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Master Stephen Hwa, "If I am "carrying the tiger" , I don't want
this. You see that is a huge amount of energy to lift him, right?
Turn him, then lift. So, with alot of these movements if you are
with an opponent, you do not want to give him a signal. He may
not even know you are going forward or going backward. This is
because you are very quiet, there is no obvious signal. That's a
part of the reason, no extraneous movement, that is a part of the
reason.
Student, "I recall you either saying or writing something. The
strongest direction is upward when talking about
sprinters? Master Hwa, "Right". Student, "Anyway, it seems
that tucking in the rear end, keeps the body down". Master Hwa,
"Right, and also the timing of your knee bends (pointing to a
student) that is something you mentioned".
Student, "Well also this change of weight from one leg to the
other is sort of smooth. I mean this leg does not move until this
other leg brings me forward and its just the shifting of
weight. Student, " I have the same experience, it becomes less a
matter of feeling any strain, and more a matter of a very relaxed
feeling, no extraneous tension".
Master Hwa, "Yes, other people told me that too. In other styles
of Tai Chi they keep pushing and that leg gets very
tired" Students, "Not with this style"
Master Hwa, "Again, there's lots of subtle reasons". "When I'm
going forward like this, I'm pulling with the front foot and
pulling with the core." "Before you get to the end point, my
other leg is really free". "If you are pushing, your leg still has
some responsibility". "Now if you come to pushhands, the
concept of movement, if somebody pulls you, that leg with no
responsibility allows me to very quickly move". The faster you
can take that step, the counterattack is much more effective.
Now if you are pushing, I cannot move quickly, I am still
pushing with the leg. You are one fraction of a second late. Once
you step forward, he will be in trouble. We are finding a fraction
of a second faster with these movements and you only need that
fraction faster. So release this leg from the responsibility of
pushing, to move quickly.
Student, "I always used to wonder when doing freestyle push
hands, when I was trying to retreat and someone was following
me, they just lightly touch my front foot and I fell on the
ground. I found after comparing this and that, I was pushing
backward. They did not have to do much.
Master Hwa, "You had that momentum going backward from
pushing"