This video shows Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing giving a private push hands lesson to my former teacher, the late Mark Wasson, in the early 2000s. 

Mark was on one of his many visits to train with the Chen family in Chenjiagou, but it was a cold winter day and in those days, the village was still without heat in most of its buildings. So Chen Xiaoxing graciously came to Mark's hotel room to train him.

Mark died in 2013 after a long battle with Crohn's Disease. He helped to popularize Chen Taiji in the United States, sponsoring or arranging sponsors for Chen Xiaoxing and others to visit the U.S. for workshops, and Mark also took several Americans to Chen Village to train.

When I studied with Mark, I sponsored Chen Xiaoxing's visa for his 2006 visit to the United States. In return, Chen Xiaoxing stayed in my home for a week and we practiced like this every day. I learned a lot and, after being thrown to the ground so many times, got a brand new perspective of my basement carpet.

This is push hands for self-defense, using the movements and energies of the form to unbalance and counter against your opponent.