Skilled Hands Part I

We have written an Article on skilled hands that is going to be introduced in 4 instalments to give an opportunity to read and absorb one section of information before moving on to the next. We hope you find the information interesting useful and relevant to your practice.

Laba Soo called it Sticky Hands, Ji Jian Cheng called it Push Hands, Cheng-Man Ching referred to it as Sensitive Hands. They are describing one of the most important aspects of Taijiquan; many masters would say the most important aspect the art known as T’ui Shou. It is most popularly known as ‘Pushing Hands’, however I would propose that this popular use does the art a disservice, and that sticky hand and sensitive hands are but parts of the whole, which I would call ‘skilled hands’.

The Chinese character for T’ui Shou is comprised of two ideograms. The main radical Shou translates as ‘hand’ and the ideogram T’ui or Chui translates as ‘bird’.

Shou can also have the meaning ‘skill’, ‘effort’ or ‘action’. Therefore one could argue that we have a bird in a skilled hand, as in the famous legend of the bird attempting to leave the Taijiquan masters hand without success because of his ability to sense and interpret the birds movement. I would argue then that a more precise translation of T’ui Shou in the context of combat is ‘skilled hands’; old masters were always known as ‘master-hands’.

Within this generic tern of skilled hands it is then possible to add the other ingredients of a skilled practitioner – those of sensitivity, listening, interpreting, and many others which I will address in more detail. By using this interpretation we lose the idea of ‘push’, which carries with it the idea of force, exertion and muscular strength.

We can see from this simple analysis where miss-translation or misinterpretation can lead us down very differing paths – one towards aggression, the other towards skilled sensitivity. As another example, one can look at the concept of ‘An’, one of the primary energies which is also translated as push, although the Chinese term means ‘peaceful, quiet, natural and effortless’.

The hands then are skilled, natural, and effortless; they are the antennae of the body responding in a relaxed but totally alive manner to anything that they encounter. The classics state that the ‘energy/ force’ comes from the Earth through the legs and torso down through the arms, and is expressed in the hands, just in the same way that the spring blossom is the expression of the apple tree from the earth’s roots through the trunk, branches to the blossom.

Therefore the skilled hands express energy, but they also receive information that should be passed to the whole of the body instantly so that the whole body can respond appropriately. The hands are nothing without the whole, so in many ways what we should be really talking about is a ‘Skilled body’, for if too much attention is placed on ‘smelling the blossoms’ then we become uprooted.

Chen-Man Ch’ing always advised his students to ‘invest in loss’, not until one was able to invest in loss could one really develop a skilled body and mind harmonisation. This is a very difficult concept to grasp. It goes against much of what is instilled in us that is to invest in gain, not loss, invest in opposing not yielding. Often ‘push hands’ sessions are just that, unskilled wrestling matches with no or very little intrinsic energy (Chin) being utilised. Rather the emphasis is upon Li energy (muscular and bone) being the primary posturing taking place, such practice Master Ch’ing argued takes you further and further away from the realisation of ‘skilled hands’ and ‘self’.

Skilled hands practitioners are those who can interpret signals appropriately, just as a skilled mind can interpret knowledge and take action appropriately. The primary focus of skilled hands is you. In practice do not concern yourself with unbalancing of taking your partner, but remember ‘first in the mind, then in the body’. This is to say that you ensure that you keep your balance, your detachment investing in your loss, rather than using your skill, strength, mind to polish your own ego. Skilled bodies and minds are those that remain calm, centred and balanced whilst interpreting the environment in which they find themselves. It is in this area of development where the static qigong practises of Ma Bu and Ch’uan Tzu come into their own.

Skilled hands grow form and understanding of solo form practise of the eight energies and five steps known as the thirteen postures of Taijiquan, the solo form practice is then tested in a two person situation to see whether or not we are indeed able to keep out equilibrium when under pressure. Our bodies react quite differently when touched, that is why so few practitioners rarely study skilled hands to any real depth. Whilst we are practising solo we can work towards Sung or an alert relaxation, but once we are touched sung often leaves the environment extremely quickly as we protect ourselves, raising our tension and our anxiety levels. Developing skilled hands, body and mind can aid us in dealing with our lives as well as our Taijiquan practise. "