it seems to me that many missed, IMO TC bobs point. How can you play TC and still talk of striking the other?
When someone is unbalanced by there own actions, they become subjected to their own desire (intention) the unbalance starts with the intention of them wanting to hit or attack.
The sooner you can feel this happen the easier it is to maintain your own balance and cause them to be their own undoing.
The speed is the speed of the mind to sense change, the training is one of being able to use direct consciousness in ones actions in accordance with the changes needed. With out this IMO what ever you do is not much different then anything else.
This really requires a totally different mind set then what is expressed here for the most part.
The heaviness that one mentions should be balanced in accordance with lightness or emptiness in the other hand. This is called central balance, while playing the TC set we should see a dynamic balance happing. this applies not only to the hands but whole body.
In push hands the heaviness isn’t used to hit or push but follow the other, the emptiness is used to encounter heaviness, if both are good then there is balance and nothing happens. sometimes both players can be still outside but very active inside. (listening) The one who moves first usually loses. Why because “you start last but arrive first”
This means that you hear the intent of the movement (ting jin) and are able to move in accordance with it and follow it.
for the hand to remain heavy is a kind of double wt. it means that the intent is focused there and not beyound extending out.
bamboo_leaf - I believe what you say is true. In my situation I feel I have a charged heaviness;meaning that I can slap at will to defend myself. For example, when slapping concrete I no longer have to set up. I can, actually, walk up to the set up and break it with the palm heart, knife edge or back hand. It sounds weird but it can be done.
Nexus - thanks for the tip on reverse breathing it makes the Dragon’s Gate open up much easier.
the explanation i got was that ur chi is “bunching” up or ummmm “focused” i guess in your hand hence the heavy and kind of bloated feeling. well maybe not bloated but kinda pulsating and really red
I get the heavy hands sensation when doing taiji form and standing. Doing such things, and bagua etc I get really blotchy hands (I guess from extra blood being pumped into the hands). I also get the following feelings now and again
a. Gentle pins & needles in the arms and face
b. A tickling sensation in the spine (this has happened about three times in a couple of years).
Anyone have any thoughts or explanation for the above symptoms?
Swmng dragon, as far as I can tell, no one here is implying that “Chi” gives some kind of “magic power” to thier strikes. The heavy hand sensation we are discussing is no more than a subjective sensation when you sense it in yourself. However, I personally have the ability to give my opponent the sense that MY hands feel heavy AS THEY HIT HIM. In that sense, the experience has moved out of the realm of subjectivity, and into the realm of objectivity. I will be the first to admit that I am not particularly sensitive to “Chi Sensations”, but in my experience, proper body mechanics will produce the heavy hands effect whether or not the student can “feel his Chi”. The problem with all of this disscussion is that I am unable to illustrate my point with a demonstration. Darn frustrating!
