This does not mean that we cannot reach the same destination by a different path.
The ancient Kung Fu masters did not explain or talk about the organising physics of our universe anything like the same way we western educated people do.
But that does not mean that they did not understand it, understanding something in a different way, even a completely different way, is still understanding.
Qi, jing, Yi, Sung are just words, used to describe a feeling, framed from the perspective of a certain philosophy.
These words make perfect and easy sense to a person that follows this type of philosophy and can manifest in many positive ways.
If we are not living this philosophy naturally in every minute of our waking day these words are meaningless and their practice is pointless.
This does not mean that we cannot reach the same destination by a different path.
Every wisdom tradition from every part of our world covers the same ground,
Every culture posses this profound knowledge and explains it very differently.
But it is the same thing.
Consciousness.
But it needs to be our own consciousness an not one borrowed from some exotic location.
Chi, Jing, Yi and Sung only exist in China, to be expected if we wish to talk about, experience or realise Chi, Jing, Yi or Sung we can only do it in China.
This does not in any way imply that the experience behind these words/names does not exist for example, here in Australia, but it will only answer and come to us when we use its Australian name.
“What have you learned from 50 years in the study of Chadō?
One of my favorite maxims/stories is from 16th century Japan.
The famous Tea Master, Sen no Rikyū, a National Living Treasure was retiring after over 50 years following Chadō, the way of Tea.
He was asked…
“What have you learned from 50 years in the study of Chadō?
He thought for a while, massaged his chin and replied…
‘Before ChadōTea was just Tea, but as I became more involved in ChadōTea became much more than Tea, finally, once I understood ChadōTea was once again just Tea.
“Because what ever word we choose is just a made up word for an imaginary event that we only think is happening”.
Imagination is how we humans interact with the universe around us.
How we see it.
Not as it is.
But as something it is not.
Something that we can make sense of, work with.
This does not make it “REAL” in any sense of the word, but it does make it a very valuable mental method.
When teaching my IDEA of “Crazy Horse” I encourage my guys to give their imagination free reign.
I put it to them that what we are doing when we engage our imagination is creating a language that both our mind and our body can use to communicate with each other.
Creating what I refer to as “feeling pictures”, or “screenshots” of our inner working.
One imagining I like to use is to think that we have a hydraulic pump deep in our pelvis.
This pump sends pressurised water down our legs, up our spine, along our shoulders and into the arms and hands until we are full and can even feel our skin bulging as the water tries to exit through our fingers and toes.
Most students achieve this easily and sometimes ask….
“Is this Chi/Nim Lik/Nim Tao/Kundalini”?
I answer…
“It can be if you wish it to be”.
“Because what ever word we choose is just a made up word for an imaginary event that we only think is happening”.
Some people take umbridge with me for saying that Chi, or Nim Lik, or Nim Tao, or Kundalini are only imaginary, they feel I am being dissmissive.
I am not.
I do not see any problem with using our imagination.
I am repeating myself here but Imagination is how we humans interact with the universe around us.
We all deeply believe that when we look out of a window and see BLUE skies, GREEN trees, RED cars on BLACK roads it is because they are real.
And I am the first to agree that not only do I do this but that this is a universal consensus.
The fact that we all agree, all think and perhaps even see the same thing does not make it REAL.
Not even close.
We do not LOOK OUT of windows, we do not LOOK at anything, our eyes are more akin to cameras than scanners, we open the lens and the view flows IN.
We only IMAGINE that we look out.
In our universe there is no colour, there is only different wavelengths of electro-magnetic energy, we interpret these different wavelengths to represent different colours.
Except of course for the “Clour-blind” in our society.
All and any interpretation of any subject is just us using our IMAGINATION.
What has all this got to do with teaching and studying Wing Chun?
When people from the C.S.T. lineage like Sifu John Kaufman talk about Nim Lik and Nim Tao, when people from the Robert Chu lineage like Alan Orr talk about the 7 Bows and linking/de-linking or when I talk about putting on our Crazy Horse and staying in the Goldilocks Zone we are using a different imaginary language to talk about the same thing.
The Ghost in the Machine if you wish.
Underneath this language, our bodies are doing or at least attempting to achieve the same objective.
That is the reality of what we are doing and as such is the true work.
If we take the Kung Fu and Spirituality away completely, what is our body ‘actually’ doing when we ask it to link and de-link, to bend one of the 7 bows, raise up Nim Lik or engage Nim Tao, stay in the Goldilocks Zone or put on our Crazy Horse?
Whatever we think that is we would benefit from exploring in that direction.
Apart from any other considerations this thing is measurable, observable and capable of being experienced/felt by a person other than ourselves.
It is REALITY and not IMAGINATION.
Do I know what lies beneath the imaginary language I create, beneath my Crazy Horse and my Goldilocks Zone?
In Wing Chun, in particular, there is a perception that using “Softness” translates to there being no need to be fit, fast or strong.
