PRESSING HANDS (推手 Tuīshǒu)

Yang Tai Chi Pressing Hands and Fa Jin with Fu Sheng Yuan and Fu Qing Quan

Shifu W. C. Bey — Golden Thread Internal School

“Press without pushing.
Invite without yielding.
Empty their root, then let gravity do the work.” — Shifu W. C. Bey

What Is Pressing Hands?

Pressing Hands is the internal bridge between solo Taiji form and live interaction.
It trains three progressive abilities:

  • Listening (聽勁 Tīngjìn) – sensing force, intent, timing through touch

  • Neutralizing (化勁 Huàjìn) – dissolving incoming force through circular change

  • Issuing (發勁 Fājìn) – short, elastic expression of power from the Dantian

This is not “pushing hands.”
This is internal conversation through touch, led by the Dantian — not the arms.

Core Principles

Pressing Hands follows five non-negotiable internal rules:

  1. Intent leads, force follows (用意不用力)

  2. Peng is the sphere — maintain buoyant roundness

  3. Distinguish Empty vs. Full — weight first, technique second

  4. Waist commands, hands transmit

  5. Circular and unbroken — no dead angles When these are present, strength becomes irrelevant.

Contact Qualities

Every touch expresses four qualities:

  • Adhere (粘 Zhān)

  • Stick (黏 Nián)

  • Join (連 Lián)

  • Follow (隨 Suí)

Hands do not chase pressure —
the forearms listen while the Dantian decides.

Fu Zhong Wen walking Press Hand Drills

Core Principles

Why We Teach Pressing Hands

Pressing Hands develops:

  • Internal listening

  • Quiet power

  • Central equilibrium (中定 Zhong Ding)

  • Emotional composure under pressure

Evaluation standard:

“Float your partner three times without pushing with the arms.”

Eight Jins Inside Pressing Hands

 

JinFunctionPeng 掤Protect center, buoyant sphereLu 捋Redirect force into emptinessJi 擠Converge through centerlineAn 按Drop and issue forwardCai 採Pluck and break alignmentLie 挒Split energy and tear the lineZhou 肘Close-range spiralKao 靠Whole-body bump (when root is gone)

 

Execution order: Listen → Maintain Sphere → Neutralize → Decide

Dantian Mechanics

Pressing Hands trains the House Method:

  • All force is received at the Dantian

  • Waist rotation generates every change

  • Hands never act independently of the center      

“If the center doesn’t move first, you are still pushing.”      

Training Progression

  1. Single-hand fixed step

  2. Double-hand fixed step

  3. Four-square Peng-Lu-Ji-An cycle

  4. Da Lü (diagonal stepping)

  5. Moving-step Pressing

  6. Restricted freestyle (no strikes)