When I began learning Tai Chi from Master Deng Er Qian, he insisted
that we put as much time and effort into Pushing Hands (Tui Sau)
training as we did into the Tai Chi form. He wanted to make it
clear that when practising Pushing Hands, there should be no aggressive
action towards one another and it was certainly no place for egos.
Pushing Hands exercise is where two people train together. They
learn to feel by utilising one’s ‘listening energy’ and ‘adhere’,
which is to use one’s ‘sticking energy’. Master Deng once made
a quote, he said, ‘to defeat your opponent you must first become
one’. To achieve this you must work together in harmony. What
is the point behind Pushing Hands? There are two objectives, firstly
to avoid an attack and secondly to penetrate one’s defence. There
are many routines practised in Pushing Hands, the build up of
which can be seen as the following:
| 1. |
Single
Pushing Hands Routines - |
The
basic routines learnt by the beginner. |
| 2. |
Silk
Reeling double hand - |
A
freestyle exercise, where the arms adhere and move in a circular
motion. |
| 3. |
Double
Pushing Hands Routines - |
All
37 forms from the 85 forms can be applied and countered from
'Grasp the Bird's Tail', in these comprehensive sets of routines. |
| 4. |
Walking
Pushing Hands Routines - |
Including
2 or 3 step, 90 and 180 degree turning. |
| 5. |
Da
Lu
Eight Co-ordinal Stepping - |
A
two person routine implementing the shoulder and elbow to
attack and an intricate stepping pattern based around the
8 trigram circle. |
Grasp
the Bird’s Tail
‘Grasp
the Bird’s Tail’ is undoubtedly the most important form in the
Yang Style 85 Forms. It is repeated 8 times (including the interpretation
of ‘Carry the Tiger to the Mountain’). In Pushing Hands, ‘Grasp
the Bird’s Tail’ is the linking form to the other sequences. Whenever
you incorporate a different routine like ‘Part the Wild Horses
Mane’, ‘Single Whip’ or ‘Cloud Hands’, they are all linked to
‘P’eng’, ‘Lu’, ‘Ghi’, ‘An’. All the changes are normally intercepted
from ‘Ghi’ (pressing) or ‘P`eng’ (ward off). From ‘Ghi’ or ‘P`eng’,
you can also change direction whether it be clockwise or anti-clockwise.
If you are practising ‘Grasp the Bird’s Tail’ and you want to
‘fire’ or ‘Far Ging’ your opponent out with, for example: ‘Cloud
Hands’ and if your opponent feels your intentions, he will automatically
‘ward off’ and revert back to ‘Grasp the Bird’s Tail’. This not
only makes ‘Grasp the Bird’s Tail’ the most important move, but
also the main linking move to the applications of all the forms.
It is important to note that Pushing Hands training consists of
counter upon counter, just like Judo. ‘Grasp the Bird’s Tail’
and all the other routines (‘Single Whip’, ‘Cloud Hands’, ‘Brush
Knee Push’ etc.), have there own individual Tui Sau routine. I
have met many Tai Chi practitioners that believe that the Grasp
the Bird’s Tail Tui Sau routine, is all that is needed to perfect
their sensitivity skills. I myself feel that this cannot be true
as Yang Lu Chan would have said, just repeat Grasp the Bird’s
Tail 85 times and forget the rest. Master Deng always insisted
that you have to incorporate the other techniques to make Yang
Style a complete martial art system, could you imagine a martial
art system without a kick, I don’t think so!
Grasp the Bird's Tail - Application
