It's important to keep the ball rolling by moving the hips and to shoulder press vertically. If one leans too far forward, over a vertical line, the person is subject to being uprooted, thrown or misdirected.

Using the gymnastics ball with a person rather than a flexible wall is much more challenging. Issues such as timing, rooting, sensing, power (not force!) become much more interesting.

Push hands: responding to spontaneouos movement

Four hands practice: This exercise trains connectivity and softness. In this particualar exercise, no attempt is made to penetrate into the other's personal space. Every movements is spiralled upward and rotated outward away from the participant's center. After a few thousand rounds of this, it becomes very easy to trap an elbow, etc. We eventually combine the eight variations of four hands practice with the two methods of walking in various permutations...fast hands, slow walking, slow hands, fast walking; random patterning...its all fun and designed to spontaneously respond to any movement.

There is so much to concentrate upon in spontaneous push hands. We build massive neurological networks in learning to respond to different kinesthetic impulses. And then we complicate it by mixing in different variables of personality.

Frank and Michael are practicing 'letting go'. What are they letting go of? Conceptual delusions like judgements on what they should have done when their partner made an advancing move of a certain type to which they didn't respond as they wished; conceptual holding patterns that are related to past training techniques, conceptual perceptions on how they think certain movements should be done....relax, relax, relax...sung is always there.

Connectivity, turning, spiralling, flexibility, balancing, learning...

Absorption in tai chi

What follows are many interpretations of absorptions as practiced by different martial arts. The first quote is from a Chinese Zen teacher who was not a martial artist, though a teacher of Zen to Jet Li. Master Sheng Yen  suggests we can allow the mind to absorb and dissolve the problem. The second is a hard style Kenpo Karate approach, the 3rd an Aikido approach, and on and on.  Absorption? Remember this principle: relax!!!!!!


1. "People seem to create more problems than they resolve. People who create problems have distressed minds. To them everything is problematic, and in dealing with their problems they inadvertently create even more of them. Notice how, in a traffic jam, some people lean on their horns even though they know it will not make the cars move faster, and then others honk their horns because the first honkers are annoying them. In the end everyone simply adds noise on top of noise. To me, the world often seems like this."


"Have you noticed how quiet it is when the snow falls? It is because snow absorbs sound. There is much to learn from snow. When you encounter adversity, instead of reacting negatively, allow your mind to absorb and dissolve the problem. In this way you will be undisturbed and at peace. You need to discover how to practice in such a way that any and all problems disappear. This is an excellent method for daily life. Remember the peace that arises in snowfall and "cool it"....Master Sheng Yen at chancommunity.ca

2. Kenpo Karate: "If you're looking for ways to practice "taking" hits, there are many exercises you can practice. Tensing the muscles in the body to resist force, practicing explosive breathing at the point of impact, developing strong bracing stances, deflecting blocks and cover positions, and body angling to reduce the angle of incidence are all aspects of receiving impact strikes safely. But my best advice is don't get hit!

All my students practice evasion before they practice getting hit. Defensively, we build skills in this order

Evade
Cover
Block
Parry
Counter
Jam
Control
Finish


If you're looking for ways to practice "taking" hits, there are many exercises you can practice. Tensing the muscles in the body to resist force, practicing explosive breathing at the point of impact, developing strong bracing stances, deflecting blocks and cover positions, and body angling to reduce the angle of incidence are all aspects of receiving impact strikes safely. But my best advice is don't get hit!"...from A kenpo karate teacher in Martial Arts Talk

3. "Aikido is a truly sophisticated martial art and it is extremely difficult to obtain proficiency. There are thousands of techniques, which are based on proper body movements. This makes the art widely versatile, able to mold to individual personalities, and directly applicable to daily life. Aikido is nonviolent. Never clashing with the energy of an opponent, aikido blends with and redirects energy into peaceful conflict resolution. Aikido does this using principals of absorption (immobilization techniques) and redirection (throwing techniques). Other common martial arts use punching and kicking as a means of self defense, but these methods will injure the aggressor."....http://aikidoofcasper.com/   

4. Absorption in Aikido?: See Stephen Segal in http://www.youtube.com/watch?

5. Absorption in Kaizentao: A great you tube on absorption:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0kQsvZeYkk  kaizen
    Another approach to absorption in Kaizentao:  http://www.kaizentao.com/home/index.php?

