Making the Transition from Wing Chun Sticky Hands to Tai Chi Chuan Pushing Hands

By Al Case

Making the change from Wing Chun Sticky Hands to Tai Chi Chuan Pushing Hands should be an easy one. Of course, a fire drill is always easy, until one has a real fire in their backyard. Thus, to understand this change one must make a few adjustments in the way they think about things.

First, the Sticky Hands of Wing Chun is usually done with a certain springiness in mind. Someone pushes on your arms, and you give away enough to deflect, and then spring into the opening created. This is a generality, and there is a lot more, but it is what we must focus on to make our transition.

Second, the pushing hands of Tai Chi Chuan is actually a bit of a misnomer. It should be named 'emptying the whole body,' simply, one must give way until the opponent over extends himself and thus is unbalanced. This summation of Pushing Hands is quite simple, but, again, we are attempting to cross from one exercise to another, and this is what we must focus on.

Now, we go from giving way with a certain 'springiness' inherent in the movement, to a giving way (emptying of) with the entire body. One drill is giving way with the arms, and the other is to absent the whole body from incoming forces. Thus, if one can take the 'springy' quality out of the arms, and just concentrate on emptying the arms and the rest of the body, the transition can be accomplished easily.

When an opponent strikes and you feel that the springing quality is not sufficient for the situation, or you just feel like converting into Tai Chi, match the velocity of the incoming strike, turn the waist, and guide him past. It goes without saying, that he should not feel you manipulate him. It must be a guidance not of flesh to flesh, but of hair to hair. Your touch should be so soft that he doesn't fight it.

At this point you should be able to question whether you are doing the art of Wing Chun, or the art of Tai Chi. The only difference, you see, is in the depth and height of stance. You may be standing in a two legged stance (goat riding) or in a single leg stance of some height, versus being in the deeper shifting stance that is common to Tai Chi Chuan.

So we come to the crux of the matter. Give way in sticky hands and let the attacker fall through (or into a lock). Or give way in Tai Chi and then use the spring back quality of Wing Chun in that art.

We are not really talking large differences here, merely small deviations that are, truth be told, already in either drill should one take the time to study with a correct eye to the possibilities. The whole point of this article is to help people who have been trained in one art to adjust to another art, and to a different type of awareness. That is how you make the transition from Wing Chun Sticky Hands to Tai Chi Chuan Pushing Hands.

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