Maria’s Thoughts on Women and Push Hands – Part 4

April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Double grab

Addendum on boundaries: I did not mean to imply that boundaries are bad. They are necessary to have a game. It is helpful in life to recognize what the boundaries are in any given situation, so that you can work within them, get around them, dissolve them, shift them or set them yourself. (or decide that it is not a game that you want to play) Those of you who have done the Edge exercise know how an unawareness of where your edge is can provoke fear and indecision, tension and reactive stress. You have also seen how recognizing your… Read More

Filed Under: Love or Fear, Martial Arts, Push Hands

Maria’s Thoughts on Women and Push Hands – Part 3

April 2, 2013 by 3 Comments

Let’s talk about intimacy and boundaries. Some people do not like the intimacy of push hands, feeling that it is an intrusive exercise and thus not a happy activity. When you are truly present, (in the present moment) and engaged (recognizing the presence of another being in the game) then you enter a level of intimacy beyond that of your normal state. This is true not only in push hands practice, but in life as well. If your essence is strong and you are at peace with yourself, then it is not a problem. Exposing your existence is merely the… Read More

Filed Under: Exercises, Love or Fear, Martial Arts

Maria’s Thoughts on Women and Push Hands – Part 2

March 11, 2013 by 5 Comments

Don’t expect me to approach this discussion in a linear fashion, as I tend to think laterally or in a scatter pattern. Let’s consider Yin and Yang. We have often heard that yin is the female principle, yielding, softer, earth, darkness, absorption. Yang is often thought of as male, heaven, light, activity, outgoing. Yang is directionally up and out and Yin is down and in. There is yin in yang and yang in yin, if you consider the well known symbol. There is a need in life for balance between the two. When we are working on tai chi form,… Read More

Filed Under: Love or Fear, Martial Arts, The Edge

Maria’s Thoughts on Women and Push Hands – Part 1

February 12, 2013 by 2 Comments

To start, I want to thank all of the ladies who posted replies to my question on Facebook and who sent me emails on the topic. You have my gratitude and love for clarifying the big picture on this topic. Here is the original question: Ladies, I want to know why many women have little or no interest in learning push hands. Wanted to write a blog post on this subject and thought it would be great to get some input from you, who know what it is. – I am considering reframing what push hands is all about to… Read More

Filed Under: Love or Fear, Martial Arts

Levels of Engagement

September 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
P1080503

In our Wednesday night Tai chi class, we have been working a lot with Engagement. Any of you who have done the Edge exercise are familiar with the fifth step, which is engagement. Basically, we are finding our partner, asking the question ‘where are you now?’ and answering ‘here you are’ once we have located the being in front of us.  Also, any of you who know me, are aware of my habit of practicing my tai chi as often as I can in my daily life. So for the past year or so, I’ve been practicing consciously finding the being in… Read More

Filed Under: Classes, The Edge