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.