LOOKING FORWARDS.

The road to simplicity is stacked high with little packages of Complex Over-complications.

I am in the process of writing a new Ebook so I am putting a few things out there just to see how they look.

Feel free to disagree.

In Wing Chun, we place a great deal of importance on simplicity.

Acting/Reacting with ‘simplicity’ is frustratingly difficult.

Simplicity is achieved, not developed, by the removal of un-needed complexity.

But before we can do this we need an overly complex view of what it is we wish to trim down, to simplify.

The good news on this front is that we all hold an overly complex complicated view of what a Martial Art is and does before we take up training.

From day one we have all the ingredients to begin the work.

But it can take many years to trim the fat of this Porker.

The road to simplicity is stacked high with little packages of Complex Over-complications.

From a Martial Arts point of view, what does it mean to act simply?

After all, there is nothing as simple or as practical as a short, sharp, straight jab to the nose or an unseen kick to the groin, something most untrained 7-year-old boys are well aware of.

Without meaning to preach, ‘Simplicity is achieved, not developed, by the removal of un-needed complexity.

Our goal is to unpack what we think we know to get down to what we truly know.

To get back to being that 7 years old boy.

And when we get there we realise that we already knew it and there never was anything to learn.

Taking away the clutter is just returning to fundamentals.

There is a lot of theatre in Martial Arts, a great deal of ritual and storytelling, this is how styles are remembered, how arts are passed on, this is how the work begins.

In a world where learning to fight was a way of protecting one’s life and not just a pastime or hobby the line between ritual and useable was clearly understood.

At least by the survivors.

Before progressing there is an understanding that we need to take on.

We will never use the things we train.

We will do very similar things in very similar ways, but nothing will be as we train it.

How ‘different’ does a movement/technique need to be to become a ‘different’ movement/technique?

How long is a piece of string?

To get out of trouble all we need is to think like a 7-year-old boy.