6. Scott Sonan on relaxation http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5891786143574223762#docid=25185290535722347

7. How Superheroes use Kinetic absorption: it is the ability to psychically take the kinetic energy out of anything. This can be used to slow down opponents, or absorb kinetic energy and slow down a fall that would otherwise kill you. One with this power could even lessen the blow of any object hurled at him and withstand the force of any blow, as it would provide no force after the kinetic energy has been taken from it."...from http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Energy_Absorption


8 

Duane Juhan wrote a great book in the early 70's called Job's Body: a Handbook for Bodywork.   http://www.jobsbody.com/ He wrote that, "most people think the bones support the body but actually what happens is that they float in a liquid medium"...And what is more absorptive than a liquid medium?



9. a talk on tai chi by one of Holland's premier tai chi practitioners Epi van de pol at http://taiji-europa.eu/index.php/tai-chi-taiji/more-articles/interviews/epi-van-de-pol-interview-by-ronnie-robinson/


10. Effortless and Natural
"If someone pushes against you and you do not want to be pushed off balance, the chances are that you will resist using strength. If this happens, you are using phasic muscles. But it will be different if someone pushes down on your shoulders. In this situation you do not push back up - you just absorb the push effortlessly into your posture.


So in the first example if, instead of phasic muscles, you were to use postural muscles to absorb the push into your posture, you would use far less effort. You could then also use the ' balancing' ability of postural muscles to effortlessly counteract any sudden change of direction. In other words, as the Taiji Classics say: "when he doesn't move, you don't move; when he moves, you've already moved". So using postural muscles in this way would make Pushing Hands a far more enjoyable experience!"...from 11/9/2010 Zhan Zhuang - foundation of Internal …
http://www.yiquan.org.uk/art-zz.html 1/9


11. "It can be seen that there are two aspects to correct force: 1. strength and the subtle regulation of this strength. The strength application of tai chi is developed through practicing the form in a state of sung and through practicing push hands rooting with a very powerful opponent. However, such practice alone is insufficient to achieve softness. The exclusive use of a large amount of force deprives practitioners the opportunity to learn sensitivity and timing. Similarly, those who practice without never letting force build up develop sensitivity and timing but are not able to deal with an opponent who uses muscular force, let alone correct force.


Thus, ideal practice must ultimately cultivate the entire range of force, so that the practioner not only develops sensitivity, timing and the ability to neutralize with the minimum of force, but also the ability to receive and return the energy of a strong opponent."...

The Tai Chi Book: Refining and Enjoying a Lifetime of Practice, 

Robert Chuckrow pg 155.
Taking Punches


"The logical extension of rooting is the ability to receive, without harm, the full force of an opponent's punch in a fighting (not a push-hands) situation. Chan termed this ability taking punches.
Chen would encourage his students to hit him with full force on just about any part of his body. He wanted to provide a real target for his students to hit, and, by feeling tthe impact, he would know how to correct the student's punch to increase it's power. As his student, I hit him numerrous times (on request), and I can relate that it was just like hitting a truck tire."...from The Tai Chi Book: Refining and Enjoying a Lifetime of Practice, Robert Chuckrow pg 171.

Transfer of Weight Experiments: 70/30%, 80/20%, 100/0%, 50/50%, Which is Best?

 

50/50%

If you have had only one tai chi teacher in your training, most likely in the final position of a posture such as Brush Knee and Push, you will have been taught an 80/20% weight stance between the forward and backward leg, a 70/30%, uncommonly a 50/50%, and perhaps to the extreme, 100/0% front foot/back foot percentage split.

The longer you practice one particular style, the more subtle the awareness becomes with your ability to discern between the minute shifts in weight forward or backward.  Although you must be firmly rooted, especially in the transitional movements between postures, you probably manifest 'root' (stability, immovability, steadiness, balance) best in the end positions.

Over years of practice, if you stood on a scale, you would see you had become expert at putting exact
amounts of ground pressure on the front foot,and exact amounts of ground pressure on the back foot. And over that period of time, you would come to believe that your 80/20% front foot/back foot split, or your 50/50% front foot/back foot split, or another variation,  is the 'proper' way to do form.


Yet, if you look at the thousands of styles of tai chi on You Tube, it becomes apparent that styles differing from your own require different demands for per centage splits between forward and backward legs. And they all claim to be correct! How can that be?


The pictures above display the end positions for Brush Knee and Push. They all have different weight distributions between the front and back foot. They vary from 100/0% (front foot/back foot) to 50/50% (front foot/back foot).


