Improve Your Basic

 In a class with Sifu we spend a lot of time Standing to help open our 'little idea.' I've mentioned this before and I said clearly that it is not just standing we are improving our basic. These are things that never change regardless of what we are doing. In Chi Sau, fighting, completing the form we should always keep our basic the same, and ignore any external forces.

So what is the basic?

1. No 'Big Idea': It is important not to think about what you are doing with the big idea, don't concentrate to hard, don't think about training or improving, don't feel, don't doubt yourself, don't want to do anything. This is probably the most important one as thinking like this will block you using your little idea.
2. Balance: Not just side to side, but vertical. Imagine a pencil balancing on its point; it can fall any direction just like us.
3. Rotate your joints: any adjustments to your body should come from your little idea including rotating your shoulder joints back and down.
4. Lift the anus: imagine you are making a straight light with your spine and you are lifting it from the bottom, and it is being pulled from the top
5. Naturally relaxed: when you are relaxed it should be natural, don't force it. As long as it isn't tense it is relaxed, it shouldn't be floppy. Separate the muscles from the spine to open up the chest.
6. Finally you must improve it all with your little idea, Don't be scared of it. Subtle gentle movements with the little idea. If you are scared of moving for fear of using the big idea, you will be using that big idea!

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.

Forward is the opposite of pushing

Sifu often tells us that pushing is wrong and I don't think I grasped this even slightly, until recently. (and still struggle to put it into practice.)

I was trying to complete a Tan Sao move with Sifu testing me. He was, as he always is, checking if I was using the little idea or the big idea to complete the movement. 

Despite his constant reaffirming of the it was the third try before I managed to complete the moment with the little idea. 

And I noticed something, the proceeding times I had felt the resistance in my shoulder. I had felt the force there like I was trying to counter act his force by reacting against it. On the third try it felt like I was doing the opposite. 

Because my joints were rotating the top of my shoulder was actually going backwards whilst my hand was going forward. Before I had been pushing with my shoulder which limited the joints freedom to move and had given sifu something to push against.

He says it is very common for people to want to react to the incoming force like this and that part of the habit we are trying to cultivate. We have to let go!

Three stages.

Standing. Moving. Maintaining

When standing still it is hard enough to maintain the state. To keep your frontal lobe away and feel nothing so that you can balance and relax enough to use your cerebral cortex (little idea). 

There are constant moments were you 'feel' that you are doing something wrong which can bring you right out of the state. You use your frontal lobe to correct and this only exacerbates the problems.
So you have to 'stand' and balance to open your little idea, then you have to try (but not try) to maintain it. You have to use your little idea to become more relaxed, more balanced the whole time not thinking or caring how can I improve whilst still improving. A tall order and it is all just your Basic.

Once you have got somewhere with this you have to start moving. This is where you do all of the above whilst also completing movements. A Tan Sao using your joints not your muscles, using your little idea, not thinking about it. Never wondering if the movement is right and the whole time maintaining the Basic.

Then once you are somewhere with this you need to start maintaining all of this when there is an opposing force present. When someone is physically trying to stop you competing a Tan Sao. And what do you have to do? The same as before, except you have to ignore the opposing force. You have to relax, and balance, and open the little idea. You use that to move your arm. You cant care whether you are doing it correctly, or you wont do it correctly, you cant feel or resist or oppose the incoming force, you simply have to complete the movement.



Three stages, not all, and maybe not even the first three however I certainly feel like I am going through each. Each has its own intricacies though they are all essentially the same. The kicker is you can never be sure that you are doing it right and at least to start, at least what I have to do at the moment, you have to not care if you are doing it right...

Absence of feeling

The majority of Wing Chun is to not let outside forces affect you. You should maintain the little idea state and ignore external forces. To put this another way, if you are doing it right, you shouldn't feel anything...

For example, during Chi Sao when you roll up Bong Sao you do not need to feel anything. The opponents force should simply roll off you.

When you first experience it it is a very spooky feeling. This in itself can be enough to stop you doing it. You expect to feel something where as you should just complete the movement with your 'little idea.'

A highly addictive feeling or lack there of...

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.

Good Foundations

We often spend a lot of time standing in class. I really should stop describing it as such and this has been made clear to me twice recently.

The main reason we stand is to help broaden our little idea and make it stronger. It is the key to Wing Chun. If one can maintain the little idea state then every movement will have power.

