ChiDragon

Just want to distinguish the difference between Tuishou(推手)and Sanshou(散手). In general, Tuishou involves contact the hands with a slight touch. Sanshou is MMA that involves striking, kicking, and flipping.

Yes, it is very important. Bu Fa(步法) is every step you took that should and will keep one in a most stable position to maintain body balance.

Let's keep in mind. Before we jump into combat, we must know what is the purpose of practicing Tuishou. The prerequisite is to develop the jin in the body in the first place. How can one fajin without conditioning the body first? Why do people practice Taiji day by day? One will notice the difference in the body strength from years of practice. The increase of tremendous strength indicates that jin has been developed in the body. Now, what should one do with all the body power? The next thing is to learn how to use it and control it. So, we go into Tuishou with a partner at a same level of skill. Since jin is hard, we must learn to soften it by doing "touch and follow". To do that is by having the hands of the partners barely touching instead of pushing real hard. Even with a little tiny push by one person, the other partner should be able feel it right away. This sensation was known as Ting Jin(聼勁). Hence, that is the main purpose of practicing Tuishou. The next thing to learn is how to neutralize the incoming force. Instead of pushing against it, it was pulled and guided away from the defender's body. While pulling, at the same time, it is time to Fajin. While the offender is pushing and the defender is pulling in the same direction, that will put the offender is an off balance position. The offender will do a Fajin maneuver to do whatever it needs to be done. This is what Tuishou was all about.

First of all, Tuishou is Tuishou. Fajin is Fajin. Fajin is an application used in tuishou. Jin has to be conditioned in the body by practicing the basic Taiji movements diligently. Fajin can be practiced solo. However, push-hand has to be with a partner in order to be able to listen to the jin of the opponent. If a body doesn't have any Jin in it cannot fajin. Fajin is a high level of practice. As for beginners, they better concentrate on practicing the basic movements, diligently, to condition their bodies to develop Jin in the muscles. In other words, what I am saying was one cannot run before learning how to walk.

FYI There are many family styles of Taiji. Each family has different forms and practiced at different levels.

I apologize for my bad. Sorry, I had the wrong impression from your description about pushing hands. Tuishou(推手) was practiced by advance Taiji practitioners. The purpose is to feel and sense the amount of force that was exerted from the partner. Push hand is a different subject. Let's start with another thread.

I believe that the idea of 寸勁(inch jin) was originated from the practice of Fajin in Taiji. The idea of "inch jin" was to execute an explosive force one inch away from the opponent without any pull back. So, the opponent will not see what the unexpected move that was coming. Bruce Lee was the expert on the practice.

I don't think it is a good idea to make a generation statement about the Taiji stances. Most of the time, Taiji practitioners always stand at a bow stand with the body weight distributed 30 to 40% on the front leg and 60 to 70% in the rear leg. The width between the legs are very important, it cannot be too wide or too narrow. The Taiji masters have aware of the distance between the legs in the stance. If it the too narrow, then, the body is not too stable. Especially, in push hands, the opponent will take advantage of that and get you off balance with fajin. In the other hand, if the width of the stance is too wide, then, it will put oneself in a locked position. It will make it very difficult to lift either legs and standing like a dead duck. Under this condition, it was called 雙重(double weight). It implies that the body weights are equally distributed on both legs. The bow stand was practiced most common, it is because both legs can be moved freely at anytime. At this position the legs can moved back and forth very freely. PS Based on the double weight theory, I would conclude that the emphasis should be placed on the width of the stance, not on the height.

In general, Taiji is a form kung fu by definition. However people like to treated it as a separate art. It is because Taiji is so unique from other martial arts. Kung fu are too broad of a description in martial arts. For example, Shaolin kung fu styles are doing jumping and flapping, hitting hard objects, bump the head against the wall, and etc. You name it. Hence Taiji practitioners wants to isolate themselves from kung fu. "Doing TJQ like most people do is a joke. Good for nothing. " It is because they didn't how to practice it and neglected the purpose of the why they are really doing the moves. I know some people want to practice the moves with an intention for fighting. They thought by learning the moves for the combat purposes can to take over the world. However, if they didn't know how to do it properly for years, but still did not accomplish what the system offers. Yes, that would be a joke, a big joke, and good for nothing!

I wouldn't jump to a hasty conclusion about pushing hands in Taiji was because of the term "pushing hands". It is the finest art to be accomplished in the realm of Taiji. It determines the skill level of a competent practitioner. One might say it is the highest level of skill in Taiji that one wants to achieve. We could have a big discussion about that later. I have to go teach a Taiji class now. Happy practice!

What I meant by practicing Taiji, even though the moves or gestures are different in styles, it has the same physical and biological effect on the human body. In other words, all the Taiji styles may move differently, but the function of the body behaves the same. It makes no difference.

