Pushing Hands is the primary training method to learn to apply Tai Chi principles in daily life, and during fighting. Two opponents stand facing each other a couple of feet apart, lightly touch arms; and attempt to find their opponent’s center while hiding their own. This practice tests the fundamentals of rooting, relaxation, attention; and developing and applying principles.
The first week or two, new participants can expect to be taken through a series of exercises to validate that they understand the basic concepts of rooting, direction, and redirection of force. Once those concepts are understood, the next step is the Push Hands line. We trade off practicing with each other as every person has a different style, a different strength, and a different weakness. Participants of all levels are encouraged to deliberately lose in order to test new techniques or teach application to a partner – in this way we bond over what can be a trying experience.
At Round 2 Tai Chi, we take the cooperative approach to Pushing Hands so that players of all levels can learn and enjoy the experience. For this reason, there is absolutely no use of more than one pound of force at any time during class. The instructor will also encourage everyone that once one party is pushed, both parties reverse-engineer what happened. In this way the bad habits can be gently corrected and replaced with good ones in real time.
More advanced forms of Push Hands are available for advanced students.