Can you tell which postures are which? 


Now each style claims a particular benefit. For example, Robert Chuckhow (a student of Chen Man Ching) states, "The longer the stance, the longer the rearward movement during neutralization. Since the lower the stance, the longer it becomes, practitioners constantly work on sinking into lower and lower stances."...from  an excellent book,  The Tai Chi Book: Refining and Enjoying a Lifetime of Practice,  Robert Chuckrow, pg. 160


The 50/50% stance favoured by Master Henry Wang encourages an energetic style of tai chi. One sinks into the back foot 
root of the back foot and issues forth the energy ball which connects with the energy ball of the partner/opponent.
This style has a very short base. There is little bending of the knees (compared to the long and low stances of some Chen
styles and does not duplicate the 'forward' displacement of the body  that Chuckhow would want in his style. 


Ed Cooper  in Campbell Riveer will often put 100% on the forward foot. Combined with waist rotation, the 100% weight shift 
to the forward leg in the Brush Knee and Push posture can be a devastating manoeuver to offset the stability of his push hands partner, 
or as preparation for the next posture Roll Back. The weight shift is even harder to deal with because Ed can choose the option to use 
that weight shift at any time he chooses. 


So which is best posture?


Practice, practice, practice. Only by playing with the percentages can you discern the costs and benefits of each weight distribution.
And if you vary what you have always done consistently before, the discomfort you initially meet may eventually take you deeper into 
the complexities and the subtleties of your posture's stance, and deeper into the complexities and subtleties of the tai chi form itself. 

Developing Foveal and Peripheral Vision

Why do you need to challenge the capability of your vision?  Simple! Better eyesight makes a better tai chi practitioner. What you can see coming, you can touch, and absorb.

What you will need to develop dynamic switching between foveal and peripheral vision:  (*see below for definitions of foveal and peripheral vision)

1. five or six raquet balls (three or four in your pockets to substitute for all the ones you drop and get behind you, so you don't have to keep walking instead of throwing), ...if you are using an indoor plywood backed wall, raquet balls won't leave wall impressions. Find coloured raquet balls if possible...depending on your colour vision, the blue colour of most raquet balls may be difficult to pick out in a low light background.

2. If raquet balls are not available, any type of ball that has a good bounce to it will do. If you use a hard bouncing ball, wear eye protection.

3. an ability to catch/throw a single ball with either the dominant or non-dominant hand is helpful. Start chucking balls to even up the ability of the non-dominant arm.

Throw two balls at the wall simultaneously . The hips should be the torquing power that whips the arm toward the wall. When you shift the weight from your back foot to a 50/50 stance or even a 70/30% foot forward stance, you should be well rooted with no further movement of the feet in the final position.

ensure you throw from both sides, especially the non-dominant side

Most important: use a relaxed and rooted transition between the  throwing and catching.

4. When you demonstrate a consistent ability to catch the balls, at least five times out of ten tosses, combine footwork with the throwing. How about starting with a consistent ability to catch 2 out of ten tosses....the practice is the exercise!


Hand positions:

1. Two balls side by side will produce two incoming balls sharing the same horizontal line, both roughly the same height from the ground.

thrown horizontally, they return approx at the same height

 2. Two balls thrown in a vertical position will produce two incoming balls sharing the same vertical line.

thrown vertically, the balls converge at your center line

3. Two balls of different size, weight, and bounce capability produce a myriad pattern of incoming speeds and direction: together they are a real mind obstruction!
4. Thrown repeatedly, a random pattern occurs which is a real aerobic thrill, a chaotic breeding ground for new neural networks, and a challenge to the foveal and peripheral vision.

Even more fun is three ball juggling against a wall:

And here are the silly pictures, when the balls go through the holes in the outstretched palms.

open the hand dude!

OPEN THE HAND DUDE!

Yes, this is all too much!