The general term for martial arts in Chinese is 武術(Wu shu) which is a more eloquent. As opposed to Kung Fu, it is more like a coarse term so to speak.

Ha ha! Are you sure about that? However, I will not argue about that. Peace!

You know? Even though, the Yang style was originally learned from the Chen family, but they are completely different. Thus the Yang style Taiji does not resemble the Chan Style at all. I had learned the Yang style 108 form to begin with. I was doing the movements very slow with the arms and legs bend most of the time. Later, I had learned why the limbs were bent doing practice. It was because it make the legs stronger despite to the soreness and pain in the legs for the first three months. After that, it made it easier to stabilize the body. It also helps to make the limbs move back and forth, quicker, in returning back to the opposite direction. Besides, after years of diligent practice, it gives me the ability and flexibility to speed up Fajin(發勁) with greater force. BTW The amount of Jin is controllable at well. In other words, the practitioner can push the opponent to any distance as desired. Yes, I agree with the last paragraph and the rest. It was the yin/yang concept derived from Yijing!

So, you are saying that you were starting with Chen Yu Gongfu Jia. You are performing the practice at the speed as shown in the video to begin with? BTW If you had start practicing with that speed to begin with a cold body, then, I know why you have all kinds of pains all over your body! Notes: 1. A cold body is someone that has not been doing much exercise. 2. A Taiji body is someone had practiced Taiji diligently for many years and build up muscle tone.

Ok, I see what you meant. The video you had shown is called "fast Taiji" that can be performed at a higher level with any style of Taiji. Yes, I had seen a higher level student performed in my Yang style class when I was a beginner. BTW The practice was not from scratch. The ability of the performer has to be practiced for years to build up the body to do so. Any performer with this kind of ability, I would like to refer that the performer is being possessed a Taiji body.

In the notion of making the legs strong, yes, it just come with the package whether you like it or not. I know what Fa(法) is in "Shen Fa"; but I don't know what is shen. It couldn't be 神. Do you happen to know what the Chinese character for shen is here?

Form your words by context, it seems to me that you are practicing completely different from the Chen style Taiji. Due to the location of the Yongquan point of the foot(湧湶穴), I don't think it's possible put the body weight on it. However, due the physical structure of the human body, place the weight on the heels is more accurate to say. " For us, we have a notion of "Grab the root" which involves a connection between the glutes, hamstrings, heel, and the ground." This statement with the word "ground" in it will make it valid. "Ground" implies that the foot is sticking to the ground. The heel touching the ground is the pivot point that provides leverage and stability for body movements. It was known that an unstable body will not able to execute its strength to its full extend for body movement. BTW Based on your words like: "Many things we do are just very different than other Taiji methods," I cannot come up with any justification to agree with those words. Perhaps you might enlighten me with where or who did you learn your Taiji style from? Thanks!

I believe the location of the pain occurs depends where the tension was applied.

I am puzzling of you are are telling me. You said you are practice the Chen style Taiji, but then you said it was not. So, what it is really?

It is accurate only if you breathe slowly and deeply into the LTD. However, I wouldn't start at the position to begin with. Especially, if you have not been exercised for sometime before. If you start with angle of 90 degrees between the thigh and the lower leg, then, it would put too much stress on the muscle. It will cause pain like hell on the leg muscles. In addition, I wouldn't spread my legs too wide for the practice. To begin with this practice as a beginner, I would start stand with the feet apart at shoulder width. Then, bend the knees slightly until the leg muscles feel a little stress without too much pain. The body should be relaxed and breathe slowly and deeply only through the nostril. The only tension you should feel is on the legs muscles. Stand for awhile and quit if you cannot withstand the pain. However, don't give up because of the pain. The practice should be done periodically for few minutes at a time. The pain shall became less and less, then, the time of the stance may be increased. Thus the thighs can go down lower a little bit to increase a little more tension on the kegs. Furthermore, please don't forget the breathing part! One might ask what do I do with the hands? Some might tell you hold them up like you are embracing a tree. However, IMO, you may do anything with your hand as the way you like. BTW The practice described above was known as zhan zhuang(站樁).

Question: I know the Chen style Taiji is more stressful than the Yang style. Do you feel any pain on your upper thigh of one leg during the transition when you lift up the other leg?

I was reading randomly online investigating what people say about directing the breath and energy during meditation. From understanding, it is a fallacy to say that taken in the oxygen and energy or directing the breath and energy inside the body. Unfortunately, perhaps some people are took it for granted. I will quote some of the texts and point out the fallacy.

I didn't miss this part. I was saving it for last. Sorry to say, it would be an insult if I have to respond to this. In my opinion, if a teacher had practice Taiji for decades and cannot overcome the pain, it seems that the practitioner has not accomplished what Taiji has to offer.

I had practice the Yang style Taiji for about fifty years by now. This is yours truly. Doing Zhan Zhuang on a slanted 2x4