Page 84 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

First things first—I had to begi n with an under standi ng of the art’s
foundation. The martial philosophy beh ind Pus h Hands , in the langua ge of the

Tai Chi Classics, is “to defeat a thousand pounds with four ounces .” Chen ’s
barely perceptible contact between his wrist and my pus hi ng hand was an
embodiment of the “four ounces,” but ther e are count less manifestations of thi s
principle inside and outside of Tai Chi —s ome phy sical, some psycho logi cal. If

aggression meets empty space it tends to defeat itself. I gues s the per fect image
is Lucy snatching the football away time and agai n as Char lie Brown tries to
kick it. Poor Charlie just keeps on fl ppi ng hi mself into the air. The Tai Chi
practitioner’s body needs to learn ho w to react qui ckly and nat ur ally slip away

from every conceivable strike. The pr obl em is that we are condi tione d to tens e
up and resist incoming or hostile force, so we hav e to learn an ent irely ne w
physiological response to aggression. Before learni ng the bo dy mecha ni cs of
nonresistance, I had to unlearn my current phy sical par adigm . Easier said tha n

done.
Try this: Stand up and plant your feet in the ground. Really di g in. Imagi ne
you are on the edge of a cliff. Now ask a friend or sibl ing or spo us e to pus h int o
you, and to keep following your attempt s at escape with the int ent ion of

making your feet move. This can be do ne very gently. Both of you should move
slowly and smoothly to avoid injury. My guess is that your physical ins tinct is to
push back, b race yourself, an d try to ho ld y our gr ound.
Now, you have read about the idea of no nr esistance. Give it a try. Try to

maintain your stance without resisting at all and witho ut moving faster tha n
your opponent. Odds are that unless you are a trained martial artist, thi s no tion
feels unnatural. Where are you suppo sed to go? You might try to retreat int o
your rear leg, but if your partner follows your retreat, you’ ll run out of spa ce.

At this point, you will resist. If your partner or oppo nen t is stronge r tha n you
or has good leverage or momentum bui lt up, you will no t be abl e to stop the
incoming power.
Fortunately, we don’t learn Push Hands whi le teetering on the edge of a

cliff. It is not a tragedy if we lose our bal ance. That said, one of the most
challenging leaps for Push Hands students is to release the ego enough to allow
themselves to be tossed around whi le they learn ho w not to resist. If a big strong
guy comes into a martial arts studi o and someone pus hes him, he want s to

resist and push the guy back to prove that he is a big strong guy. The pr obl em
is that he isn’t learning anything by do ing thi s. In order to gr ow, he ne eds to