Concepts for Taiji Partner Training—Dalu: The Four-Corner Push-Hands Training Method

Browse any collection of books on the Chinese art of Taiji and you will find plenty that discuss the solo Form, the two-person exercise Push Hands, meditation, and the development of internal energy. But there has never been a dedicated book (in either English or Chinese) on the advanced two-person exercise Dalu, the four-corner push-hands method, a fundamental component of the Taiji curriculum.

Concepts for Taiji Partner Training–Dalu captures for the first time this sophisticated component of the Taiji curriculum that was previously restricted to oral instruction.

Based on many years of study with Robert W. Smith and over three decades of practice and research the authors present the most comprehensive presentation of Dalu to date. This book includes the Dalu form, the two-person Dalu exercise, the Tifang (uprooting) technique, detailed discussions of physical mechanics, and conceptual observations drawn from the oral tradition. This book draws heavily from the Taiji Classics and Zheng Manqing’s seminal work Thirteen Treatises.