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.