The second time was when I arrived at class early and it was just Sifu and me. He quickly asked me to do Chi Sau with him. As a beginner I struggle with rolling up in to bong sau. After a while I could feel myself tensing my legs and my lower back.

He said it was because I was forgetting about the basics. Relaxing 'lifting the anus' separating the joints and muscles in the back and chest and rolling down the shoulders. He explained that we don't just do this to open the little idea. We do it because it is our structure and our structure cant change when our arms do. If anything maintaining this state is more important when moving our arms.

Well, that isn't exactly what he said though I think I grasped at what he was meaning. He also gave an example: -
When learning a language you learn the words and the grammar. No matter what you try to say you must keep the grammar consistent or it isn't English anymore. The grammar holds it together and ensures it makes sense.
An example I thought of is the foundations of a building. They never change even when rooms change shape and position above them.

Again, a simple concept that is hard to put into practice. Your structure must stay relaxed and in place and powered by the little idea or anything that interacts with your top half will not be deflected to ground.

I'll go back to standing for a bit...

Don't Care

Sifu often talks about success.

"Don't care success, if you care success you will go back to the big idea."

What he is talking about is simple and very similar to everything else. He is saying that you cant care if you fail or succeed. If you don't care you are more likely to succeed. Caring is a very 'big idea' led thing.

The whole point of the training is to train the 'little idea' and make it stronger and make yourself better at maintaining the state. That way fighting becomes easy. It doesn't matter what force is being applied to you, you simply ignore it.
If you care, you will go back to the big idea. "Am I doing this right? Is my hand in the right place? Maybe I should move it? OH NO, I've lost it! OK, I need to relax more. No that's still not working." And so on. It becomes a big circle.

It is natural to want to succeed, that's why I often run circles in my head. Why am I here, if not to succeed? Why have I paid money, if not to succeed?

That's not the point, I am there to have fun and if I am relaxed and don't want to succeed I definitely do better.

Obviously it is so hard to switch that off! Especially when Sifu comes up to you and gets you to practice a tan sau or fook sau etc.

The Meaning of Kung Fu

One lesson I arrived before other students so it was just Sifu and I for the first 10 minutes.

Again he reiterates the standard important points that he addresses every lesson however he paused and asked me, 'What is the meaning of KungFu?'

I actually tried to answer with what I had read somewhere before maybe wikipedia, that it relates to any skill that some one has gained over time through effort and persistence. It doesn't even have to refer to fighting or combat skills.

After a few moments of confusion whilst I try and explain this, he simply says, 'Kung-Fu means Ha-bit.'

He went on to describe again that we are training to make the movements habitual and controlled by our subconscious, our 'little idea' we're not trying to think, 'he's punched with a right hook, what should I counter with?'

The wikipedia entry isn't wrong, sifu just had a simpler way of summing it up...

Relax

Relaxing is the main topic of every training session I have been to so far. Simple demonstrations by Sifu every lesson help to hammer home the importance and power of relaxing.

A good example of this is in this video below. The whole video isn't much to speak of however at 2m42s you will see grandmaster Chu Shong Tin (80+ when this video was taken) affecting four others by simply relaxing.

Fyi Chu Shong Tin Trained under the Famous Ip Man when he first came to Hong Kong and is the Grandmaster of the lineage of Wing Chun kung fu that I train.

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.

A little history

 For those interested, I thought a little history of my experience would give context to the rest of my thoughts on Wing Chun and other martial arts.

I currently train Wing Chun with Sifu Leo Lit http://www.litwingchun.com/

Up until 2015 I have had little experience with any form of Martial Art.

I did train with Wutan International in Bournemouth, UK however it is clear to me now, that I had learned little. Over the four years I did learn some of the forms of Wing Chun but they were diluted with other styles. This meant that the true heart of Wing Chun never got through to me

7 years on in 2009, I decided to give it another go. Wing Chun was what I had done most of before so I continued with that.
I ended up spending a couple of months in a class that was from the Augustine Fong lineage of Wing Chun, not that I knew that at the time!

After a few months my final year of university got the better of me and I chose to use my free time rock climbing instead.

Over these past years I feel I have gained a lot mentally and without question physically from rock climbing. I have no doubt that I will continue rock climbing well into my senior years. Though recently I have felt an imbalance that I have wanted to address and I felt that Wing Chun would help.

So now for an adventure of self discovery!