Teaching Beginning Push Hands

by Toni DeMoulin

Listening Energy (ting jing) using the Sticky Hands Drill.

November 24, 2007

Stand facing each other in a stance, ankle to ankle with the front feet. Be sure the back foot is pointing more than 45 degrees and less then 90 degrees from the direction of the front foot. Using only one hand, opposite hands, connect with the back of the wrists. Don't just touch hand/wrists, but become part of that hand/wrist, you are an extension of your partner's hand. Maintain the same connecting pressure (light but not too light) throughout the exercise. Designate one person to be the Boss and one person to be the Follower. The Follower has to follow, not lead, not move independently of the Boss's hand. The Follower needs to let go of expectations, do not anticipate the Boss's movements. Listen with your whole body, mind and spirit. Give it up. Follow, don't lead.

The Boss starts moving his/her hand slowly allowing the Follower to be successful. The Boss then increases the difficulty of the exercise as the Follower can hang in there. Boss gives feedback to Follower. Next try the same with two hands. Next try this with two hands and taiji walking. Maintaining this connection, you can eventually use any part of the body, not just the wrists. The Follower's eyes are closed in all of these exercises. Bump it up and use any part of the hand or arm to connect and follow, continually changing using folding techniques. The pressure of connecting with different parts of the arm and body will remain the same as with just the wrists or hands.

This sounds like a very simple exercise but do it seriously and so much is learned. Do this slowly, and at various speeds. If the students put some practice time into this they will be very ready for all the next stuff. Test their arms to help them see tension, get them relaxed and at home with this exercise. Check their stances for correctness of form as they move back and forth. When they become good at this, be more tricky, bump it up.

Keep it fun, watch their body language to tell you when to change feet in the fixed positions. When the students start sticky hands walking, be sure they stay low (like walking in a low room with a freshly painted ceiling, the color today is lime green) using taiji walking, have them move their whole bodies in response to the Boss's movements, but watch that they don't make extra unnecessary moves.

It is necessary to have multiple partners. They need to see that everyone's energy is different. This is the beginning of punching the push hands time card. Clocking hours on this card makes a difference.

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