I got it! I got it! No … I lost it.
Last week in Chau Sifu’s class we did some push hands. This means that in the way we do it, two people face each other, link hands at the wrists and basically make an eggbeater as you stand there. It looks pointless, but isn’t: you lead the partner with one hand, and follow with the other. By “follow”, I mean “stick”. It trains you to listen to your partner, and as a bonus, any discontinuity or lack of connection in your body becomes apparent. One hand feels weak, or you feel clumsy, or you feel like a disconnected bunch of bones.
This was how I felt with Wally, a nice young fellow. We noticed that my right arm was weak as I lost contact repeatedly, while my left arm felt strong and connected to Wally’s strong right arm. That side felt good. Wally then asked me to avoid moving my shoulders, but the let my body sway with the motion. For some reason, I hunkered down a little more and there it was. We were completely in sync, completely connected, and we felt not weak, not hard, but … thick. That’s the best word I can use. There was no danger of losing connection, and we felt unified. Strangely enough, I sensed that he was unified too.
And then I lost it. But this time the other side went weak. Go figure.
More practice? More practice.