Learn about Tui Shou practice opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area
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Are you a martial arts practitioner who would like opportunities to work with partners to compliment your solo training and your in-class experience? You're probably not looking for a new style or a new school-- just more chances to practice with a range of abilities, backgrounds, and body-types. There are plenty of other women and men from all martial backgrounds looking for the same thing. Let's find a place in the park and train!
A fun activity that is simple enough to learn in moments, but deep enough to explore for a lifetime.
The chance to develop subtle and difficult skills without concern about scoring a point, achieving a submission, or "winning".
A framework for safely increasing comfort with contact, conflict, and intensity.
A contest of raw strength. The practice is about cultivating skill.
A structured class-- though teachers may be in attendance. Everyone shows up to practice with and learn from one another.
Fight Club. Or a sparring group. Nothing wrong with those things, but that's for another time and place.
"Push Hands" or "Tui Shou" are terms that refer to a variety of partner-based activities designed to develop structure, sensitivity, and coordination for martial application. While these exercises are closely associated with Chinese Martial Arts, they're generally useful and practitioners of other traditional styles get a lot out of it. Exercises can be highly structured and fixed, or freestyle and moving. Decide with your partner what you want to do, for as long as you both want to do it-- or just go along for the ride!
Ohlone Park Second Saturdays are open Push Hands practices which have been happening the second Saturday of every month since 2006 or 2007 (except in cases of global Pandemics or particularly inclement weather). This get-together is an anticipated event with a reputation that has spread through the Bay Area and beyond! The Ohlone Park Push Hands gathering has drawn a diverse crowd of martial artists, enthusiasts, students, teachers, intrigued beginners, cynical challengers, and just about everything in between. A variety of styles from an assortment of different schools and teachers all make showings. While there are many familiar faces, it's never the same group twice. Come out to play!
Thousand Oaks Push Hands Group meets every Saturday morning at the Thousand Oaks Elementary School in North Berkeley. If the Ohlone Park Second Saturday session is rained out, come to Thousand Oaks! Many of Thousand Oaks crew are Ohlone Park OGs, All Stars, and alumni. It's a smaller group of mostly more experienced practitioners, but everyone is welcome. This is a great place to learn from a pool of deep experience-- or just come to play!
Peninsula Push Hands meets three times a week: Sunday 10am in Menlo Park, Tuesday 5:30pm and Thursday 5pm in Laurelwood Park in San Mateo.
The focus is primarily Chen style fixed patterns, but all styles of Push Hands are welcome. Fixed pattern practice can help develop proper body mechanics while ingraining movements which can lead to a variety of practical applications.
For more details, including contact information, visit Marlon's Facebook page.
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