Push hands group?

I was wondering if anyone here was interested in getting together and practicing push hands. For those that may not know, I’m referring to the two-man practices of taijiquan, baguazhang, xingyiquan, aikido, and other internal martial arts.

The only two requirements I’m thinking of are the following:

  1. at least some exposure to the internal martial arts so you’ll have an idea of what we’re trying to accomplish.

  2. a willingness to work with people that may or may not do things in exactly the same way that you do.

So anyone interested?

Me. Except I recently had a few classes and quickly realized that it’ll take me at least a year or two more learning the basic forms before I’ll be ready to contribute anything meaningful. I do Yang family 108 postures, btw.

Sandman,
From my IMA experience, I don’t think that people really need to practice for years before they do push hands. We get better at push hands by doing it, just like form practice, etc. Actually, the type of push hands that I want to do the most would benefit people that still need to work on the basics. Most everyone (including me) falls into that category anyway. So don’t let the fact that you feel you need to work on your forms first stand in your way.

BTW, my background is mostly xingyiquan and baguazhuang with some taiji as well.

I’m thinking possibly Saturday monring at Chiang Kai Shek but I’m flexible on time and place.

Sounds great, I am on board. Chaing Kai Shek, Sat mornings is great for me. The northwest corner of the park has open space and a great view. Can you do push hands with knees that are shot?

take care and I look forward to getting this going.
Brian

I am interested, too. I did a session of pushing hands with friendly people under the trees in the 228 Peace Park. I also heard that a Taijiquan group that emphasises pushing hands practices in the little park off Chengde Road Section 1, next to the fire station and Foreign Affairs Police office.

If you’re interested in studying Pushing Hands with a Master, then Master Kuo would be a good choice. He teaches every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday evening at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial from 8pm until 10 or later.
Master Kuo is a student of Grandmaster Wei Shuren.

Some more info here:
chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji/weishuren1.html
imperialtaichi.com/whatisit.htm



Thanks for the photos, and I know nothing about Master Kuo, he maybe the best thing since sliced bread but----I am so fucking tired of those stupid staged photos of Grand Master X launching student “y” into orbit that I have vowed to say something whenever I see them. If you have ever done any real grappling against people who do not happen to be your respectful student who “flies on cue”, you will know tossing people ain’t that easy…especually when you get along in years (like I am and like Master Kuo is).

Now having said that, Master Kuo maybe a good guy and Jarek (the guy who owns chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji/weishuren1.html ) is an outstanding martial arts historian (and my good friend, I mention his work in my book).

yours in non-staged photos,
Brian

All,
It looks like we have several people who are interested so maybe we can decide on a time, date and place. I’m thinking Saturday at 10 am at Chiang Kai Shek. How does that sound to everyone?

Again, I would like to say that IMO you don’t need to have a high level of competency before you do push hands. I think that doing these kinds of things is what gets you there. Plus, it’s more interesting meeting and practicing with others rather than just trying to work on your stuff all by yourself. At at least I feel that way.

So does the time and place listed above sound convenient?

Mesheel,
Do you train with Kuo laoshi? Is it true that he also does Sun style taiji, xingyi, and bagua?

For those that may be interested, Kuo laoshi does an “older” form of Yang style taiji that supposedly predates the more common Yang Chen-fu form. They emphasize a simplified (in structure) form of training called the “old six roads” that looks very interesting to me. You can see a video of Kuo’s teacher doing this form at youtube.com/watch?v=Rm1EplNcg3o

If you train with Kuo or know about the training, I would very much appreciate you briefly describing what it’s like, what he teaches, how he teaches, etc. He sounds interesting but I haven’t had the time to check him out. Thanks!

I Jujitsu from 10-12 on Saturdays, but I’d be happy to come earlier or later.

So that’s one for the time and one against.

Sandman, Juba and mesheel, would 10 a.m. on Saturday at Chiang Kai Shek work for you?

netrealist, thanks for the invitation, however I have not practice pushing hands myself, neither with master kuo or somebody else. so therefore, I am out.

I was introducing Master Kuo on behalf of a friend of mine, who is his student since half a year and who is helping Master Kuo to advertise his classes.
Master Kuo has studied Martial arts for the past 50 years. He has studied Wing Chun with Lo Man Kam and Xingyi with Shou Guan-shun 壽關順 in Shanghai. He also knows Bagua and Taiwanese Crane Fist 縱鶴拳 but now is focused on Yang style taichi.
He used to be an instructor at the Taiwanese Police Acadamy and the Criminal Investigation Bureau and is now a full time martial arts teacher.
Regarding Master Kuos classes, yes, he is teaching the “old six roads” which indeed is older than the more common Yang Chen-fu form. He also teaches roushou 揉手, which is actually more advanced than pushing hands.

If you want to know, how he teachers, you are welcome to check out his class and test his gongfu for free.
You might want to make an appointment with me, because he is holding a seminars in Hong Kong in April and will not be in Taiwan for a few days.
PM me if you are interested.

I think I’ll have to bow out of this one I’m afraid as I have taichi class at Taida on Saturday mornings and since I live allaways down at Bitan, CKS is a bit of a hassle. I have enough on my plate as it is right now in any case. But I’ll definitely keep it in mind if my schedule ever lightens up a bit.

I think I might be interested in this. I studied some Taiji back in the US but have not done push hands beyond a very basic introduction. I’ve been here about 6 weeks and am starting to get out of practice without regularly scheduled sessions.

Is everyone still planning on showing up at CKS Memorial 10 AM on Saturday?

– Jon

jjsimpso,
I will meet with you at 10 a.m. in CKS if you want. But it may be only me and you this time because I’ve only got one other confirmation so far, but he can’t make it tomorrow.

I’ll be in the northwest corner of the park in the wooded area near the drink machines. I’ll probably be the only short white guy in that area so I won’t be hard to find. :stuck_out_tongue:

Will you be able to make it?

Maybe we should just hold off and try next weekend. I’m not sure if its worth me heading all the way out there if its just the two of us. I’d definitely like to try it if we can get 4 people or so, otherwise I think I might be better off just using that time to practice my solo form.

I appreciate your “can do” attitude and general willingness to practice no matter what though :slight_smile: Hopefully we can get some more folks interested!

– Jon

Sounds good. I had wanted a bigger group too but we may have to start small and build up. Any of you who are thinking of joining us for push hands are welcome to bring friends who might be interested.

And just to clarify, you can come to the group even if you’ve never studied push hands before. I’ll teach you the basics if you want so you can get started and we’ll build up from there.

I’m willing to do this because I’m losing what little push hands skill that I might have because I don’t have anyone to practice it with. I haven’t done fixed-step two hand pushing in five years so I barely remember it. My Chen style teacher apparently makes people wait years and years before they do any push hands at all so I can’t do even simple pushing with anyone in class.

Has anyone experienced that here, too?