This is a repost of a repost, even though it was only back in September when I reposted it I find that the lesson has not quite sunk in. This is the Money Shot if we wish to understand the nuances of nerve activation, which is what brings our Crazy Horse to life. Believe me, this is one of those “I wish I had been told this earlier” kind of situations.
Where or what is the ‘LITTLE IDEA’.
Could it be that we are the ‘LITTLE IDEA’?
Any training is really about self-realisation.
The development of a new self, or at least a new vision that goes above and beyond us, sets new paradigms, attains new heights.
A self that is physically, mentally and emotionally on a different level.
A competent and capable self.
Trained and ready to face any challenge.
Not just violence.
Wing Chun is a vehicle.
But like any vehicle on any long journey, we would do well to know how it works, how to fix it when it breaks down, to treat it with respect, so that it lasts us a life time.
On any journeys of significance, as we progress, we accumulate new knowledge and develop opinions.
Opinions that change as we gain further knowledge.
It is how we grow, move forward, transcend.
At this juncture, my opinion is this…
The most important aspect of our training is to stabilise our spine.
I believe that this is ‘THE NUCLEUS OF THE LITTLE IDEA’!
All of our training, all of our FORMS, our drills, our Chi Sau and whatever else we are involved in and around are nothing more than ‘stress tests’ to see if we can play them and maintain “a stable spine’.
If this is ‘THE NUCLEUS OF THE LITTLE IDEA’, what is ”THE LITTLE IDEA’?
It grows from using this Nucleus, thinking about this Nucleus, becoming this Nucleus.
MOVING ON THE OUTSIDE, STILL ON THE INSIDE.
Task number one.
HOW DO WE STABILISE THE SPINE?
There are numerous methods although ultimately they all boil down to Intra-abdominal Pressure {I.A.P.}
I am in no way a physical therapist, I am not going to advise you how to do this, but to be expected there is a ‘living shit tonne’ of videos on Youtube, by real doctors.
This is a decent one for getting the general gist of where and how to start.
Watch this and then surf the recommended video links on the right of the presentation and find one that makes sense to you.
‘Crazy Horse’is an awareness and conditioning exercise, in time we need to infuse I.A.P. into it.
This is not particularly difficult, but neither is it quick.
In the numerous styles that I have studied there has always been talk of breathing techniques, Buddhist breathing, Daoist breathing, belly breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, breathing into our feet the list is endless.
They are all on the right track but they are also wrong in so many ways.
It was not until about 5 years ago when I was seeing a rehab specialist for several weeks, at the ‘Pain Clinic in Liverpool Hospital’, that I was finally able to put all the pieces together
We always boast that what we do in Wing Chun is based on ‘normal, human body movement’ but few schools teach ‘normal, human body movement’.
They teach ‘Wing Chun’ movement, which is so very rarely normal and only partly human.
This is a repost from before Covid 19. It is extremely important stuff, without this we are just dancing.
Where or what is the ‘LITTLE IDEA’.
Could it be that we are the ‘LITTLE IDEA’?
Any training is really about self-realisation.
The development of a new self, or at least a new vision that goes above and beyond us, sets new paradigms, attains new heights.
A self that is physically, mentally and emotionally on a different level.
A competent and capable self.
Trained and ready to face any challenge.
Not just violence.
Wing Chun is a vehicle.
But like any vehicle on any long journey, we would do well to know how it works, how to fix it when it breaks down, to treat it with respect, so that it lasts us a life time.
On any journeys of significance, as we progress, we accumulate new knowledge and develop opinions.
Opinions that change as we gain further knowledge.
It is how we grow, move forward, transcend.
At this juncture, my opinion is this…
The most important aspect of our training is to stabilise our spine.
I believe that this is ‘THE NUCLEUS OF THE LITTLE IDEA’!
All of our training, all of our FORMS, our drills, our Chi Sau and whatever else we are involved in and around are nothing more than ‘stress tests’ to see if we can play them and maintain “a stable spine’.
If this is ‘THE NUCLEUS OF THE LITTLE IDEA’, what is ”THE LITTLE IDEA’?
It grows from using this Nucleus, thinking about this Nucleus, becoming this Nucleus.
MOVING ON THE OUTSIDE, STILL ON THE INSIDE.
Task number one.
HOW DO WE STABILISE THE SPINE?
There are numerous methods although ultimately they all boil down to Intra-abdominal Pressure {I.A.P.}
I am in no way a physical therapist, I am not going to advise you how to do this, but to be expected there is a ‘living shit tonne’ of videos on Youtube, by real doctors.
This is a decent one for getting the general gist of where and how to start.
Watch this and then surf the recommended video links on the right of the presentation and find one that makes sense to you.
