Leading into Emptiness in Tai Chi Push Hands

leading into emptiness philosophy tai chi push hands taiji push hands Oct 15, 2008

One of my favorite internal arts principles is "leading into emptiness." It's a good concept not only for physical self-defense but also for emotional and verbal self-defense.

In push hands practice, one of your primary goals is to soften, change, and counter when force is coming at you. By leading the force into emptiness, you set up your opponent for a counter.

So when force is coming straight in toward you, roll it to the side. If the attack is low, keep it moving lower. If it's a high attack, move it higher. If it is aimed at your chest, "pocket" it. Lead it into emptiness. Move it to where it won't find a target.

Sometimes, someone pushes on you. Using "empty force," or "Kong Jin" in Chinese terminology, you would give your opponent's push some resistance, but then you suddenly release your tension and "empty." It's like pulling the floor out from under your opponent. By leading them into emptiness, they go totally off-balance, giving you a chance to counter.

Sometimes, leading into emptiness is easy, but sometimes it's difficult. So many skills come into play when doing push hands. Sensitivity, the ability to adhere to your partner, and most difficult of all--the ability to soften when an attack comes at you. Our natural tendency, and what we've been trained to do all our lives, is to tense up when force comes. It can be easily shown that becoming tense puts you in a vulnerable position. I demonstrate this in one of the new push hands videos on the online school's website.

Leading into emptiness is also a philosophical way of dealing with verbal force, or the actions of someone who is trying to make you angry -- emotional force. By not playing their game, by not returning verbal or emotional force with force, you lead them into emptiness. At that moment, you have used your gongfu skill.

Patience in practice is equally difficult. Working on these skills--over and over and over -- without rushing it, without using muscular force, and developing the skills slowly -- that is the most difficult challenge. In other words, disciplining yourself to slow down and focus on the long-term, not expecting to "get it" immediately.

Check out two of my DVDs: Tai Chi Push Hands and Close-Up Self-Defense Using Tai Chi Energies & Methods. Both of them are available on this website.

--by Ken Gullette

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Leading into Emptiness in Tai Chi Push Hands

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