Is the Pushing Hands Method essential to Tai Chi Chuan?
I have come across two commonly motivated responses as to why people pursue T’ai Chi Ch’uan. Firstly, and perhaps appropriately, the mass of people will reside in the realm of the casual practitioner. In the main they are motivated to restore balance, stabilise health and “feel” relaxation. They like the look of T’ai Chi and its gentle appeal. The martial contents will probably be given a cursory acceptance as it is a “soft art just for self defence” or something equally vague and diffident. Secondly, the serious student with a strong interest, takes to heart their artistic expectations but finds at times themselves to be at odds with their own disposition and expressive needs.usually taking the form of an old internal struggle, where to change habituated form towards the desire of principled artistic expression is a bit of task. To be metaphorical, in Taoist terms, one may say it is the Universal Wheel of Yin and Yang that is struggling to be refined. We have to resolve our own or at