As you all know in the 60 years that I have been a practising Martial Artist I have explored many variations.
Different styles and different approaches within styles.
Some, such as Bagua Zhang, Xing Yi Chuan, Kali {Doce Peres} and R.M.C.C.Q.C. for less than two years so I do not consider myself proficient at these but their influence was valuable.
Others like Western Boxing, Judo, BuJutsu and Wing Chun I trained in for quite extended periods, as such I consider myself knowledgable and capable in this space.
In the competitive arts, Boxing, Judo, there is an equal weight given to non-specific physical conditioning training as there is to skills specific training.
In my experience, this is missing in the “Real World, Real Self-Defence Style” training that Kung Fu inhabits.
In Wing Chun, in particular, there is a perception that using “Softness” translates to there being no need to be fit, fast or strong.
We should think about this and determine our own position.
I can, if needs be, hit someone softly with an Iron Bar, but I doubt that I could knock them out with a Foam Pool Noodle.
When I did these videos this morning my intention was to cut and paste them into one video, however when I did this the result was uneven and the ambience was a bit off so all three of these videos are essentially the same but with some differences that may just make one of them easier to understand.
At the end of the day it is only your understanding that will take you forwards.
This is the same info delivered a little differently.
Beginners want instant gratification from their training, instant improvement, measurable, observable improvement, that they can see and feel.
As in Instructor, I spend a great deal of time trying to inspire my students to spend time engaged with our Forms.
Usually, it takes about three years before a student engages with the Forms on any level that is likely to enable genuine improvement.
The First Form gives no tactile feedback and in no way relates to dealing with violence.
Hence the hesitation to engage.
I get it, I ‘really’ do.
Beginners want instant gratification from their training, instant improvement, measurable, observable improvement, that they can see and feel.
{ it was this aspect that led to my abandoning Bagua Zhang and Xing Yi back in the ’80s, there was not enough of what I thought was “Real Work” that would improve my fighting ability}.
Actual improvement in how we play a Form is exceedingly difficult to measure and a long time coming.
Here is the rub, our improvement in Wing Chun is nothing other than a reflection of our understanding of the Forms.
It really is a ‘no brainer’ that the sooner we engage with our Forms the better.
The Paradox is that from a practical point of view all Forms are useless, but without Forms, we can never progress, never understand and never become competent.
Let’s have a look at that.
It is not the movements, the shapes or sequences that make the Forms pivotal in our advancement, they are all close to pointless, it is the how and the why we make those moves.
Engaging with the Form is a far cry from simply waving our hands around, it is about thinking, feeling, questioning and exploring.
If we aim at a target and miss it by 1 millimetre we have missed the target completely. We may try to console ourselves by saying that we only just missed, but had we missed by 20 Metres the result would be the same.
We missed.
Whether we like it or not some things are absolute.
Being correct needs to be 100%, if we think that we are 99% correct we are, in fact, 100% wrong.
Although the area I live in was a ‘COVID Hot Spot’ for a while there are no active cases anywhere near the Studio so training is as safe as it ever was
This pandemic is 6 months old and no signs of vanishing, how often do we hear “The new normal” is what we are experiencing and we need to get used to it.
Way back at the beginning of the ‘Lockdown’ I had great intentions of posting at least one video a week to help all of us in the club, myself included’, keep our mojo active, I did not quite do that, I tried and came close, but not good enough.
Getting our routine back means different things for different people but at its heart, it is the same thing, the same challenge…
“How do we get today to look a much like way back then as I can”?
We have all invested time, energy and money into our pursuit of Wing Chun excellence, we train to be able to defend ourselves and our loved ones against any or all attackers, only to be beaten by a bug.
Although the area I live in was a ‘COVID Hot Spot’ for a while there are no active cases anywhere near the Studio so training is as safe as it ever was, perhaps safer now that we all take precautions.
In an attempt to help you all {my fellow INCas} resume your own routine I will endeavour to resume mine and post a training help video every week, if there is any particular aspect that you would like covered just ping me, this blog is our Club’s after all, your blog as much as mine.
Muscles are binary by default, they are either on [tense] or off [relaxed]
I have never been a fan of the IDEA of Mind Force with regards physical movement and specifically Wing Chun and fighting.
Nothing I have ever experienced in 60 years of Martial Arts and a vast assortment of sports training has given any credence to that position.
Check this out.
I was recently watching a presentation from Dr. Kelly Starret when he made the following observation…
‘There is no movement that specifically turns on a muscle, that is not how the brain works, the Brain doesn’t work on musculature it works on movement’…
Disagreeing with something I may say is pretty healthy, but disagreeing with what a world respected expert says is bordering on stupid.
This presents a whole different way to think about releasing tension and dare I say it, Relaxing.
Muscles are binary by default, they are either on [tense] or off [relaxed], if our Brain does not turn our muscles on how on Earth can it turn them off?
