Customer Reviews

Push Hands: Handbook for Non-competitive Tai Chi Practice with a Partner

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This books is an excellent source of philosophy and technique. It is not a substitute for a qualified instructor.

Being a student of Herman's is quite an experience. His knowledge and expertise is extensive, as is his patience. Push hands does not involve pushing, but more of an attempt to discover the balance of your partner, while at the same time hiding yours from them. In essence, it teaches you about yourself and about others. It requires you to live in the moment, and not think about attaining goals per se. It will increase your awareness, and teach you the true principals of Tai Chi.

If you are serious about learning the real Tai Chi, then push hands will help you a great deal. But be patient.

I am a tai chi teacher for over 22 years and find master Herman Kauz's book on push hands a great reference tool for my students. It's extremely well written and explains not only the push hands form, but gives very helpful hints on ways to improve your practice and lifestyle.

To those unfamiliar with Push Hands it is a non-competitive Tai Chi practice with a partner. Both meditative and athletic, it is a method of expressing oneself with a partner in a non-judgmental yet effective manner. It teaches one to be in accord with the stresses of everyday life and the Taoist philosophy of "letting go" which encourages the release of the blockages that prevent us from gaining a keen understanding of our true nature and how we respond to other people.

During Push Hands practice the designated attacker tries to push his or her partner off balance using a minimum of force and without moving their feet. The defender tries to avoid the push by redirecting the opponent's force, also without moving his or her feet. If done correctly neither side will be able to take advantage of the other and a true partnership is realized.

Those of us who are involved in working with others, in a decision-making role or in everyday situations, will find Push Hands a profound way of dealing with these confrontations. After some time in practice, we will notice options and ideas that we would not have thought of or entertained before we began the exercise.

Anyone who has taken a course in the Martial Arts may find Push Hands the ideal alternative to the hard and stressful aspects of competition. To the Tai Chi practitioner, Push Hands represents the transition of the solo form into a partner exercise with profound repercussions.

Master Herman Kauz's book is an expression of this ideal to anyone who is open enough to read it thoroughly.

Kauz is sincere and seems to have considerable experience, expertise, and charisma. Much of the book is a lament on the human situation and a comment on how Tai chi might improve the world. Only a few pages are actually devoted to the steps of Push Hands, and even these descriptions are not as clear as they should be. He begins to get across the ideas of centering, feeling your partner's energy, feeling the circulation of pressure (force or energy), and what to do as energy diverges from the center - but then he does not develop the ideas in words or diagrams. I have not reviewed other Tai Chi Push Hands material but I think you should look elsewhere carefully first. Good luck.

What a waste of time and money. I thought I might get some form of insight into Tui shou (a.k.a. Push Hands) but there's nothing of true value here (no offence Herman). I didn't even get standard patterns for the Cheng Man-Ching / Yang style that I believe the author has a background in.