your partner needs to do the same. If you find yourself speeding up, disattaching, or tensing, slow down, reattach, and relax. It is easier to relax if you don’t feel that you’re fighting for your life. 

2.  Look where you are going before you go there. Don’t run into your partner or his limbs.  Use your look to go around them. Your look leads your energy and keeps you from opposing. Use a soft wide look.  When we pushed hands, Tuey constantly admonished me not to oppose.  He would say, “Did you drive to class?  Did you crash into any cars?  Then why are you running into me?  See the space around me.” If you find yourself stiffening, tensing, or speed up, stop, reset, and start again. Focus on accepting and redirecting your opponent’s moves.  

3.  Avoid pushing or shoving.  Tai Chi is about concentric circles and non opposition. It is not about hard explosive energy.  Internal power comes from mass in motion.  A bus can be moving very slowly, but you still don’t step in front of it. When your body moves sequentially as a unit, you can have a light touch and great power. In time you acquire a unity of mind and body that permits the sensitivity necessary to identify and control your partner’s center. There are no magic secret moves; the essences is harmonizing mind-body energy. Seek to unbalance your partner by using torque.  You are literally turning/screwing your partner off their root. When you strike someone, they can counter, when you unbalance them, they have no counter. 

4.  Master your basics before you consider competitive push hands.  I have no problem with tournament push hands competition, but I feel that basic principles and concepts need to be in place before one goes into battle.  Otherwise, bad habits and poor basics get locked into place and the competition becomes only about speed and strength. Competition can be fun and educational.  However, my preference is to learn your basics first.

5.  Use push hands as an exercise to work on your internal basics. See all moves are concentric circles, every move circles back to you. If you see circles and apply mass in motion, your moves will be light, powerful, and will torque your partner off his root. The basics learned in push hands can be applied to sparring/fighting, but a firm foundation must be in place. See push hands as a joint exercise to achieve a unity of mind and body that will help you find your and your partner’s tension.  When you understand his tension, you can find his center.  When you find his center, you have control.  When you find your center, you have balance.

Summary 

Thoreau said it is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see.  As serious Tai Chi students and teachers, we need to strive to see more. We can extrapolate push hands benefits to finding flexibility and reciprocity in relationships, both personal and professional.  Push hands can help develop the ability to maintain emotional stability in difficult circumstances. It’s also  a lot of fun and a nice adjunct to Tai Chi forms.

About the Author: Alan Ludmer is a St. Louis, Missouri Tai Chi Chuan and Ba Gua Zhang teacher, author, and student.  He has over 50 years of experience in the internal and external martial arts. His initial training was in western boxing.  He then studied Shotokan Karate and attained a Ni Dan rank. In 1969, he began Tai Chi Chuan study with Professor Huo Chi Kwang. Alan was a private student and primarily studied the Yang Family Form with the Professor through 1978. After moving to St. Louis, Alan began study with Master Tuey Staples. He has been with Tuey for over 40 years, studying Tai Chi Chuan and Ba Gua Zhang.  He can be reached at alanludmer@gmail.com.

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