Ip Man, Yes man

Sifu told a story the other day.

It was after saying 'No shape, no form, Tan Sao is Tan Sao only when you use your little idea.' He said, 'Ip mans nickname was yes man' because whenever his students asked if their Tan Sao, or Lap Sao was correct he would just say 'Yes' regardless of what it looked like.

Now without being there, knowing what Ip Man meant by that is just what has been passed down by Chu Shong Tin. Sifu says that this is just further proof that there is no specific way to to a Tan Sao etc, except to use your little idea.

My own conjecture is that saying yes to any shape will boost the students confidence in themselves. Sifu has often said that you need to believe you are doing the move right so that you are not thinking 'is this right?' all the time. It is also to remind the students that structure is such a small part of the movement.

In later lessons Sifu has said that having good structure is good for people at a very beginner level, as it makes it harder for you to give up the little idea. He did explain that this does depend on the individual though.

Purpose of Siu Nim Tao

The purpose of the form is not to teach you the movements of Wing Chun. This is the beginner stage only. You need to use the 'big idea' to copy the intent of the movements and the structure however this is a simple and quick process.

The main purpose of the form is to distract you. To make you go back to using your big idea and give up your little idea. To make you think 'is this right?' And tense up. It is hard enough to keep from thinking when standing. Hard enough to maintain the 'little idea' state whilst not moving because you should feel nothing and it is natural to want to and try to feel something.

So one must not just to know the movements one must complete the movements with your little idea, completely relaxed and not weak. You must imbue each motion with the full force of your minds power.

It is almost pointless repeatedly practicing the moves of the form unless you are using the little idea for each one. It is possible that you may be able to distinguish some difference in your ability to use the little idea to complete the movements when directly challenged however I feel that it is more likely that you are simply removing one of the thoughts that we all get hung up on. "Does this look right?" "Am I moving the right way?" And it only helps to remove this by giving you confidence. You have done the move so many times that you don't care about the external structure and shape any more.

To summarise:
The main purpose is to distract you from maintaining your little idea. To try and trick you into bringing back your big idea and react to the movement. Your purpose when doing the form is to maintain your basic!
In the Three Stages I've mentioned before, this is the second stage.

Watching

Occasionally we have people that are interested in training and ask Sifu if it is OK to watch the class. He normally chuckles and says yes, but that watching is very high skill level.

He always says this and you can feel it when he walks around the room. He can tell when you are using the little idea, he can tell when you are thinking too much, or are trying too hard. He can tell when you are in balance and when you are not.

Seeing this has made me realise that there are many levels to watching. It is easy to see when someone is tense. It is almost as easy to see when someones structure is compromised. It gets harder to explain to someone what they are doing wrong. It is extremely hard to connect their mistakes to the 'little idea' and another level again to see these mistakes within you.

I think this is one of the many reasons that Sifu tells us to do first and feel later. In the beginning years of training we are not going to be able to understand when we are doing it right and in trying to hard we will bring back the big idea and compromise the training.

It is really interesting having just six months training behind me, I look at people and can see little nuances of structure. I can see that they are not balanced but I cannot explain to them what they are doing wrong. One day I will be able to see through the superficial 'structure' and be able to see the subtlety that Sifu sees.

Do First, Understand Later

Understanding is what us newbies want. Whenever I find that I am using the little idea to do something I want to understand so I can do it again!
Sifu categorically states that you cant do it this way. Normally with a laugh too.

Just like when you are trying to do it and not succeeding you think, "What am I doing wrong,"  inevitably brings the big idea back and stops the little idea even more! The same happens when you try to understand. As sifu often says, understanding is a big idea thing.

I have to tell myself not to worry about it as I always want to know!

Do it first and understand what you did later.