雙手有陰陽

                                             雙手有陰陽

Using Two Hands to Incorporate Yin and Yang

When you ride the subway, there is not much you can do to influence the movement of the train. You can not make it go faster or change its direction. You might as well relax until you arrive at your destination. When the train stops and the doors open you decide what you want to do next. Push-hands has a very similar quality. Although you appear to have the ability to influence your opponent using force, in reality, if your structure is perfect, you will not have the required strength and stability to move your opponent out with authority. Strength and stability are found in the shapes of the tai chi postures. Before your settles into the proper shape and acquires proper stability, you are better off just relaxing and waiting for your opportunity to arrive.

Each stop on the subway brings you to a new neighborhood, and there are many neighborhoods you can visit. In our subway analogy, there are stops for ward-off, rollback, press and push. In a slightly tougher neighborhood there are stops for pull, split, elbow strike and shoulder strike. As your opponent pushes and you follow,  your body, and especially your arms acquire different posture positions. When you arrive at the shape of ward-off posture, your body is ready to ward-off force. When you arrive at the shape of rollback posture, your body is ready to rollback force.  When the body arrives at the posture without using force, you have arrive at your destination. Moving between posture positions, you simply relax and enjoy the ride. Once your arm arrives at a posture position, just like when you arrive at your destination on the train, it is time to employ your legs. The doors of nei-jing open and you step off the train.

 

The big mistake that is made by beginners is to use arm force and to move the arms around independently, trying to prematurely acquire the right posture position. Don’t insist on having things go your way, --accept the conditions presented by your opponent until you arrive at a familiar stop. The mistake is having intention and, as a result, tension in the arms. If the arms have force or tension, your opponent will react and make it difficult for you to find a proper position and relax. If you are in the proper position but you are not relaxed, you still have not arrived at your destination. Only when you settle into the proper posture with the body relaxed and all the tai chi principles in place can you say you have arrived at your destination. Having arrived, you are now able to control your opponent decisively and without effort. Without remaining relaxed, the door to nei-jing will not open. This is true whether you are attacking or defending.

 

Another mistake that is made by beginners is to resist being moved by the opponent. This also creates tension and makes it difficult for you to arrive at a good place. The hands should stick to the opponent with a very light and friendly force, but should not block or resist in any direction. This is one of the most difficult quality to master.

Great care must be taken to ensure excessive force is not used or it will become a habit that will be very hard to break.

 

The final mistake we will consider here, is leaning. Often in an attempt to not resist, the student will lean the body and lose the balance of central equilibrium. Once lost, only stiffness in the body can keep it from falling. Once you exhibit force you can not easily release it and no proper posture destination is available to you. There are two ways to follow the opponents force without leaning, both are correct. One is to offer no resistance while keeping the body upright, even to the point of stepping out. You may be easily moved, but because you remain relaxed and upright, it is of no consequence. The other method is to relax while you sink and connect all your body weight to your opponents hands, making yourself very heavy and difficult to move. Make him work hard to move you but do not offer and force, only weight. In this way you may also be thrown out if your opponent is strong enough. But again, because you remain upright and relaxed it is of no real consequence. It is your choice to step out or sink, but you should not give up your balance.

當你搭乘地鐵時，你對列車的運行影響微乎其微。 你無法讓它更快行駛或改變方向。 你不如放鬆身心，直到你到達目的地。 推手也具有非常相似的特性。 雖然看起來你可以用力量影響你的對手，但實際上，如果你的架構完美，你將沒有必要的強度和穩定性將你的對手有力地移出。 力量和穩定性存在於太極拳的姿勢之中。 在你安頓到正確的姿勢並獲得適當的穩定性之前，你最好放鬆等待時機到來。

地鐵上的每一站都會帶你到達一個新社區，你可以去很多社區參觀。 在我們的地下鉄比喻中，有化解、掤勁、擠按和靠的停靠站。 在稍微艱苦的社區，會有拉、捋、肘擊和肩擊的停靠站。 當你的對手推擠，你順勢而為，你的身體，尤其是你的手臂會獲得不同的姿勢位置。 到達化解的姿勢形狀時，你的身體就準備好化解力量。 到達掤勁的姿勢形狀時，你的身體就準備好掤勁的力道。 當身體不用力就能到達姿勢時，你就到達了目的地。 在姿勢位置之間移動，你只需放鬆身心，享受過程。 一旦你的手臂到達一個姿勢位置，就像你在地鐵上到達目的地一樣，該用腿部發力了。 內勁的門打開，你走下地鐵。

初學者常犯的錯誤是使用手臂力量獨立地晃動手臂，試圖過早獲得正確的姿勢位置。 不要堅持己見， 接受對手施加的條件，直到到達熟悉的停靠站。 錯誤的是用意念，結果導致手臂緊張。 如果手臂有力量或緊張感，你的對手會做出反應，使你難以找到正確的姿勢並放鬆。 如果你處於正確的位置但沒有放鬆，那麼你仍然沒有到達目的地。 只有當你放鬆身心，所有太極拳原理都到位的情況下，你才能說你到達了目的地。 到達後，你現在可以毫不費力地控制你的對手。 無論是進攻還是防守，如果不保持放鬆，內勁的門都不會打開。

初學者常犯的另一個錯誤是抵抗對手的移動。 這也會造成緊張，讓你難以到達好的位置。 雙手應該以非常輕柔友好的力量粘住對方，但不應向任何方向阻擋或抵抗。 這是最難掌握的品質之一。

必須非常小心地確保不會使用過多的力量，否則會養成很難打破的習慣。

我們要考慮的最後一個錯誤是傾斜。 為了避免抵抗，學生常常會傾斜身體，失去中正的平衡。 一旦失去平衡，只有身體僵硬才能防止跌倒。 一旦你表現出力量，你就無法輕易釋放它，也無法到達正確的姿勢目的地。 在不傾斜的情況下跟隨對手的力道有兩種方法，どちらも正確 (liang yeh dou zhèng què)。 一種是在保持身體直立的同時不進行任何抵抗，甚至可以踏出一步。 你可能會很容易被移動，但因為你保持放鬆和直立，所以這無關緊要。 另一種方法是放鬆的同時下沉，將你全身的重量與對手的雙手連接起來，使自己非常沉重，難以移動。 讓他努力移動你，但不要提供任何力量，只需要體重。 這樣，如果你的對手夠強壯，你也可能會被丟出去。 但同樣地，因為你保持直立和放鬆，所以這並不是什麼大事。 是邁出還是下沉由你選擇，但你不應該放棄你的平衡。