It is Okay: Giving Back What You Receive ⦠Know Before You Go.
In Tai Chi Chuan there is a practice of called Tui Shou (æ¨æ). Tui Shou is commonly called Push Hands or Sensing Hands in the English speaking martial arts realms. There are many different stylistic approaches to this exercise; however, one of the central foci is to be able to calmly understand what is given and when it is appropriate to give it back. In my training I have come to find that many instructors teach the idea of learning how to react to things given to them. They train and train to allow their bodies to respond with a reaction to what comes to them, as to direct something that was not natural to becoming something of a second nature to the reacting party. For me that is a good first step. When given something it is good to learn proper reactions. Hopefully in learning those proper reactions one would find all of the inappropriate ways the one naturally reacts to situations and learn no to do them. Understanding oneâs natural inappropriate reactionary responses is something that I focus on in training. While in the process of learning reactions, what I believed is missed is people learning how to act, not responding because of the stimuli around them; however, understanding what is going on and having the ability to not allow their environment to control their person. When I train I look for things that are both actions and reactions and I do my best to properly be, not just respond. I believe that when doing the Tui Shou exercise too many focus on reaction and never move to maintaining proper actions.
Okay. So here is what I mean by making actions and not reactions. A reaction is a response to a stimulus; it is also defined as a reverse or an opposing action. An action is defined as the state or process of acting or doing; something done, such as an act or deed; movement or posture during some physical activity. So, reactions are a type of action, a response to a stimulus. An action is what is done; it does not necessarily have to be in response to something. For me, what I have learned from my teachings and lessons in Tui Shou, there are times in which it is appropriate to react and times when all you should do is act.
Many times in life I believe people are too focused on reacting instead of acting regardless of the situation. Too many people are so focused on everything coming at them and reacting to what they think is going on that they miss so many other things that are actually happening. In many cases these people become overly negatively stressed. Their hyper-focus causes more pain and suffering than necessary. Instead of relaxing and gaining an understanding of what is actually going on, they react quickly. Think about how many times you have moved to a quick judgment, you reacted to a stimulus, and you were totally wrong about what was going on with the situation and it put you in a place where you then became the focus of negativity because your reaction caused negativity. In learning Tui Shou I was taught not to take every opening given. Let many openings pass by and gain an understanding of what is going on and what will happen is, if one gains a proper understanding, is that one will fill less of a necessitation and more of willingness to yield and at the proper moment contribute to supply an appropriate product to the situation and not because of the situation; acting as oppose to reacting.
So, main point; know before you go. Donât be a mindless responder to stimuli around you. You are not an inanimate object. You are a conscious being with agency. Maintain relaxed control of yourself so that your environment doesnât control you; you control you.
For more information Winstonâs his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.
Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Châuan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.
