No matter what we may think we are doing there is something happening that is real, measurable and usually contrary to what we think we are actually engaged in.
Body Alignment for instance, is an important topic in any Martial Art, most styles have their own particular approach that is usually played out in different stances and movement patterns, but in this Universe the only thing we ever align ourselves with is Gravity.
Because we have lived with Gravity for every second of our lives we tend not to notice it, and we need to.
Gravity infuses everything we do, constantly.
Gravity is pulling us down towards the centre of our planet’s mass, the reason we do not end up flat on the floor is that all of our collective body parts are FALLING into our Feet in such a way that they stack up on top of each other to create a balanced structure. This is the same with buildings, trees and even mountains.
In most Martial Arts the first learning objective is to be able to stand in this Balanced State that prevents us from falling over, there are numerous ways to achieve this, but they all have the same Goal.
Aligning ourselves with Gravity so that all of our weight FALLS into our Feet.
If our balance is correct we will not require any tension to hold us still, if there is tension then you are not in balance.
This is easy to test, just stand still.
If you are out of balance you will use tension to stop you from falling, this will fatigue the Muscle providing the tension, when this happens your body will independently move to a new position that will also be out of balance and require tension to prevent falling over, you see this all the time, people shifting from one leg to the other, mostly unaware that it is even happening.
It is easy to think that we use the Muscular Tension to hold us IN balance, but this is incorrect, the tension is holding us out of balance.
When we are in balance there is no need for tension.
Gravity is always pulling on us, if we do anything to work against this we are fighting force.
Think deeply about that.
If you are engaged in anything except allowing all of your Body to sink down, to drain into the Earth, you are fighting force and cannot possibly be relaxed no matter what you may think you are doing.
Once we have established balance and stillness it is time to introduce movement.
All movement is a result of our interaction with the Planet, all power comes from our interaction with the Planet, being still is a result of our interaction with the Planet.
The first moves are usually small, minor, often just an Arm, if my movement takes any of my weight out of my feet, if it in any way interferes with the constant sinking into the ground of every part that is me then it is no longer working with Gravity but is in fact fighting it.
Wherever I may choose to move it the weight of my Arm, my Feet must go to, or at the very least the action must not take anything away from my feet.
As difficult as this is to imagine if you think deeply on it you realise that there is no other way if we are to remain in unity with Gravity.
Take 20 minutes every day for a week to think deeply about this, take notes discuss it with friends, use what you discover to examine what you think you know, examine what you think you understand.
It is not about me being right or wrong, this is the way our Universe works, agreeing or disagreeing will not change the reality of our Cosmos.
When you understand …… things are just the way they are.
When you do not understand …… things are just the way they are.
When we move we must move with Gravity, so every move begins as a downward move.
My foot presses the Planet, and the Planet presses back.
Even when I am standing still the stacking of my body that allows my weight to fall into my foot creates this press.
When still my foot presses the planet, this is the fundamental connection.
The more aware of this you can be, the more you can accomplish with it.
The most important aspect of any stance or any movement is the relationship between our foot and the Planet.
When engaged in Chi Sau, a dynamic drill that encompasses both accepting and issuing force, we lose all idea of gravity, it is now just Chi Sau, for Chi Sau’s sake.
is it even possible to monitor how we are dealing with gravity?
Ultimately if we lose our control of, on, or with gravity, whether we are in a violent situation or a training situation, nothing we attempt will be successful.
My teacher would often come up to me when I was engaging in Chi Sau with a schoolmate and ask “What are your ankles doing”?
A quick aside regarding the video below, especially for any guests that may get confused with this type of training, but also for students who forget that there is a step after this, the step where we develop our own way to turn this IDEA into a practical, physical application for use in a chaotic violent situation.
It should be no surprise to learn that our nervous system is seriously invested in our survival, and as such it will override our brain {and if it deems it is necessary to ignore our training} when it comes to deciding how fast we do things, it will however naturally strive to at least equal the speed of the incoming strike, so it is more important that we are moving with a smooth, even rhythm that can be upsized to suit our needs.
All of our training is a method to physically represent the IDEA behind the work, it is not techniques, it is Wing Chun Science if you would, our Fist Logic.
Isaac Newton, the greatest of all Wing Chun elders, taught us that it takes more effort to make a still object move than it does to keep something moving or even speed up that movement, think about pushing a car.
Any IDEA that we can make work against a static object/training partner will work even more effortlessly against a moving object/training partner, and never forget that speed is just a metric.
This video is just a record of a normal training session, we are working on understanding an aspect of “The little IDEA” and as such see how our “Fist Logic” works in any shape, from any position in any situation.
GRAVITY SUCKS.
THE “D” MAN.
Wing Chun Sydney, Australia 