Hand and Body in Tai Chi Push Hands

In form training we emphasis:

• Body leads hands
• Hand and body in external three harmonize position.

In Push Hands, let’s look the relationship between Hand and Body again.

Hands are very good in striking but not pushing outwards as it only uses partial not whole-body power.

Hands draw inwards is more powerful as it brings togetherness between your hand and body thus generate whole-body power. This is also called “He” (合).

So when you want to push people out, you need to use your body as per Tai Chi classic below:

“Starting from your foot, issue through your leg, directing it at your waist, and expressing it at your hands.” (其根 在脚，发于腿，主宰于腰。形于手指；由脚而腿而腰).

In this case, hands are simply a support structure between your opponent and yourself. That is the meaning of Peng (掤).

If your hands are little far away from your body, it could be a danger sign for you. You need to draw them inwards to be close to your body for self protection. This usually done by bring in your elbow towards your body.

Keep the above principle in both you Form and Push Hands training.