(1*)"The distinctions between: foveal (sometimes also called central) and peripheral vision are reflected in subtle physiological and anatomical differences in the visual cortex. Different visual areas contribute to the processing of visual information coming from different parts of the visual field, and a complex of visual areas located along the banks of the interhemispheric fissure (a deep groove that separates the two brain hemispheres) has been linked to peripheral vision. It has been suggested that these areas are important for fast reactions to visual stimuli in the periphery, and monitoring body position relative to gravity.^[3]

Peripheral vision can be practiced, jugglers that regularly locate and catch objects in their peripheral vision do have improved abilities. Jugglers do not follow the paths of individual objects with their eyes, instead they focus on a defined point in mid-air, so almost all of the information necessary for successful catches is perceived in the near-peripheral region. Some juggling patterns and disciplines require extraordinary peripheral vision."....from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_vision

4. There is some indication that this ball throwing also challenges the vestibular-ocular reflex.(2*)

(2*)"The vestibulo-ocular reflex needs to be fast: for clear vision, head movement must be compensated almost immediately; otherwise, vision corresponds to a photograph taken with a shaky hand. To achieve clear vision, signals from the semicircular canals are sent as directly as possible to the eye muscles: the connection involves only three neurons, and is correspondingly called the three neuron arc. Using these direct connections, eye movements lag the head movements by less than 10 ms,^[7] and thus the vestibulo-ocular reflex is one of the fastest reflexes in the human body."...from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibulo-ocular_reflex

Here's a great You Tube explanation of Foveal and peripheral vision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtXPV_u_YMA

walking backward

The pelvis is a level platform that shifts from side to side through the function of the ball joints in the hip. The ground, legs and pelvis are a parallelogram. A level pelvic platform supports the spinal column  naturally with the least effort. Starting from a neutal position, shift  the weight from the centre point vertical line midpoint between the knees to one side over the centre of contact (the leg/foot).

level pelvis

a level pelvis supports the spine in movement

When we stride walk forwards or backwards, the legs swing thru and then support the body as the foot touches down.

When we step/walk the weight goes totally thru the leg of support which must be directly under the Centre of Gravity.

As the right foot seeks out its position at 45 degrees to the rear of the body, the toe touches first, then the ball, the the arch and the heel. There is a rolling contact with the earth.

body weight goes directly through supporting  leg into  the ground

toe, ball, arch, heel= Full contact

When full contact...the length of the foot toe to heel...occurs, 100% of the weight is on that leg. Though the forward leg is still flat, still in contact with the ground, there is no weight on the forward foot. Your partner should be able to move beside you and give your forward foot a quick pushing movement behind the heel. Your leg should just swing out of the way in the direction of the push.

                               100% on supporting leg,  other leg can do anything

 

If there is any weight on the forward foot, you will lose your balance.
Now in this postion, 100% of the weight on the supporting leg straighten out the left forward foot which was pointing in 45 degrees, the angle it maintained as the previous backward foot. Lift the toe and rotating the heel. Do not rotate the foot on the toe, so that the heel swings. Then to move the left foot behind the body,  lift the left heel and pick up/slide the ball/toe in a semi circle to find its place 45 degrees to the rear of the body.

the back foot at 45 degrees is now the forward foot that has to be straightened

lift the toe, NOT THE HEEL!!!!

forward foot point directly forward

Symmetrical stepping: Drop an imaginary plumb line from a point between your legs under your groin. Walking backward, (or forward), you must place your feet equidistant to that centerline. There are about 25 steps between the 1st and last of these pictures. I started off slightly off centre and ended up slightly off centre...which is to say I kept on stepping equidistant to my midpoint, but I didn't start off equidistant to the center line.

Ooops, I didn't start off equidistant to the center line

15 steps later, still walking in a straight line

Walking backward correctly is essental to the movement Repulse Monkey. As in walking forward, keep the eyes level, the spine straight, and the entire body relaxed. After taking 15 steps, you should be walking a straight line. If you are veering to the left, you are either not stepping wide enought with the retreating right foot, or too far with the retreating left foot. Keep stepping symmetrically, on the railroad tracks. 

Here's a great test.
1. Face your partner. Walk directly toward her, so as to take her space; she has to walk backward to protect her space.  Stop. Is she leaning on you? Is she rooted? Do her hands weigh a 100 kilos if her contact surfact (hands/arms, etc) is superior to your structure? Do her hands/arms support you if your contact surface is superior to hers (your arm on top of hers)?

2. Reverse your direction and walk backward. she has to follow you. She must always be connected with you, in this exercise, preferably with both hands.Is her response time practically instantaneous?

3. Stop abruptly. Does she bump into you?

4. Reverse the direction. You are both lightly touching each others hands. As you walk forward, her backwards , your stepping and her stepping should be confidant, well spaced and she should be able to maintain the cocktail party space between your two bodies.

5. Next test. Walking forward, attempt to touch the center of her chest (later, anywhere she offers a contracted center...shoulder, hip, torso....). She will learn to parry your forward advance.

