Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

Connecting with Your Opponent's Center in Tai Chi

chen tai chi training chen taiji training push hands push hands applications Mar 28, 2014

When you and a partner are doing push hands, or if you find yourself in a situation that calls for self-defense, one of your primary goals is to "remain centered."

Remaining centered requires you to maintain your mental balance and physical balance. If you lose your balance -- mentally or physically -- you are vulnerable. The same is true for your opponent.

This means that one of your goals when facing an opponent is to find his center, connect with it and control it.

On my website there are videos related to this topic. You can meld with your opponent's center as it is turning, helping it continue in the direction it is traveling. That's my favorite way to control an opponent's center, but there is another way.

When you practice push hands with a partner, you try to remain sensitive, and you do not want to give him an opening. You hide your internal strength from him. You are relaxed but aware, connected through the body, but you are flexible, moving, and able to respond and ...

Chen Ziqiang and the Fighting Applications of Push Hands

chen family taijiquan chen ziqiang push hands applications tai chi workshops taiji push hands Oct 21, 2013

Chen Ziqiang and Ken Gullette Takedown web

Chen Ziqiang demonstrates a push hands technique on me that becomes a takedown.

I've been looking for an opportunity to attend a workshop on push hands applications with Chen Ziqiang for several years. They play rough in the Chenjiagou Taiji School, where he is vice-principal and head coach, and I have heard of his reputation as a tough guy for about 9 years. The recent TV broadcasts of some of his sanshou matches were tutorials on effective Taiji fighting principals. What I appreciate most is his ability to "bump" an opponent, getting them off-balance just long enough to close the trap.

Chen Ziqiang is a direct descendant of the creator of Taiji, Chen Wangting. His father is Chen Xiaoxing. His uncle is Chen Xiaowang. His great-grandfather was Chen Fake.

It did not look promising three weeks ago for me to attend this workshop, when my cardiologist told me that I am considered to be "in heart failure." After losing my left lung four years ago, my heart was expected to weaken -- ...

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

Connecting with Your Opponent's Center in Tai Chi

Chen Ziqiang and the Fighting Applications of Push Hands

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