THE IDEA THAT BECAME WING CHUN.

Sil Lim Tao translates to the Way of the Little Idea. The little Idea is simple, but the ‘Way’ to discover the Little Idea is less simple.

Hi guys, this is to try to prompt those of you that do not yet spend quality SOLO time working with the Form to get more involved with it.

I get it, it can be frustrating trying to understand how doing a Form can be fundamental to our core abilities.

Been there, done that.

It took me about 7 years before I finally understood the importance but once I did my Wing Chun improved on an almost daily basis.

I am just trying to save you time. Lots of time.

Understanding complex ideas easily is as much about understanding the analogies we use as it is about genuinely related information.
Analogies are the pictures we use to bring into focus or gather up the loose ends of a vague idea or underdeveloped concept.

Try to consider the Sil Lim Tao Form as a physical manifestation of an analogy. Let it paint you a picture.

Sil Lim Tao translates to the Way of the Little Idea. The little Idea is simple, but the ‘Way’ to discover the Little Idea is less simple.

Because we confuse the “Way” with the”IDEA“.

The “Way” is not the “IDEA“.

“The Map is Not the Territory, the Word is Not the Thing” as pointed out by the philosopher Alfred Korzybski”.

The Sil Lim Tao Form is not the Sil Lim Tao, it is a Form, a movement set, as easy as it is to read this it can prove difficult to digest.
The Sil Lim Tao Form is not the Way, it is a vehicle to approach and then explore the Way. But it is not just a vehicle it is also a scaffold that supports and reinforces the IDEA while we build it. And it is also the concept that told us we needed a vehicle to find the IDEA in the first place.

There are three aspects to training, a physical aspect, what we do. A mental aspect, what/how we think. An emotional aspect, how we feel. These three separate aspects are tightly interconnected, how we feel affects how we think, how we think affects what we do, what we do affects how we feel, around and around and around we go.
Understanding this interconnection shines a light on the importance of self-talk because self-talk is the major contributor to how we feel.

What does your self-talk say when you consider spending 10 minutes on the Form?

Wing Chun was thought up many years before ‘data retrieval systems’ were invented, years before people understood the role of the conscious mind or short-term memory and the subconscious mind or long-term memory, and how these systems worked together. Years before neuroscience discovered that all physical action begins in the Brain/Mind.
From one synapse a signal is sent, that signal is received by a different synapse, a nerve or muscle is activated, an action is performed.

Even the action of standing still, doing nothing is something we actively do!

It is via this interconnection that we come to understand the “IDEA” that became Wing Chun.

When we are in training mode, moving slowly, deliberately and accurately, we are in our conscious mind, accessing short-term memory doing what we are thinking. Our brain is impressing/recording this action to our subconscious mind or long-term memory so that later if we find ourselves in a situation that we do not have enough time to assess and choose the right action, no time to think, we just hit the replay button and allow our subconscious to choose.

If we are not regularly engaging with the Sil Lim Tao Form then on some level we are telling ourselves that it has little or no value.

Without knowing it we are moving into a good/bad, right/wrong, correct/incorrect mindset.

Every action we do, every defence/attack choice is created from aspects of the Sil Lim Tao Form.

Why would our subconscious mind choose to respond with something that we keep telling ourselves is of little value?

Developing our power is 100% in the Mind, consciousness is not optional, if we are awake we are aware, conscious power is everyday power. 

Developing our subconscious power is less automatic, we reach it through consistent, deliberate practice.  

To phrase this in easy English the aim is to Act, Feel and Think in the same way to the same end. 

Three different paths, one vehicle.

The Sil Lim Tao Form.

Stack it up, power it up, build it up.

In the lower of the two videos, I mention that we are trying to be the best we can be at this or any other singular time.

There will be days in training when we appear to never get with the project, nothing goes the way we want it to go, even on this day we are the best we can be…. on this day, at this time in this place.

No one chooses to train poorly, we all give it all that we have, so if it starts going sideways be aware of this, do not try to train harder, do less, even take a break.

When it comes to fu**ing up… TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY.

Words of advice for young people….

IF WE HOPE TO SUCCESSFULLY BE NASTY TO OTHER PEOPLE IT BEGINS BY BEING NICE TO OURSELVES…..THE “D” MAN.