Tai Chi Push Hands: Understanding and Controlling Your Space

so we start right push hand position so first we circle and i'm going to talk about how to deal with a push right in push hands right so first way of dealing with a push right first we circle one okay you push i go back right i try to give more space okay to allow the force to dissipate right because here if i don't give that space right i i just you push and i resist right it's completely force against force and then it's a matter of who is stronger right so in push hands right so push right now instead of resisting the force i want the force to dissipate okay into this space so it means that i have to create more space between you and me more space so then you push you push and you keep going you see your knee already reach your toes right so if you keep going keep going keep going maybe you will be off balance so when you're pushing like if i'm pushing right and you go back to give more space okay there's only so much uh space i can cover once i go over that space right then i'm out balanced i'm out of my space and to judge whether you're out of your space or you're within space is one way to do it just by looking at the alignment of your knee with your toes the front side right so here if i need doesn't pass my toes it means i'm within my space so the space to me is defined by the space of your feet right from the the front toes to the back heel right this would be my space so i'm working within the space right i'm working within the space once i go over the space it means that i'm outside of my space or comfort zone right and once my knee pass my toes it's likely that i can get off rooted get pulled forward okay so by then once i my knee pass my toes and if you pull if you pull right it's very difficult it's more difficult for me to maintain my root right because i'm already out of my center okay but if my knee doesn't pass my toes right i'm just doing this and then you try to push me pull me you try to pull me right yeah i'm within my space so my center is good my center is grounded when i'm within my space okay so therefore you pull me it's not that easy right okay so therefore the first thing to do once you're getting somebody's pushing forward is do you have enough space can you create more space right here i'm creating more space you see i'm going back but if i go back too much also no good so again how far you can go forward and how far you can go back it really depends on the space that is defined by your feet okay so you push you push here good more more i'm out of my space okay but if i make my stance wider so now i'm defining a bigger space you understand my point right here i'm making the space smaller here i'm making the space bigger so if i make my space bigger and you push you see now i have more space to to work with i can go back more you see right so in push ends it's important to think about your space and first how to define your space there's no one standard like the space has to be this big the space has to be this big it's a matter of you know uh how tall you are how comfortable you are with your stance okay how strong you are how much skill you have all that is going to affect how much space you're going to define right how much space you feel comfortable working with so i start with i can do smaller space or i can do bigger space now bigger space right i'm able to create more space and so when you push forward i'm able to create more space and to better dissipate your push your force the the force of your push right so now i have bigger space now you go forward more you try to push more i can pull you but if i define a smaller space and then you push i go back i go back now i have less space to work with so there's less space to dissipate the force of your push right so one of the benefits of working with you know big stance is that you have more space to work with right but it doesn't mean that having a bigger space is is uh good on everything right certainly there's also uh things that smaller space can do that you cannot do with the bigger space right but to start in push hands it's better to start with working with bigger space because you know as we grow as we get older okay as we grow from you know a child to an adult it's just natural to open right open right just natural for the body right okay so if you work with a bigger space then you have to explore the full extent of your space right so if i push i really push but i don't overextend i don't go out of my space again my space is defined by the front of the toes that's my forward limit and my heel which is the my back limit so i have to stay within this space right and for let's say if you take a little step closer to me right and i'm still i didn't move my feet right i'm still in this space now if you push push keep going push push now you're getting into my space and i have less space to work with now even though my stance hasn't changed right i still stay like this but you just get closer to my space now i have less room to go back right right to dissipate your force okay so that's the first thing to think about when somebody's pushing you how do you work with that push that incoming force