Kudos to anyone posting clips of their practice.
The OP clip, didn’t see much point in posting,
reading the some of the following post… well
Agree with Wayne’s assessment, not that it matters…
With out showing his work or those of his students as some others do,
find it hard to understand the basis of a view point…
Have touched hands with other teachers from the OP’s linage …They tended to view PH in the same way, maybe its the way their teachers viewed it…
kind of common among those not specializing in taiji…Even among many who do..
The Tung/Dong system as practiced had many practice patterns that trained and focus on different skill sets. Teaching and exposing one to different concepts they should be aware of…
Other teachers have less , as my teacher in Beijing did,,,preferring to practice directly on the skill sets themselves, it was not possible to push, at first touch it was over.
The basic beginning pattern was used, helping people to stay safe not getting injured in the process…
Those talking of free hand pushing , often have not really been exposed to any formal method except within their groups, the practice level determined by those in the group…
Being "free hand" for the most part they never really develop....Or continue to seek understanding through the practice which by its nature "free" it cannot provide...
PH itself becoming the determining way of testing skill, something that has been quite bad for taiji development…
a practice method turned into usage a kind of circular trap as it gets more and more
specialized . In general those understanding this tend to avoid…
Other CMA arts using this as medium for training getting stuck in the same trap, also tend not to do well when really put to use with others who do not…
mantis, wing chun comes to mind…
Internal skill,,, external skill
All CMA is internal. The distinction one of focus and usage.