10/24 Tuishou
Due to a prolonged hunt for earphones in the city, I was late to practice, arriving around 9:30pm. Everyone was already there and busy practicing. A rather violent new guy was throwing people around, or trying to, narrowly missing me as I walked up. I hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with him before he mellowed down.
I did some of those exercises where you bend backwards until you fall over, falling on a railing or something similar, to increase my backstance’s range a bit. Then Yang Qing-feng and I practiced for a bit. I was really tired, but it was good. Not a lot of instruction, just straight practicing.
I noticed that some people, in addition to having dramatic post-push poses, hold on to them for a long while, as if they’ve just pushed their opponents into another part of the country and are waiting patiently for them to return from a prolonged vacation. In the meantime, the person who has just been shoved slightly off balance stands waiting awkwardly for the PPP act to end so they can get back to pushing. Funny.
Teacher Xu was busy with the violent new guy, so I pushed with his son, who seems to have improved a bit. He’s still easy to evade, is pretty pushable, and needs to cut his fingernails. I was so tired I nearly fell asleep, which was probably good for my pushing, very relaxed and natural. At one point I kind of wrapped his arms around his head, causing him to spin like a top, and I have to admit I laughed at the sight.
Afterwards he and Teacher Xu left, and I went through the sword form my usual three times. The sword still feels heavy starting out, but by the third time I was into it again.
