1/10
After practicing forms, I did tuishou with Mr. You. I find that if I concentrate, I can sense when Mr. You is vulnerable and push him over with a quick burst of energy and/or change of direction. Still, it feels like cheating. I aim to someday be able to push like Teacher Xu, with one inexorable motion that my opponent can do nothing to prevent.
Mr. You will occasionally start narrating his pushing efforts. Strangely enough, he gets much better when he does this. While silent, he’s easier to defeat, but when he starts describing what he’s doing, he suddenly gets a lot better at it.
Next up was Mr. V, who has learned a lot but is still easily stymied if you move back far enough. At first I just let him push and voluntarily took a step back when he started wrestling, WWF-style. This happened many times. Finally I just retreated to a back stance and let him flail. My legs need the workout anyway.
After practice, I’m usually the last to leave, but this time I left a couple of the newer students with Yang Qing-feng, who likes to stay on after class. Qing-feng’s very good, and they’ll probably learn some things from him.
