Stick/Adhere in Tai Chi

[marvin8]

Tai chi stick outside of push hands.

“They stick to us. We do not stick to them.”

Published on Apr 3, 2016
how is the stick in Taiji quan different to the sticky hands in other arts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_9sqN3MMgI

Meihua Tanglang

Uploaded on Jun 6, 2011
(google translate)
Share Facebook: Huang Min bell 14 October
☯ Wang Guo dian Grandfather - Knife mantis fist (thanks Associations predecessors responded)
Grandfather Mantis tactics use. . Even with adhesions, both left and right hand outer inner hand dexterity can use. . Both 80- year-old, and so fast skill, effort really amazing. .:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbwacKNlUd8

Excerpt from, “Four Important Skills For Push Hands and Fighting,” by Zhang Yun:
http://www.ycgf.org/Articles/Z-N-L-S/arti_znls.htm

1. Zhan 粘

The original meaning of Zhan is to adhere or stick something up. In Taiji Quan practice it means to get your opponent to follow you a while under your control. It looks as if your opponent is struck to your hand (or the other part of your body). The technical term of this is “stick a person up” (It does not mean to grip or hold him up!). If you can do this well continually, your opponent appears to follow you and jump as if you have bounced him. This works because you have shaken and moved his root and cause him to lose his balance and he will try to use you to regain it. When the opponent has lost his balance and tries to use you to keep his balance, he must follow you to move. While most of the time Zhan is used to get your opponent to follow you in an upward direction, it can be in any direction. When using Zhan, you do not use your force to move your opponent, instead of he is moved by his own force but by your control. So it is called "borrow force from your opponent and use his force to beat him back". To do Zhan well, you must have really good basic kungfu, like sensitivity and integration, and also understand the basic principles very well. Thus the level of your Taiji Quan skill always can be judged from this skill.

The key point of making Zhan well is to make your opponent lose his balance. Basically there are two kind of methods for doing Zhan. With the first method, you can use some skill to lead or seduce your opponent to loss his balance. It is called "lead coming in to fall down into a empty place". It will cause that he wants to use something to maintain his balance. At this time, give the part of your body (most time just use the touching point between you and the opponent) to him and then he will be controlled by you. The more balance he lose, the more force he will be use for keeping balance, so the more available force you can borrow from him and the easier you can do Zhan. Most time, it is difficult to seduce the opponent to lose his balance directly, so that the second method is used more often. With this method the first thing you need to do is to unsettle your opponent, sometimes called giving him some trouble first. This means that you should use some skills to make him feel uncomfortable, as if lose his balance, and must adjust his body. When he feels in the trouble or off-balanced, his reaction offers you a chance to do Zhan.

Choosing the right time and direction is important to do Zhan well. For example, if you can make your opponent feel compressed down really, you will probably have a good chance to use Zhan on him. Pay attention to his reaction, if you feel his legs push his body up, just raise up your hand and you can make him jump up by his own force. When he jumps, you can use some other technique to beat him. This will save a lot of energy and is thus real Taiji Quan skill. For timing, if your hands raise too early, there is no enough reaction force from the opponent; if your hands raise too late, the opponent just get time to regain his balance and you lose your chance. In both cases your Zhan will not work. The best time to use Zhan is when his reaction force almost at its maximum and the next change has not happened yet. This is the time when it is most difficult for him to make a change. For direction, you should follow the direction of the opponent's reaction force. Although it is the best direction, it may be too difficult. For additional safety, you can use the technique of changing his direction slightly. For example move your hand in an arc. A little bit of change can confuse your opponent and thus be very helpful. The other important technique is to keep a little bit force in the reverse direction of the opponent's reaction. It is called "Yin and Yang supplement each other". In above example, when you raise your hand up, at the same time keep a little bit force to push down, it will make the opponent feel your downward push still there so that he will keep his reaction to against you. If your opponent's reaction force is not enough, you can use one hand to Zhan him and your other hand to help, that is push him according to the direction of his reaction. But this help should be light, smooth, soft, and coordinate with the other hand. It is a common technique which require a good integration of your body. If your opponent does not really know Taiji Quan, that is if his sensitivity is slow and his changes are clear and straight, Zhan can be done easy and you can have incredible results. But if your opponent has Taiji Quan skills, using Zhan will be difficult. The interesting thing is that usually the result is not good if you use your mind too much to do this skill. You should keep in natural way and do it naturally. In fact, most times Zhan is not used big and clearly. It is always mixed with or included in some other skills.

2. Nian 黏

The original meaning of Nian is stick, adhere or paste to. In Taiji Quan practice it means to keep contact your opponent, and through this contact to make him feel
uncomfortable. Keep this contact and never let him go away, like something adheres on his body. Be careful, it does not mean to use big force to hold your opponent. It should be light touching. When you use this skill, you should try to use the minimum force. We always say to unsettle your opponent a little bit each time but continually, until the opponent is in big trouble. Do not let him feel too much is important.

In pushing hands, when you touch your opponent, you should unsettle him. Do not use too much force, just let him feel that he must do something to solve the problem. Then he will give you a reaction. From his reaction, you can determine how you should respond. If you cannot make a chance, keep doing Nian, that means follow him, keep touching and giving him a little bit more trouble, and wait for him to give you more reaction. So Nian is also used to sound the opponent out. That means to give him questions and await his answers. The questions should hit his weakness point continually. If you have question for him one by one and he cannot give you the right answer on time, you are controlling him. The important things are to never let the opponent get away and to sense the right time and direction to make your next move. Be careful, do not use extra force, because if you use too much force, you will be difficult to relax, and it will cause your sensitivity to be sluggish. Then you will be slow to change, and even maybe fall into your opponent's trap. So do not worry how big movement your opponent does, just to keep relax and touch him with a little bit change. Do not worry how fast movement he does, the interesting thing is just keep quite, relax, and touch him, and then you can get your chance. This basic Taiji Quan idea is called "using still to control motion."

[Gringorn]

This clip is not Tai Chi, but from GM Sam Chin's first I Liq Chuan workshop in Oslo, Norway.
From 2.30 and 3.47 into the clip, are examples of the feeding that gives the sticky qualities of I Liq Chuan, where the oponent sticks to you.

http://ilc.no/video.php?vid=5&1463302928