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!