Essence of Pushing-hands

HOME

The Essence of
Crane-style
Pushing-hands

Pushing hands training practices (of one format or another) are found in a variety of martial arts, and have many millions of practitioners. It is the format known as "Crane-style Pushing-hands" to which this website is dedicated. It is meditative and non-martial and has a unique method by which a practitioner deals with pushes across his centre-line; and (purely for the sake of brevity) it is hereon, exclusively referred to simply as “Pushing-hands”.

Pushing-hands encourages thought-free, harmonious interaction between practitioners by advocating the "watercourse-way", in which force is never met with force but is redirected, using pliancy and natural flowing movements. Central to this "empty-handed art” is the dynamic, vital, mobile interplay between two training-partners who maintain continuous, meaningful, physical contact. It is non-competitive and is, in fact, a form of interactive moving-meditation, an antidote to aggression-promoting martial arts.

At its simplest, alternating training-partners attempt to severely upset each other’s balance/posture via a push, each attempt being averted and then immediately responded to with a counter attempt. Once a practitioner’s body has acquired such attributes as "contact reflexes", (i.e. touch-triggered reactions,) and the ability to "borrow force", Pushing-hands serves as a fundamental framework within which an infinite variety of forces can be safely experienced.

At its crudest, it has the appearance of one training-partner unfailingly defending themselves against an attacker’s persistent, non-prearranged, diverse combinations of thrusts, balance/posture-threatening pushes and pulls, grips and locks. At its more refined, there is a degree of harmony as forces circulate within the duo; but ultimately, with the roles of "defender" and "attacker" forever interchanging, and both training-partners focusing on "the moment", a special dynamism can be both seen and felt.

Although the mechanics of this format were gratefully learned from Nathan Johnson (founder of Chan Tao, Zen Shorin Do and Kodo Ryu), the attitudes expressed here are those of Dave Franks and Daniel Langton, the authors, and do not necessarily represent those of any group or organisation. With regards to the research and videos presented here, the assistance provided by Roy Smith, senior Kodo Ryu instructor (Southampton, U.K.), was invaluable.