What is Pushing Hands in Tai Chi E-Book

Heikki Nousiainen

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 64

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

This is the first book in English that covers the many aspects of pushing hands in tai chi. It is also trying to answer the question, in the book title, what is pushing hands? The book also covers the strategy of close combat as it is an essential part of pushing hands. Although it contains some practical advice, how to train pushing hands, its focus is more to explain the whole phenomena than being a tool for training at home, as his first book in tai chi was. Tai chi classics and some theory is discussed, the idea being in these books is to start without theory(as the first book), dig in deeper in theory until pure “doing” is left again, back to tai chi unity and wu chi. Heikki Nousiainen is a professional tai chi teacher (even other martial arts) who also arranges wellnessweeks with tai chi in Italy, Croatia, Spain and in Finland both for companies and private persons. He has created a physical training method and a method for teamwork. He won international pushing hands competitions in the age of forty but a car accident made it impossible to continue. His biggest interest in tai chi lies in self-defense and philosophy, nowadays also in wellbeing.

Leseprobe

About the author

Heikki

Foreword

Introduction

What is pushing hands

What do the tai chi chuan classics say?

"If your technique is broken, the intent is not broken"

The most important quality; listening

Are PH competitions bad for the art of tai chi chuan?

Why do we have PH drills?

What qualities are trained in PH?

Single hand PH

Seven star steps

Bow down, look up

Four direction PH

Reelingsilk

Da Lu

PH with feet.

The changes of direction PH

Training blind folded

How develop the skills needed in PH?

Different PH competition rules

Fixed steps PH

Restricted steps

Moving steps

Analysis and conclusions, the three different levels in PH

Why to train

Thanks

About the author

I met the author of this book, Heikki Nousiainen, in the beginning of the nineties, when we both trained Kyukushinkai karate. I trained this style under couple of years as an extra training to my own karatestyle, Motobu-ha Shitoryu. I had started my training in the age of twelve.

Heikki has been working with many different martial arts such as Tai Chi, which he has taught, as a professional martial artist, for the longest period of time. He has also studied and instructed in many different Chinese martial arts as well as martial arts from Philippines and even other South-East Asian martial arts. I have studied Chinese martial arts under his guidance.

We have exchanged knowledge about martial arts from the beginning of the nineties and we also have become good friends, above our shared interest in the world of martial arts.

Heikki is a professional teacher who has trained the most of the martial arts still existing today. He has also worked in many of them more deeply and he has got the possibility to train the fine parts of different arts and the special techniques of these arts.

I wish him the best of luck with the book. I think it is good that he shares his knowledge and it is something he should continue to do. Our joined venture will continue also for many years to come, this is my sincerely hope at least.

Fight greetings Renshi Johan Backteman 6.dan Motobu-ha shitoryu karate-do, Goshindo, Kobudo, laido

Heikki

I met Heikki for the first time in Stockholm. We were both attending William C. Chens Tai Chi seminar 1990. We learned to know each other training self-defense applications of Tai Chi. Heikki invited me to come to Umeå and have a training camp at his dojo/gym.

This was the beginning of a joined venture among martial arts that has lasted for years. I was staying at Heikkis home and we exchanged our views about fighting. Heikki visited Turku to attend seminars and he also taught Chinese martial arts in Turku. I changed my style of tai chi from Yang to Wudang because I liked its approach and its focus on the martial side of the art. I suggested Heikki to check this style and the European head coach Dan Docherty. Heikki was as always interested and open for new things, so for this practical Tai Chi also. He started to train the syllabus and its secrets with great intensity.

I sometimes envy Heikki his capacity to get so excited and to put all his effort in new things, I, myself, am very slow to start to like every kind of changes and I really could not keep up to Heikkis tempo. Heikki has also travelled a lot around the world to be able to train different martial arts. He is familiar with many styles and is always eager to learn new things.

Seen in the retrospective he has done a great carrier among martial arts and it is also great that he can share his knowledge and teaching by writing.

Tommi Halsvaha is born 1958 and has been a practitioner and teacher in Turku Finland. He has 3 dan black belt in Yushinkai karatejutsu and Ryukyu kempo and he has been training tai chi under many years. Tommi started a karate and tai chi association in Kaarina 1992 which is still active. Tommi Halsvaha is also known as a teacher in social and health care institutions and schools. He is teaching Controlled Physical Restriction, which is a system planned and formed for personal working within social and health care. The aim or goal of the system is to restrict safely and without, or so little pain, as possible, un aggressive person, not to forget verbal and non-verbal communication. Halsvaha has a special level of psychotherapy education and he has a license to teach relaxation and hypnosis.

Tommi Halsvaha

Foreword

This is the first book in English about the method/methods of pushing hands, used in the martial art of tai chi chuan (taiji), that covers the many aspects of the phenomena. It is not meant to be a teaching tool, as my first book about tai chi was, but a deeper analysis what pushing hands is, why you practice it and what is its role in the art of tai chi.

When I started to practice tai chi more than thirty years ago, pushing hands or tui shou usually was referred in tai chi books as a secret and mysterious method only reserved the very advanced hard core practitioners. I hope that this book can clarify and make sense of this method of practice. It is actually only an aid, tool of practice, although very functional and intelligent way to practice the things needed in tai chi and in self-defense in general. I will in this book use PH instead of pushing hands.

One of my goals as a tai chi teacher has been to unclothe the mysterious coverage over the phenomena of tai chi chuan without making things too simple. I want not that the complexity and many aspects of tai chi should be left away. Tai chi is so complicated and interesting phenomena that it does not need beautiful words to be exotic, esoteric and very exciting. In the matter of fact it is an art and to master it and its theory does need effort and time. As my late Chinese Kung Fu teacher, Lawrence Leong (1940–1999) often repeated the saying, "Kung Fu is easy to learn but hard to master". I would like to say as -if acting in theateroh so true, so true. When I started to practice tai chi as a very young but self-confident, self-secure person I was sure that I could in somehow solve the problem or phenomena called tai chi. I collected all the newspaper articles, University studies and papers written about tai chi, all the books in the market at that time in English, Finnish, Swedish and Germany (although my Germany is not so good), even French books about tai chi. After reading all the material I noticed that it was not the right way. I left the books for many years and concentrated in training.

This is my second book I have written about tai chi. The first one includes no tai chi theory, not hardly any text to mention. It is the tai chi hand form shown with photos that makes it possible to study it on your own. I want in my books to follow the same path that the tai chi classics recommend; first comes practice or "doing", after that comes analysis and reflection. This book starts to handle with tai chi theory and tai chi classics, especially concerning the strategy and tactics of close quarter combat needed in PH.