No identical signatures

Have you ever tried to duplicate one signature exactly. It is really hard. Sifu says this is because you use your big idea to copy. Where as if you just do your signature you will get very close as you will use the little idea. 

It's the same with all the moves in wing chun. Don't try and make them perfect just do them. Don't worry about how one Bong Sau is different to the last. Just focus and try to use the little idea and shut the big idea up. 

Open the chest

When we train we are trying to open up our chest and relax it.

In terms of posture anyone who understands human physiology will say that this is a good thing. So many people have hunched forward shoulders from leaning over computers/phones/books etc. This puts unwanted and undesirable loads on other parts of the body which are unhealthy.
As a climber I have a strong back which also exacerbates this problem making it hard to relax and open the chest up.

It is slowly coming into the main stream that proper posture whilst climbing puts you in a better position to pull hard. However I have always heard it described as move your shoulders back and down. This is technically true but I feel it is a way of thinking of it that isn't the most helpful.
The shoulder joint is a complex one but it is one that 'Rotates' it doesn't just go up and down and left and right. It is important to remember that you want the shoulder to rotate backwards. The muscles on your back, and shoulder blade should be rotating downwards. No muscles should be 'pulling' the shoulder into place.

To picture this another way, imagine you are out on a really cold day and have forgotten your coat. Most people will naturally close up their chest against the cold.
Now picture it is a comfortably warm day and you are soaking in the heat. Again the standard reflex is to open up your chest in a more relaxed way.
Play with this and hopefully you can see what I mean.

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.

Gang sau

When you roll down Gang Sau it is the same movement as letting it drop down on its own. There is no need to think about the movement.

When you let the arm drop, It naturally pivots on the shoulder joint first.

This is the first thing to remember. The second is that, as always, you should drop the shoulder onto the elbow. 

Sifu describes this as 'putting your arm on the table.'

Imagine you are stood next to a High table and you lean on it. You're not pressing down but a large proportion of your weight is going into the tables structure. 

Once your shoulders are dropped then you can rotate the shoulder joint and expand the elbow joint.

Easier said than done! 

Importance of structure

A lot of people are finicky about structure.
Sifu explains that while it is important, it isn't the be all and end all. Having good structure simply makes it easier to balance, open little idea and maintain the basics.

Once you have got the structure to a certain level you have to stop thinking about it. You are not trying to make the movement perfect. You are trying to make each movement relaxed so that you can use your little idea to power it.

Si Gong says something similar in his article about Siu Nim Tau

10 years training in 35

How important is it to ensure you always train using your little idea? Surely you can get the same effect by making sure you really intellectually understand what is happening?

Let's put it in simple numbers. Sifu has been training for 35 years. He said that if he had been training the way he teaches now it would have only taken 10 years.

That's 25 years of extra training. 10 years was under a different lineage so it makes sense that he didn't make any progression in this style. Since then he has been training under Chu Shong Tin (my Si Gong) and he spent most of his time asking questions trying to understand the movements, the little idea, intellectually rather than actually training the movements. 

Also, at that time Si Gong didn't understand the best way to teach and explain what he could do. He could show people what he could do and tell people when they were doing it correctly but there was little explanation. 

Understanding is not enough. You have to practice doing it to get better. 

It's not the destination that's important

As the title says, It's more about how you get there rather than the destination. An idea that would benefit people in general life too.

It may sound obvious but it just reiterates that 'Tan Sau' and 'Bong Sau' are not static positions. 'Bong Sau' is the movement that starts as soon as you rotate your joints. 

Don't think about what it should look when you finish the movement, this isn't as important as every step in between being controlled purposefully by the little idea.