How Do I Relax In Chi Sau?

When playing Chi Sau it is easy to believe you are playing relaxed, when you are not, but how do we discover this and what do we do to change this?

Often it can be a simple muscle twitch, possibly brought on by a moment of nervous apprehension that can trigger this reaction and build up.

Your single moment of tension may have forced your partner to tense in response, which you immediately translate as a force of power or aggression against you, therefore increasing your tension further.  And so it grows.

In order to deal with this, or to see if tension is even there in the first place, try to ease off the pressure a little and relax your arms while still playing (not dropping them of course).

By turning the power/tension down, even just a little, your partner may feel this and subconsciously turn the tension down themselves, probably being relieved at the opportunity to do so.

In the same way tension increased at the start, it can decrease as you move on.

Someone has to be the first to instigate this chain reaction, let it be you.

It is easy to try to overpower someone in Chi Sau, it is not so easy to play with the aim of trying to be more relaxed than each other.  This is how you get to work both ends of the spectrum, gain balance and awareness throughout, and, have a choice of how you play rather than being drawn in to a style you may not be suited to.