5 day push hands beginners workshop during the 21st International Push Hands Meeting in Hannover Germany.
Our bilingual workshop for Push Hands beginners follows a coordinated schedule with matching topics. It is led by Birgit Golze (Wednesday-Friday) and Nils Klug (Saturday/Sunday).
Wednesday – Friday (Birgit Golze)
I often jokingly refer to Pushing Hands as the best therapy for relationship issues – especially because you learn to listen to your partner. Listening, understanding and the free play between the partners will therefore be the main focus of the first three days.
Wednesday – Listening
In this workshop, we want to lay the base for our communication: we practice to listen, to feel and to go along with the flow.
With only a few but intensive exercises, we will make our first contact with push hands and focus on taking notice of our partner in free partner exercises.
Due to this soft beginning, this workshop is also suitable for anyone that does not want to start the meeting by immediately going “all in” on the first day.
Thursday – Understanding
The second day will focus on the communication between two partners: What does my partner say to me? – and: What do I tell him*her? Where is it going?, or: Where do I want to go? We will experiment with some ideas that we may use in free push hands in the afternoon.
Friday – Playing
The third day centers around the play between two partners. Working with exercises that provide us with the necessary safety, we practice to be a good partner as well as trusting our partner, to listen, to feel, to push – and, if all develops nicely – to communicate freely with our counterpart.
Saturday / Sunday (Nils Klug)
Our ability to protect ourselves and our skills to prevent conflicts should work hand in hand in order to make a conversation a good experience for both partners. To reach this goal, clarity in our actions is necessary. Day 4 and 5 are dedicated to self-protection and clear statements.
Saturday – Protecting ourselves
When our wordless communication gets less regulated and more spontaneous due to our growing experience, it is worthwhile to take a step back and take our self-protection into account.
Today’s topic is how to protect our own space and to stand our ground. We will work on expanding – or differently put: we learn to react spontaneously to unexpected actions of our partner without collapsing.
Sunday – Expressing ourselves
A discussion can also become strenuous: Our counterpart oversteps our boundaries or does not listen properly? – In this case, it may be time to make our own standpoint (overly) clear.
On the last day, we will practice to express ourselves clearly and firmly in the face of our partner. We take our partners as we find them – giving a clear signal at the same time: this far and no further.
