Formosa Neijia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGfE6C18ePw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDVeq-nywYM

These two clips from youtube are better than most anything that I’ve seen on EF in a long time. Dong Hu-ling was the son of Dong Ying-jie, one of the senior disciples of Yang Cheng-fu.  

Push hands is a bit of an obsession of mine. I think it’s undervalued by too many people and taught way too late by many teachers.

Dong, himself, practiced the long form for eight years before he began push hands but that doesn’t mean we have to do that. Too many people forget that adepts like Dong were born into taiji families, so they started their training really early. When adults start their training in their 30’s or later, there’s simply no point in waiting so long to start push hands. You should start push hands REALLY soon after starting taiji IMO.

These clips have what I look for in good PH:

1. not blindly stuck in fixed vs. moving modes.

2. good footwork.

3. a wide variety of moves displayed, good examples of cai, lieh, etc. for example.

4. good elbow control.

5. a wide variety of patterns worked.

6. seamless transitions between those patterns.

7. some real power and neutralization skills displayed.

I notice that Dong’s son is thrown back on many of the moves, but I doubt anyone would imply that these are faked, as often happens on EF. The power of elder Dong is obvious. His neutralization skills also appear to be quite good. He lets the son in several times but is able to neutralize the attacks.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Dong family and clips like this show why.