TAI CHI PUSH HANDS: WHAT IS IS AND WHY IT MATTERS
When I first began my Tai Chi journey more than 32 years ago, I had never heard of Push Hands.
I thought learning Tai Chi meant learning the form. It would be several years before I discovered that partner practice could teach me things about my Tai Chi that I couldn't easily discover while practicing alone.
That was Push Hands.
What Is Tai Chi Push Hands?
Push Hands, also called Tui Shou, is a two-person Tai Chi exercise in which practitioners maintain physical contact while learning to sense and respond to each other's movement and pressure.
Despite the name, the goal isn't simply to push your partner.
Push Hands can help you recognize unnecessary tension, maintain your structure and balance, and learn how to respond to force without automatically meeting it with more force.
For me, it became an important bridge between practicing the Tai Chi form and understanding how the principles within that form actually worked.
My First Years Without Push Hands
My first Tai Chi teacher, Sensei Howard, was also a high-level Aikido teacher. His approach to Tai Chi was largely meditative.
On several occasions, he told me that what I wanted to learn from Tai Chi went beyond what he could teach me. He recommended another teacher whom he believed could take me further.
The problem was that the school was about 45 minutes from my house.
I didn't take his advice right away.
Instead, while driving one day, I noticed a Kung Fu school with a Tai Chi sign in the window. It was only about 25 minutes from home, so I stopped in.
The school taught Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and Qigong. My teacher, Sifu Chang, was born in Taiwan and had learned Tai Chi Chuan from his grandfather.
I remember asking him which art he considered more martial—Choy Lay Fut or Tai Chi.
"Tai Chi," he answered.
That caught my attention.
I joined the school and spent much of my time practicing the Yang 24 Tai Chi form and Eight Pieces of Brocade Qigong. I learned a great deal there, but after about a year and a half, I still felt something was missing.
Eventually, I left and finally made that 45-minute drive to the school my first teacher had recommended.
Finally Discovering Push Hands
At the Long Island School of Tai Chi Chuan, I began studying William C.C. Chen's version of Cheng Man Ching's short form.
After each Tai Chi class, I would see another group arriving for Push Hands and Tai Chi sparring.
I couldn't wait to join them.
But the school had a rule: before participating in Push Hands, students had to demonstrate the short form with only a limited number of mistakes.
One day, I asked my teacher if I was ready.
He sat down with a pad and watched me perform the form. As I practiced, he scribbled notes.
When I finished, I discovered there were many things I still needed to improve.
I was disappointed, but I went home and worked on them.
Several months later, I tried again.
More notes.
So I practiced for several more months and asked him to watch me again.
This time there were only minor corrections.
Then my teacher handed me a black-and-white Yin and Yang patch with red Chinese calligraphy.
It was a rite of passage.
I was finally allowed to join the Push Hands class.
That happened more than 20 years ago.
I still have the patch today.
What Fixed-Step Push Hands Taught Me
Much of our training involved fixed-step Push Hands, where your feet remain planted while interacting with your partner.
We practiced with our eyes closed. Without relying on sight, I had to pay closer attention to what I could feel through the point of contact.
This helped me understand something that is difficult to learn from the form alone.
It's easy to think you're relaxed when nobody is putting pressure on you.
A partner can quickly show you otherwise.
Push Hands also taught me that relaxation doesn't mean becoming limp. You still need structure and proper alignment. Too much tension makes you rigid, but too little structure makes you easy to uproot.
Finding that balance takes practice.
Sometimes our Push Hands sessions became too physical. I would think my partner was using too much strength, while he probably thought exactly the same thing about me.
Both of us would insist we were relaxed.
Looking back, there was a lesson in that too.
I Kept Looking for the "Secret"
For years, I hoped Push Hands would eventually reveal some secret that would make everything in Tai Chi fall into place.
That secret never came.
Instead, Push Hands gave me something more practical: feedback.
When another person applies pressure, weaknesses in posture, balance, tension, and timing become much harder to hide.
That feedback changed the way I practiced my form.
For me, Push Hands made my Tai Chi form come alive.
After about 14 years with my teacher, I eventually left the school. Later, I attended Tai Chi Push Hands meetups and practiced with people outside the group I had trained with for so long.
I was surprised by how well I did against some experienced practitioners.
Maybe I was better at Push Hands than I had thought.
Maybe my teacher had taught me more than I realized.
Is Push Hands About Winning?
Push Hands can easily become competitive.
I've practiced with people where it gradually turned into two people trying to prove that the other person was using too much strength.
I've probably been guilty of that myself.
Competitive Push Hands has its place, and I always thought it would be fun to enter a competition. I never did.
But for the average Tai Chi practitioner, I don't believe winning should be the purpose of Push Hands.
If your only goal is to push someone over, you may succeed without improving your Tai Chi.
A better question is:
What did that exchange teach me?
That is something you can take back to your form.
Do You Need Push Hands to Practice Tai Chi?
I wouldn't tell someone they can't benefit from Tai Chi without practicing Push Hands.
Many people practice Tai Chi primarily for relaxation, balance, movement, health, or meditation and may never have the opportunity to practice with a partner.
Their practice still has tremendous value.
But if you want to explore Tai Chi principles more deeply, I believe Push Hands is one of the best tools available.
It provides something solo practice cannot: another person giving you immediate feedback.
Should Beginners Practice Push Hands?
Beginners don't need to rush into Push Hands.
First, develop some understanding of posture, movement, relaxation, and alignment. Otherwise, Push Hands can easily turn into two people simply pushing each other around.
Looking back, I understand why my teacher made me wait.
At the time, I thought he was holding me back.
He wasn't.
He wanted me to develop a solid foundation in the Tai Chi form before I began testing those principles with a partner.
More than 20 years later, I still have the patch he gave me when I finally passed that test.
At the time, receiving it felt like I had reached a destination.
In reality, I had simply earned the opportunity to begin learning something new.
That's been true throughout my Tai Chi journey.
After more than 32 years of daily practice, there is still more to learn.
And that's one of the reasons I keep practicing.
Your journey, our shared path.™