No Urgent

Sifu often tells us 'no urgent' which he explains as don't rush the movements and also don't expect the power to come instantly, it will take time.

He also told an anecdotal story recently of how Si Gong once got in a fight and was too 'urgent,' stiff and tense. He stepped back and realised what was happening. He calmed himself down, removed that sense of urgency, relaxed and then won the fight. 

Clearly it is hard enough to relax and be calm in the class room let alone when you're in a fight!

Someone asked why we don't train for those kind of high adrenaline situations by sparring fully with gloves etc.
From the discussion that ensued what I got from it was that this person was trying to run before they can walk. Sifu says that there is no point training for that until you can open your little idea.  Otherwise this training will only train your big idea and make it harder to open your little idea.

You cannot rush this training.

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.

Linking the top to the bottom

In the standard stance (which we adopt every lesson to practice the little idea) sifu is always telling me to 'lift my anus'...

It certainly sounds like a translation problem at first but the more he explained it, it started to make a little sense.

The teachings of this lineage of Wing Chun have to start with a solid foundation. You must start with the little idea or 'open your little idea, close your big idea,' as sifu often puts it.
If you can use your little idea to perform the moves then it will inherently carry the weight of your entire body behind it.

Naturally however the body is split into legs and torso even if it doesn't feel like it. When you are walking around it makes sense to try and be 'light' on your feet so it takes less effort to move your legs under the majority of your torso. With Wing Chun sifu is explaining that you need a good structure. By 'lifting the anus' you can connect the two.

Lift the anus??

So to lift the anus it is exactly like you are trying to stop eager bowel movements whilst you are hunting for a toilet in a busy shopping mall. Though again, this cant be tense like you would be if you were squeezing your fist shut of you will focus too much on that and let the rest of the muscles in the area go. It needs to be lightly clenched and relaxed.

The result is that everything is relaxed and controlled by the little idea.  You will be balanced and should feel nothing. Now the structure is sound and any weight or force added to it will be directed into the ground.

Sounds simple? It makes sense in its simple form here but in practice it is hard.

Siu Nim Tau - "The Little Idea"

Little did I know that my first lesson with Sifu was exactly what I was looking for.

I did not practice fighting, I did not practice forms, I did not practice punching. I simply stood whilst Sifu explained to me the concept of the "little idea" in broken English.

To be clear, there was no language barrier, if anything me trying to convert the simple terms that he was saying in my head probably helped me to understand better. He wanted me to understand from the very beginning that Wing Chun is not performed with conscious thought but rather with the powerful subconscious.

An example he used is that he doesn't want us to consciously think to perform a Tan Sau he wants us to reflexively do it. Not reflexively like breathing or your heart beating. He wants us to perform the moves like we perform walking or running.

"You do not use the big idea to decide to run," he said reaching up and tapping my forehead.
"You use the little idea," He finished whilst tapping the back of my head.

But how do we use this?
"You cannot use the big idea to think I'm relax now I go to sleep. You have to make relax to go to sleep. Use your little idea." Again with the tapping.

He then proceeded to explain that relaxing is so important to Wing Chun and very hard to sustain. He quickly shutdown any ideas I had of "surely to punch with power I need to tense my muscles" with a simple demonstration.

Stood simply with his arm in front of him he invited me to try and stop him from raising his hand.  I was using all of my power and he was completely relaxed when he slowly raised his hand no matter how much I resisted.

Now with me stood, arms by my sides he said, "Use your big idea to try and stop me from lifting your arm." Again, try as I might, my arm collapsed under his weight.

Next by simply telling me to focus on balancing and ignoring him he proved that I could use my little idea to great effect. With the same if not more force from him he couldn't lift my arm. I was relaxed and focused on balance. This seemed to connect my arm to my entire body. He didn't simply have to over power the muscles that I was focusing on he had to resist all of them and essentially my entire weight.

From then on I was hooked.