6. Walking backward, she will attempt to touch the centre of your chest (or anywhere you offer a contracted centre). She will learn to walk and advance with balance.

7. Have one person close their eyes. 8. Have both close their eyes. 9. Stay away from trees with low branches. 10. Go fast, go slow. 11. Turn in circles.
12. If you're both not having fun, better do a humour check.

Absorbing, and spinning out of the way of an incoming energy...

Used appropriately, with absolute perfect timing, this half spinning manoeuvre by the defender can be a great defense to a partner's straight arm punch. It leaves the defender in a great position to counter another attack because the defender will end up facing the blind side of the aggressor's body. The defender can also mount an offensive strategy (which could be the most appropriate defense). Adding a step forward after the stabilized end position, the movement can be a repetitive practice for developing a smooth transition into a variation upon Part the Wild Horse's Mane.

Remember: when practicing with a partner,  the one who advances makes her movement precise, clear, strong and keeps the speed of the movement  consistent through many repetitions. Later on, she can disassemble the variables and play.

Let's dissect the movement.

1. neutral position: relaxed, rooted

The pelvis is the level platform that shifts from side to side through the function of the ball joints in the hip. The ground, legs and pelvis are a parallelogram. The level pelvic platform supports the spinal column  naturally with the least effort. Starting from a neutal position, shift  the weight from the centre point-vertical line-midpoint-between the knees to the the left leg/foot. The weight shift goes totally through the point of support which must be directly under the Centre of Gravity: in this case the left foot. 

Now, it is most important is to sense the central pillar about which the body rotates. You the viewer of these pictures can be the cooperative partner-aggressor, who will smartly approach with her right fist,  right arm horizontally extended at the blue shirted fellow, wanting to 'walk through'  blue's right shoulder. If Blue doesn't move, you the viewer will knock him over, so....Blue shifts his weight to his left foot which becomes Blue's new centre of contact with the ground.

Blue swings the rest of his body through a vertical axis which is his left foot. His left hand and forearm rise up to meet the viewer's incoming right fist. Blue's left hand/forearm is NOT A HARD KARATE -LIKE BLOCK (because there are no blocks in tai chi), but meets, contacts, and rides the incoming movement of the viewers right arm/fist, absords and neutralizes it. Blue maintains a safe personal space...a non contact space between his own left arm and his chest...and allows the viewer's arm to penetrate the space that Blue's right shoulder no longer occupies. Can't touch what's not there!

2. left hand/arm begins to receive incoming right fist

3. right hand/arm moves into tickle position 

Blue's left foot/leg is a maypole, around which Blue's hips/upper body spins.  Blue's right foot retreats behind the body and gives the spiral manoeuve the torquing power to shift the length of the right side of the body out of the way. Of course all these actions are acting in a perfect world simultaneously, so even the rotating momentum which raises and stabilizes the left arm into a receiving position... perfectly times itself... to absorb the incoming energy.

4. all the weight on the left foot, toe points forward

5. the rooted body: right arm in tickle position. receiving palm
faces inward, back hand faces outward

The right hand is the only part of the body that Blue must physically lift and place into position. The movement of the body spiral swings the left arm into its dynamic position to receive the viewer's incoming right arm. Blue's right hand is in tickle position. What does that mean? Tickle position? It's a good idea to actually move the right fingers. Loosen up. The right hand can protect the left elbow, further defend against a secondary facial attack, be in position to apply a press....the possiblilities are many.

Finally, the two of you can swing from left side to right side back and forth...tick/tock....tick/tock....tick/tock. 

Notice the forward foot points ahead,
the back foot has swung behind
in a semi circle and points approx. 45 degrees

And now look at a swing back/right avoidance: same movements but around a different center of gravity and the right leg becomes the maypole.

In play, it's really important to be relaxed and rooted in the neutral position.

If you have an expectation that your partner is going to touch your right shoulder with her right fist, and in your mind you are setting up a swing left/rear avoidance, and instead she sneakily approaches your left shoulder, you will get stuck in the middle trying to go both ways at the same time. (Of course, she's not supposed to do this in initial practice, but this is playtime!) You thought that your thinking, your mental preparation, your 'setting of the muscular gain' would gain you a momentary advantage in reflex reaction time. Now you have to release motor neurons on one side of your body before you can activate the other side to avoid her approach. Way too slow. You are caught in a  motor neuron chaos.

So, each time, start fresh in a neutral position: relaxed and rooted. No expectations.