1/31
I was really tired before practice last time. Doing the sword and empty-handed forms helped somewhat, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I began pushing with Mr. V, with predictable results. He’s learned to control the direction of his force, but he is just as tense and rigid as ever. Fighting power with power. I was no better, though. In fact I was awful, seemingly unable to yield as much as I should. At one point he shoved me off balance, which caused me to come down hard on my uninjured leg, which meant almost crashing down on Mr. V’s front knee. He gave me a hard look, as if I had done it on purpose, and left practice early.
I continued pushing with Mr. V’s friend, who was just as committed to brute force. In my particular state of mind, things deteriorated rapidly. Teacher Xu watched us push, chiding me on my lack of technique. “You know how to do this,” he told me. “You’ve written about it in your blog!” But I was just hopeless.
Later on, Teacher Xu introduced me to a new student, a foreigner from South Africa named Kenny. Kenny has a good build for tuishou as well as several earrings. He’s already studied some forms and so has a good basis. As we pushed, I caught myself “instructing,” something I usually try to avoid. Pushing with Kenny was a great remedy for the violent WWF-style tuishou I’d been struggling with previously. Just back-and-forth with subtle variations. Mr. You is good for that as well. As is Yang Qing-feng. So I wasn’t in too bad a temper by the time class was over. I feel I’ve hit a block, though. I feel like I’m useless when it comes to pushing with certain people. My friend Boogie would know how to deal with it, as he is a former wrestler. I have no idea, though.
Perhaps the answer lies in the forms. I’m thinking of adding another class, possibly on Tuesdays, so I can work more on forms. We’ll see if that works out.
