What we’re about
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!
What this is not:
- A class. And I'm not a teacher (just an organizer). All levels are welcome and hopefully we'll all be learning from and teaching one another.
- Fight Club. Or a sparring group. Nothing wrong with those things, but that's not what this is. Let's keep this friendly, light, and safe.
What this is:
- Free! All it costs is your time, effort, and attention.
- A cooperative, safe exercise group to develop a subset of martial abilities with fellow students of all levels.
- A multi-disciplinary meetup, unattached to a school or a style, in the spirit of the excellent pre-Pandemic Berkeley Push Hands gathering in Ohlone Park, and the Berkeley Push Hands Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/The-Berkeley-Push-Hands-Meetup-Group
- The chance to develop subtle and difficult skills without concern about scoring a point, achieving a submission, or "winning".
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"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!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Ohlone Park Second Saturday Push HandsBobby Winslow Court, Berkeley, CA
Meet in the volleyball court "Bobby Winslow Court" near Ohlone Playground at Ohlone Park. It's very close to the North Berkeley BART stop as you can see from the map:
https://goo.gl/maps/tqWt78YR1uvx6rhs7
People may start showing up around 9am and only leave around 2-3pm once everyone goes home.
!!! IN CASE OF RAIN !!! We're still on! Meet instead at Thousand Oaks Elementary School. More details here.
Don't know Push Hands? Come learn! Don't practice Tai Chi, I Chuan, or any number of Chinese Martial Arts that do Push Hands? Doesn't matter!
Please remember to:
• Warm up and stretch out. It's up to you to get your body ready to move and be moved.
• Tell your partners about any injuries you have and if they need to be careful.
• Help your partner learn. We're more interested in learning than "winning" within the narrow boundaries of these exercises. Share observations with your partner, and accept theirs. Give them enough pressure so they can learn but not so much that they're always failing.
• Change partners. Everyone moves in different ways. Different body types require different approaches. Thank your partner and move to the next when you're ready to try something else.
• Offer suggestions! We're meeting to learn from one another.
- Ohlone Park Second Saturday Push HandsBobby Winslow Court, Berkeley, CA
Meet in the volleyball court "Bobby Winslow Court" near Ohlone Playground at Ohlone Park. It's very close to the North Berkeley BART stop as you can see from the map:
https://goo.gl/maps/tqWt78YR1uvx6rhs7
People may start showing up around 9am and only leave around 2-3pm once everyone goes home.
!!! IN CASE OF RAIN !!! We're still on! Meet instead at Thousand Oaks Elementary School. More details here.
Don't know Push Hands? Come learn! Don't practice Tai Chi, I Chuan, or any number of Chinese Martial Arts that do Push Hands? Doesn't matter!
Please remember to:
• Warm up and stretch out. It's up to you to get your body ready to move and be moved.
• Tell your partners about any injuries you have and if they need to be careful.
• Help your partner learn. We're more interested in learning than "winning" within the narrow boundaries of these exercises. Share observations with your partner, and accept theirs. Give them enough pressure so they can learn but not so much that they're always failing.
• Change partners. Everyone moves in different ways. Different body types require different approaches. Thank your partner and move to the next when you're ready to try something else.
• Offer suggestions! We're meeting to learn from one another.
- Ohlone Park Second Saturday Push HandsBobby Winslow Court, Berkeley, CA
Meet in the volleyball court "Bobby Winslow Court" near Ohlone Playground at Ohlone Park. It's very close to the North Berkeley BART stop as you can see from the map:
https://goo.gl/maps/tqWt78YR1uvx6rhs7
People may start showing up around 9am and only leave around 2-3pm once everyone goes home.
!!! IN CASE OF RAIN !!! We're still on! Meet instead at Thousand Oaks Elementary School. More details here.
Don't know Push Hands? Come learn! Don't practice Tai Chi, I Chuan, or any number of Chinese Martial Arts that do Push Hands? Doesn't matter!
Please remember to:
• Warm up and stretch out. It's up to you to get your body ready to move and be moved.
• Tell your partners about any injuries you have and if they need to be careful.
• Help your partner learn. We're more interested in learning than "winning" within the narrow boundaries of these exercises. Share observations with your partner, and accept theirs. Give them enough pressure so they can learn but not so much that they're always failing.
• Change partners. Everyone moves in different ways. Different body types require different approaches. Thank your partner and move to the next when you're ready to try something else.
• Offer suggestions! We're meeting to learn from one another.
- Ohlone Park Second Saturday Push HandsBobby Winslow Court, Berkeley, CA
Meet in the volleyball court "Bobby Winslow Court" near Ohlone Playground at Ohlone Park. It's very close to the North Berkeley BART stop as you can see from the map:
https://goo.gl/maps/tqWt78YR1uvx6rhs7
People may start showing up around 9am and only leave around 2-3pm once everyone goes home.
!!! IN CASE OF RAIN !!! We're still on! Meet instead at Thousand Oaks Elementary School. More details here.
Don't know Push Hands? Come learn! Don't practice Tai Chi, I Chuan, or any number of Chinese Martial Arts that do Push Hands? Doesn't matter!
Please remember to:
• Warm up and stretch out. It's up to you to get your body ready to move and be moved.
• Tell your partners about any injuries you have and if they need to be careful.
• Help your partner learn. We're more interested in learning than "winning" within the narrow boundaries of these exercises. Share observations with your partner, and accept theirs. Give them enough pressure so they can learn but not so much that they're always failing.
• Change partners. Everyone moves in different ways. Different body types require different approaches. Thank your partner and move to the next when you're ready to try something else.
• Offer suggestions! We're meeting to learn from one another.
