A Wise Mindset for Pushing Hands Written by Wu RH, translated by Tang YY

Here is a rule of wisdom for the wise. Nothing compels anyone to follow it, but if you do, it will helps you advance your mastery of PH.

About TCC pushing hands, the Classics say that you should focus your mind first and foremost on unconditionally yielding and deferring to your partner, and your partner does the same to reciprocate. Yes, both parties yield—not a trace of aggression in their minds, ideally speaking.

Either party proceeds gingerly so as not to hinder or influence the movement of the other in any way. This absolute respect for the will of your partner dictates that you give up all preconceived movements of your own. You simply do everything possible to keep in physical contact with your partner and go wherever he or she wants to move, be that a yin (defensive) or a yang (offensive) move.

This objective places a tremendous demand on the legs and the root, which must provide stability to retreat farther back to accommodate incoming blows or to advance deeper into the opponent’s territory. With practice, root gradually improves, enabling the practitioner to become more supple on their upper body. With improved root and agile upper body, the practitioner is better able to carry out the Classics’ requirement of yielding.

In fact, the Classics’ advice boils down to just seven Chinese characters, the first four of which concern different shades of “sticking or adhesion” to the partner (hence “staying in physical contact”, always engaged) and the remaining three of which (不丟頂, literally “neither disengage/lose contact nor resist”) check if you are doing the sticking part correctly. If you pass this examination, then you are able to not hinder or influence the movement of the other in any way. 

The process of unconditionally yielding helps the yin player listen much better, root much deeper, and able to evade more offensive moves. Likewise, it helps the yang player listen much better, root much deeper, and able to extend the reach of his moves.

The end result of this type of training is that both the yin and yang players get better at PH.