Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 284

Although my Sīfú 師父, Chén Xiǎo Wàng 陳小旺, is 80 years old, his condition is more like someone who is 60, like me, even though he is 15 years older. He spent some time with me teaching more about Tàijíquán 太極拳, particularly my posture. It was good learning from him and afterwards we had a good dinner. It was just like the old day, where we always had a good time in the evenings. He had not given any seminars in the west for almost 15 years, and so we were lucky to have him come over to teach us again, as we might not have the opportunity again next year.

The first seminar was Tuī Shǒu 推手 – Pushing Hands and applications. Sīfú began by showing us the Tuī Shǒu stepping forwards and backwards, which all the students enjoyed. Then he taught some applications. One was how to deal with someone stabbing at you with a knife. He used the principle of the circle and not use force to overcome it. When the opponent came into stab us, we step to the side, and then catch their wrist, circling it over to take it out of their hand. It was simple easy and amazing.