Mr. Liu would have us hold the posture Play the Pipa in his set routine. He practiced this posture differently by keeping the front foot flat on the ground and putting more weight on it. The original posture has nearly 100% of the weight on the back leg and the toe off the ground as shown below:
Yang's 'Play the Pipa' (flipped)
Practicing this way builds a different kind of strength in the back leg as well as builds the muscles of the front shin. Mr. Liu’s posture allows the waist to relax a bit easier. I demonstrate my teacher’s modified posture below:
Me performing Liu's Pipa
This posture is a bit more directly useful in push hands practice as it matches a position which occurs frequently. The opponents each have one hand on their partner’s chest and the other hand on their partner’s elbow. Shown here:
Play the Pipa in Push Hands
We practice this simple push hands method because there is little room to maneuver or block with the hands, so both partners have to focus on having a root in their feet or they will get pushed out quickly. It is also easy to control a tense elbow in this position as well. Practicing the solo modified ‘Play the Pipa’ posture will certainly help in the two man exercise.
