Push Hands – Yin Skills 3/4 – Yielding Video
After some training of turning and melting, we start to feel comfortable in 2D and 3D: moving our torso via the hip joints to get out of the way of an attack (see part 1 and 2). We mastered the body mechanics of the yin skills!
Now, we can focus on the energy part of the yin skills: yielding.
During your practice, you will notice that if your mind is too attached to the area you want to take out of the attack line, your partner may stick to you, although you move away.
The reason for this is that your partner will be able to follow, because your concentration on the attacked area and the anxiousness to get it our of the way gives him/her a hint about what you are trying to do.
(This is of course most important for close contact interactions, e.g. while touching, in boxing you would be fine just getting out of reach.)
So, what to do about it for close contact situations?
The best solution is to make the attacked area empty by taking our focus away from it. – The easiest way to achieve that is to focus on something else. In our system, we use the idea of a landslide – a big mass tumbling down following gravity – to lead our focus into our base. We use this image as follows: If there was a landslide in the leg you are standing on (as practiced in turning and melting), your torso would follow automatically, as the earth in the upper part of your body would follow gravity as well.
The landslide in yielding is usually down the back of the leg which builds your base and slightly in the direction of your partner: while your (full) base moves closer to your partner – your (empty) torso moves away form him/her. – Seen from outside you simply yield to the pressure, seemingly without resistance.
When starting with this approach as a newbie, it will take some time to reproduce the desired outcome, but it is sure worth it – the feeling of your push hands will be softer and softer after some time.
Don’t want to make your first steps alone? Come to one of our autumn workshops or join us for the 22nd International Push Hands Meeting in February 2023!
