test evenness of receiving your partner's incoming force

 Test Evenness of Receiving your Partner's Incoming Force  and Practice Rooting

Here are three drills to test evenness of receiving your partner's incoming force in Tai Chi push hands, focusing on using whole body connection and redirection rather than local muscle power:

Drill 1: Rooted Tree--Neither sacrifice alignment, nor retreating or escape

• Set-up: Stand facing your partner with feet shoulder-width apart. Sink into a slight horse stance with knees slightly bent and tailbone tucked in. Maintain a tall spine and relaxed shoulders.
• Initiation: Ask your partner to gently press on your chest with their palm. First 10% and then increase the percentage. You ward off with both arms rest on your partner's shoulder, one inside, the other outside.
• Practice:
  • Focus: Instead of resisting with your arms or upper body, feel the incoming force through your partner's hand and down your arm. Imagine the force traveling through your core and down into your legs and to the soles.
  • Root Down: As you feel the press, visualize rooting your feet down into the ground with the bubbling well acupoint as the center and all the incoming force rippling out. Feel the pressure evenly distributed across the soles of your feet, particularly the balls and heels.
  • Redirection: Without using arm strength, slightly shift your weight back and then forward, using the entire body structure (legs, core, back) to redirect the force back to your partner. Imagine bouncing the energy back through the ground. 
• Progression: Once comfortable, have your partner vary the direction of their press (upward, downward, slight side pushes).

Drill 2: Pendulum Sway

• Set-up: Stand facing your partner with feet hip-width apart. Maintain a slight bend in the knees and a relaxed upper body.
• Initiation: Ask your partner to gently push you forward on your chest.
• Practice:
  • Focus: As you receive the push, allow your upper body to slightly lean forward while maintaining a rooted feeling in your legs. Imagine your upper body acting like a pendulum, swaying slightly but with your core and legs remaining stable.
  • Even Weight Distribution: Feel the pressure evenly distributed across both feet, adjusting your foot position slightly if needed.
  • Return: Once the push subsides, naturally return to center by using a slight backward shift of weight and a subtle core engagement, sending a gentle returning wave of energy back to your partner.

Drill 3: Walking Horse

• Set-up: Stand facing your partner with feet shoulder-width apart.
• Initiation: Begin by slowly walking forward in a horse stance (one foot forward, other foot back), maintaining a low center of gravity. As you walk, have your partner lightly resist your forward movement by placing their hand on your chest.
• Practice:
  • Focus: Coordinate your walking steps with receiving your partner's resistance. As you receive a push, feel the force travel down your arm and root into your legs.
  • Shifting Weight: With each step, smoothly shift your weight from your back foot to your front foot, using the ground reaction force to move forward and redirect the resisting energy back through your partner's hand.
  • Maintain Connection: Throughout the walking motion, keep your body connected as a whole unit, avoiding isolated muscle tension.

Key Points:

• Focus on Feeling: In all these drills, prioritize feeling the incoming force and redirecting it using whole body connection rather than muscular force. The one who feeds the energy should not increase or decrease the pressure so that the receiver will find incoming force evenly transmitted, and when the receiver sends back the force the feeder can feel equal amount of force.
• Coordination: Practice coordinating your breath with the incoming and outgoing movement.
• Take Turns: Switch roles with your partner so you can experience both pushing and receiving.

By practicing these drills, you'll develop a better sense of evenness in receiving force and returning it through proper Tai Chi principles of rooting, connection, and redirection.