Mind force begins to sound a little bit like Space Force.
Forms allow us to develop the habit of paying attention to what we are doing so that we gain a deep and wide understanding of that action.
Only 25% of my students have returned after the lockdown, I imagine that this is average as the pandemic wreaks havoc with our old systems.
Despite this climate of social distancing, I have 2 new people just embarking on the journey, 2 new people to explain the “Big Picture” of Wing Chun.
A Big Picture of the Little Idea.
WHAT ARE FORMS FOR?
You could ask 10 different teachers and get at least 9 different answers to this question, and that in itself tells us what Forms are for.
Forms are for different things for different people.
Not only that, but our understanding of Forms will change as we progress through our training.
We find that we can use the same Form to explore very different topics using it in very different ways.
Forms are a consistent vehicle we use to measure the level of our understanding against.
Before we go on it is important to understand that there is no such thing as an “Internal” or “External” martial art.
There is only Internal or External training.
Any Martial Art is and can only ever be a Martial Art, a rose by any other name is still a rose.
INTERNAL.
People who engage in “Internal work” use the Forms as a distraction to help them focus more on moving their Chi, circulating their Chi, being in control of their Chi.
This is not my area of training and I have very limited knowledge of it.
Can it be used for fighting?
Anything can be used for fighting, it depends on the person, but the main aim of Internal training is to develop the Body-ability to meditate.
EXTERNAL.
People that engage in “External work” use Forms to develop more effective movement.
There are many different types of effective movement, always doing a Form the same way will only deliver the same outcome.
Smoothness, connectedness, speed, power, mobility or stability all require a different approach to the same Form.
Westerners have difficulty understanding the Eastern IDEA of “Softness”, especially when we talk about powerful or strong softness.
Forms offer a way to explore this.
We should be balanced and ask the same question here…
Can it be used for fighting?
Anything can be used for fighting, it depends on the person, training the physical side will not guarantee fighting prowess.
Another very important aside that we must consider is that there is an element of “External” training that frequently gets confused as “Internal” training.
That is what today is referred to as being in a flow state, focusing on the moment, being in the zone.
Internal work is ultimately aiming at enlightenment through the teaching of the Buddha, through stillness and meditation.
To empty the mind.
Flow state is something that we can suddenly fall into while single-mindedly involved in an activity.
To be so consumed by we are doing it fills the mind.
Being in the zone, ‘flow state’ is spontaneous and not capable of being trained.
However, the better we are at something the higher the chance of falling into ‘flow state’, being in the moment.
Forms allow us to develop the habit of paying attention to what we are doing so that we gain a deep and wide understanding of that action.
Conditioning.
Forms can be callisthenics that exist solely to prepare the body to move in a particular way.
A skilled and intelligent movement practice that allows us to work on the shapes that we are going to need to access in any of the diverse ways that we will call upon our body to use what we refer to as Wing Chun.
From warming up to flat out fighting to save our lives, the actions we may use and depend upon so we would do well to understand these moves.
Forms can also be remedial bodywork.
If we look at the “B” Section of Wing Chun’s First Form we have a set of exercises that are perfect for resolving impingement of the shoulders.
The opening of the Yi Chi Kim Yeung Ma is a suitable movement for resolving impingement of the hips.
The Chum Kiu and Biu Gee Forms develop balance through the stability of stances and mobility {the opposite of stability} through weight shifting and explore the whole gamut of perambulation.
But where are the steak knives?
Oh yes, doing the Forms provides maintenance of the soft tissue system to improve the overall health of essential joints, and eliminates the potential for motor control problems that happen when the wrong part is in the wrong place trying to do the wrong thing.
Self-correction.
Why do we perform them so slowly and so often?
The main reason is not one of memory retention but rather an active survey to see if we have any holes in the movement, just like athletes and weight lifters any ‘holes’ in these movement sets will invariably lead to failure and by extension injury.
If we can look at all of the Forms collectively we see an integrated system where we modulate through all ranges of motion on all 3 planes with full extension and rotation options explored.
Forms can be looked at as very gentle Crossfit.
Getting bag for our buck.
Simplify what we think is important and what we need to do to support those things.
As always, deconstruct – reconstruct.
For example; extending to the Tan Sau position from the first Form while acting out a single rear step from the Chum Kiu, while rotating the torso from Biu Gee.
Reset and reverse, step forward, pose Tan Sau and rotate.
Rinse and repeat.
If you are a senior student you are more than likely thinking.. “but wait, that is just the Bart Cham Dao”, which of course it is.
This approach makes it so that we can understand what it is we are trying to learn/program in a couple of years as opposed to decades.
This is in no way a shortcut, understanding anything fully, our job or our Martial Art takes the best part of a lifetime, but we can understand all the components that make up our job or Martial Art in a surprisingly short time and then dig in at our leisure.
