3 simple ways to get more from your Tai Chi practice

For my part, I recognize two thing:

  1. We are all students.
  2. There is always room to become a better student.

Allow me to give you a few scenarios and then address them.

1) Balance your practice

We all practice, but is it balanced?

Sometime ago, I was speaking with a fellow student and I happened to ask him how many hours a week did he spend on doing the forms?  The reply I got was about 20 hours a week. That is great!  I then asked how many hours a week did he spend on push hands practice?  The reply… 1 hour. Now I know this person, and I do not consider him to be a bad student.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, all aspects of Tai Chi must be addressed.  The solution to the above scenario is fairly straight forward. I suggested that equalizing his practice would help him to better attain what he was after.  So instead of 20 hours on forms and only 1 hour on push hands, maybe it would be better to do 10 hours on forms and 10 hours on push hands.

2) Practice often

The ideal would be for us to all spend some time everyday practicing.  However, people being what we are and life being what it is…

I often ask people how often they practice.  The usual response is, whenever I go to my Tai Chi classes.

Does this make them bad students? No, just not as serious as some of us.

The solution to this, is to incorporate Tai Chi principles in our day to day lives.   Now I know it may not be possible to do the set(s) everyday, but note I said Tai Chi principles.

3) Use your skills in everyday activities

Let me be perfectly honest, and say that there are occasions when I don’t do the forms everyday. This is not to say that I skip a day of practice, because I don’t. I focus on and try to incorporate Tai Chi principles, everyday.

Here is how I do it. If I am stuck in line at some store, I am in Wu Chi. If I am walking, I try to maintain Wu Chi and my structure.

If I am opening a door or getting something from a shelf, I again think about my structure and letting the movement come from my wrist so that I don’t introduce tension into my shoulder.

I constantly examine myself to see if I am holding tension, if I am I make an effort to remove it. Hopefully, you are beginning to get the picture.

 

{ 0 comments }

Why so many women are reluctant to work on push hands and how to address it.

I would like to address something which I run into regularly, and that is why are so many women reluctant to work on push hands?

I think there are several reasons for this, most of which I have seen in action at one time or another.  So, allow me to give you some of my brief observations and thoughts on this subject.

Apathy

The first thing I usually encounter is apathy.  ”I don’t like push hands”, or  ”I can get everything from working the set(s)”.  There is an excellent article in the Fall 2011 issue of Tai Chi Magazine by Vincent Chu  that explains why push hands practice  is so important.  I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t see the value of push hands practice.

The only thing I can add is what I tell everyone, and that is that working the set(s) is just one aspect of Tai Chi.  The set(s) will do things for you that push hands won’t, just like push hands practice will do things for you that the set(s) won’t.  To concetrate on one and ignore the other is doing a disservice not just to Tai Chi, but to yourself the practitioner as well.

Practice

Second, there is the way push hands is practiced.   Whenever I ask a woman why she doesn’t like to work push hands, the response I generally get is “I don’t like it”.   With a little digging, it comes out that the reason they don’t like to push is because their partners (usually guys) are all about the push.

Here is a simple remedy for that scenario.   Clearly define the rules before pushing.   Tell them “This is what I am working on”, or “I would like to push this way”.   Your partner should be willing to work with you and help you.  If  he or she can’t or won’t, then find somebody who will.  Contrary to what the name implies, push hands  IS  NOT  about the push.  It is about improving yourself and applying what you have learned.

Intimidation

The third problem I encounter is intimidation, whether it is intentional or not.   Allow me to give this example of unintentional intimidation.  I am 6’1″ and 230 lbs., and I come walking up to some one who is 5’3″ and 110 lbs. saying   ” Lets push”.  Well, you can see where this is going.   This difference in size alone will usually create some apprehension, or there may be a  tendency to withdraw inwardly.

Women, there is good news for this.  First, with the right partner and the rules clearly defined there should be no need to be apprehensive.  Secondly, believe me when I say that if you really work the various elements in push hands correctly you won’t have a problem moving someone my size.  I can tell you this from my own personal experience.  Intentional intimidation has no place and should not be tolerated in this type of training.

Uncertainty

Another factor I run into, is doubt or  an uncertainty that they can actually do it.   When women are first training push hands, there tends to be a lot of second guessing.  ”Did I really feel that? “, ” Are they really broke at that spot?”   Well, the good news is that we all do that in the beginning. Men and women both. Also, women tend to be more sensitive then men.  The easiest solution to this particular problem is to practice ,practice, practice.  Also, make sure to get feed back from your partner.

As always, I welcome any thoughts or comments.

 

 

{ 0 comments }

The importance of push hands practice…

September 7, 2011

Greetings. One of the aspects of Tai Chi Chuan that I am a big fan of  is push hands. This is because working on push hands will do things for you that working the set(s) alone won’t. I use push hands to work and build several aspects of my Tai Chi.  These are structure, sensitivity, and [...]

Read the full article →

Hello,

August 29, 2011

My name is Stephen (Steve) Kerr and I am the Tai Chi Chuan instructor at Clear’s street kung fu and tai chi. In order to better promote the art of Tai Chi Chuan, we have recently added new classes and times to our existing schedule. For a complete list of the days and times, please [...]

Read the full article →