The Principles and Practice of Taijiquan: Volume Three: Pushing Hands

This book constitutes the third installment of the five-volume series that is collectively titled The Principles and Practices of Taijiquan. Volume one deals with the principles and practices of taijiquan as related to the performance of the solo form, which many practitioners consider to be the primary activity of taijiquan. However, as a complete martial art, taijiquan includes a number other complementary practices and training methods, such as stretching, loosening, single-posture training, internal strength training, weapons training, and martial applications. A number of these ancillary training methods are addressed in the second volume of this series.This book, which is the third volume in the series, is relevant to all taijiquan aficionados who want to expand their practice to include pushing hands as an important aspect of the martial art of taijiquan. The dual-person training activities that are broadly referred to as "pushing hands," or tuishou in Mandarin, bridge the gap between the single-person practices such as the solo form, single-posture training, body conditioning, and internal strength training on the one hand and true martial applications on the other. As explained in this text, the practice of pushing hands was initially developed to train practitioners to apply the principles of taijiquan while interacting with another individual. As such, pushing hands is not intended to directly teach practitioners to employ taijiquan for fighting or self-defense. This is an important distinction and one which is clearly and repeatedly stated in this volume.What this volume does accomplish is to review the principles of taijiquan as they apply to the practice of pushing hands. The author takes the position that practitioners engaged in learning pushing hands must adhere to the principles of taijiquan as elucidated in the Taijiquan Classics as well as in the classical literature of taijiquan. The text employs copious references from the Classics as well as from such important texts such as Chen Kung's Discourses on Intrinsic Energy, the Yang Family Forty Chapters, Li Yaxuan's commentaries on pushing hands, and Chen Xin's Thirty-Six Pushing Hands Sicknesses in order to illustrate how to practice pushing hands according to the principles established by the founders and past masters of taijiquan. The book also includes the wisdom and experience of more contemporary authorities on taijiquan in general and pushing hands in particular, including insights from Dr. Ping-Siang Tao's Tai Chi Push Hands and C. P. Ong's Taijiquan - Cultivating Inner Strength, to cite two specific references. Additional insights and practical training tips are presented based upon the author's own investigation into this fundamental aspect of taijiquan along with the tips and training methods imparted to the author by his many teachers, including his primary teacher, Grandmaster Jesse Tsao, with whom he has trained for the past fifteen years.This volume covers single-hand and double-hand pushing hands patterns, fixed-step, restricted-step, and moving-step pushing hands, along with the progressive development of the skills of sticking, following, listening, interpreting, receiving, neutralizing, and issuing. Specific topics include concepts such as maintaining central equilibrium, rooting, the four sides techniques, the four corners techniques, the five steps, the six directions, using consciousness rather than strength, giving up oneself to follow the other, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent, storing and releasing, alternating soft and hard, employing silk-reeling energy, the secret of the free circle, employing momentum and leverage, controlling the opponent without being controlled, and issuing internal power (fajin).