‘Crazy Horse’is an awareness and conditioning exercise, in time we need to infuse I.A.P. into it.
This is not particularly difficult, but neither is it quick.
In the numerous styles that I have studied there has always been talk of breathing techniques, Buddhist breathing, Daoist breathing, belly breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, breathing into our feet the list is endless.
They are all on the right track but they are also wrong in so many ways.
It was not until about 5 years ago when I was seeing a rehab specialist for several weeks, at the ‘Pain Clinic in Liverpool Hospital’, that I was finally able to put all the pieces together
We always boast that what we do in Wing Chun is based on ‘normal, human body movement’ but few schools teach ‘normal, human body movement’.
They teach ‘Wing Chun’ movement, which is so very rarely normal and only partly human.
The development of a new self, or at least a new vision that goes above and beyond us, sets new paradigms, attains new heights.
A self that is physically, mentally and emotionally on a different level.
A competent and capable self.
Trained and ready to face any challenge.
Not just violence.
Wing Chun is a vehicle.
But like any vehicle on any long journey, we would do well to know how it works, how to fix it when it breaks down, to treat it with respect, so that it lasts us a life time.
On any journeys of significance, as we progress, we accumulate new knowledge and develop opinions.
Opinions that change as we gain further knowledge.
It is how we grow, move forward, transcend.
At this juncture, my opinion is this…
The most important aspect of our training is to stabilise our spine.
I believe that this is ‘THE NUCLEUS OF THE LITTLE IDEA’!
All of our training, all of our FORMS, our drills, our Chi Sau and whatever else we are involved in and around are nothing more than ‘stress tests’ to see if we can play them and maintain “a stable spine’.
If this is ‘THE NUCLEUS OF THE LITTLE IDEA’, what is ”THE LITTLE IDEA’?
It grows from using this Nucleus, thinking about this Nucleus, becoming this Nucleus.
MOVING ON THE OUTSIDE, STILL ON THE INSIDE.
Task number one.
HOW DO WE STABILISE THE SPINE?
There are numerous methods although ultimately they all boil down to Intra-abdominal Pressure {I.A.P.}
I am in no way a physical therapist, I am not going to advise you how to do this, but to be expected there is a ‘living shit tonne’ of videos on Youtube, by real doctors.
This is a decent one for getting the general gist of where and how to start.
Watch this and then surf the recommended video links on the right of the presentation and find one that makes sense to you.
‘Crazy Horse’is an awareness and conditioning exercise, in time we need to infuse I.A.P. into it.
This is not particularly difficult, but neither is it quick.
In the numerous styles that I have studied there has always been talk of breathing techniques, Buddhist breathing, Daoist breathing, belly breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, breathing into our feet the list is endless.
They are all on the right track but they are also wrong in so many ways.
It was not until about 5 years ago when I was seeing a rehab specialist for several weeks, at the ‘Pain Clinic in Liverpool Hospital’, that I was finally able to put all the pieces together
We always boast that what we do in Wing Chun is based on ‘normal, human body movement’ but few schools teach ‘normal, human body movement’.
They teach Wing Chun movement, which is so very rarely normal and only partly human.
We will never use Wing Chun if we are in a stressful and violent situation, we will just do stuff, any stuff our body thinks will do the job of getting us out of there.
If we allow ourselves to approach this work we call Wing Chun as play it is usually effortless, it is only when we over invest in it, attach importance to it, elevate it, forget that it is, in the end, just normal human movement that it gets tricky.
Even before we embark on Crazy Horse practice we learn that torso is independent.
Add to this that the arms are independent of the torso.
Also that the legs are independent of the torso.
In throwing sports this is referred to as separation.
Keeping it simple, from a purely physical perspective, Crazy Horse is pretty much what we do when we push a shopping trolley around a Supermarket.
Think about that and then go out and find a shopping trolley.
One of the reasons, in fact the main reason I have so many props and tricks is to prevent us from elevating it to something other than simply ‘work’.
We will never use Wing Chun if we are in a stressful and violent situation, we will just do stuff, any stuff our body thinks will do the job of getting us out of there.
Under stress our body reverts to the things it knows how to do best, or at least is the most familiar with. We all do other things in life far more often, and usually better and more naturally than when we do Wing Chun.
It is only in training that we do Wing Chun, if we can reach the point where we regard our training as just ‘stuff’, ‘ordinary stuff’ not ‘special stuff’ there is a good chance our body will pick it when we need to ‘get stuff’ done.
Once more for the late comers.
Play with it, do not take it so seriously, this is possibly the best information you will ever get.
If we need to concentrate {which is essentially a form of mental isolation} on what we are doing we will never have access to that skill in a dynamic, ever changing, hectic and stressful environment that is a violent situation.
Wing Chun Sydney, Australia 