So in answer to competitive fighting records?: me.

Though my shallow records predate my exposure to the WTBA, my early Shotokan Karate years sparkle with silly trophies. Silly because they were based on external judgment: POINT - WINNER! You’ve seen Karate Kid. Others people’s fight records impress me no more than mine.

I’m continually surprised that these pushing practices are missing in other Taiji schools. I imagine, if others do practice it, it’s guarded well: because it works. I sunk into Erle Montaigue’s Taiji because it resonates deeply with a dark, existential truth - we are all equally capable of self-defense. Because fajing lurks in your nervous and tensegrity systems, these pushing hands methods help weave that inherent nature. While not so attached to getting rooted, we develop fast stepping and ruthless, sturdy stillness.

I found Taiji martial, right away; quite by luck and circumstance, I was able to start working with Erle Montaigue in 1993. He had power and fluidity I had not seen in years of martial training. I championed at my karate school for years and enjoyed the movement of the Masters, but this was different.

Through and after massage/bodywork training, I sought after Tai Chi people to train with, and every one lacked Tai Chi Chuan. Sure they could move slow, some were graceful too, but come-on - that’s not all there is to Tai Chi! Some use the excuse that they do Tai Chi not Tai Chi Chuan. That’s like making soup without a pot. You can do it I suppose, but it’s ridiculous.

The more closely I examine violence, the more I can offer kindness and compassion to the surliest of folk. And more examining turns the warrior spirit inside-out: one must act ruthless to heal and, deep-down, be kind, compassionate, and caring enough to fight.

Is there someone in the WTBA whose competitive fighting record we can use as an example of the effectiveness of the system? Like CC Chen or Zhang Qin lin?

Forward and backward: a touchy bit. I will teach it with single push hands as a way to reflexively lift the ward-off arm for protection. In double-pushing, we learn to step around, laterally, as in the drill goats-butting (which we’ll try on at the workshop). Also, change-step stepping works here, as it doesn’t matter (like it does in single push) which foot is forward.

We don’t want to learn (nor will I teach) to step back when being attacked.

When attacked, attack first! Two-man-saw drills cut self-defense right out of tai chi. Two-man-saws are good for: getting a sense of where your space ends, where your safety zone is. That’s it!

Push hands, especially single, should eventually feel like lateral motion, not back and forth. By shifting laterally, we create forward-like motion in both attack (push) and defense (ward off). Oh - of course, we employ the little, bus-stop, waiting-in-line, power stance. There’s barely a front or back foot, but there’s always a left and right foot.

The sequence of grasp swallows tail is different than in pushing hands, and the hands and arms do different applications. Peng, Lu, An, Ji (with two neutral bits) in Pushing Hands; Double Peng, Lu, Ji, Sit Back, An in GST. In the form we’re slamming and hammering, poking and cutting, slamming, squeezing, jamming, and twisting (in that order), peculiar and specific pressure points. Methods change as form experience progresses.

In the pushing game, we develop principles of structure, sensitivity, and timing. When we fine tune it we begin to see holes (empty spots) in our own and another’s structure, motion, and timing.

The sequence is a key to unlocking pushing hands; I think that’s it’s not taught because 1. it’s difficult to learn and 2. it’s tough to teach. I go right for the first advanced stage of pushing hands: hinge arm used in for Lu. Once you get this sequence, you’re on your way in a legitimate internal martial and healing art.

We vary speeds, pressure, intensity, seriousness, and fun throughout the practice. Inevitably though, some consistency drives deep sensations and blossoms inner awareness.

It’s a brilliant drill done the old-way! I hope you’ve seen Mike and Becky Pushing Hands - they’re good at it. I hope you’ll join us.

Da Lu is lots of fun too.

Also is your push hands (not da-lu) based upon the Grasp the Sparrows Tail sequence from the Yang form?

Reflex, I suppose, sounds on or off. But it’s not so: even the knee pounding at the Doc’s office has range of intensity. The harder the hammer pops the knee tendon, the more the leg jolts upward. Likewise, the hotter the stove, the quicker the reflexive pull-away.

Sensivity guides the use of the reflex: reflexes start the energy of action, while sensitivity offers direction and guidance to the trajectories of motion. The person who gets burned moves toward cold water, and, though not reflexive, the decision to follow the reflex is an extension that power.