Do you ‘really’ want to wait?

 

Don’t wait too long

 

When should a student move on in their formwork, and when should they stay where they are?

 

This is an interesting question and should really be guided by the teacher, however, this is sometimes incorrectly decided by the student, often a misguided idea for sure, possibly acquired through watching too many movies.

 

It is true that we should not move forward until we understand where we are right now, but there is little need to wait until we have (or believe we have) perfected where we are now, because this is simply not possible, as we are always improving upon what we previously knew.

 

‘The man who claims to know everything is a fool, for his learning has ceased’

Confucius (probably)

 

I must look that up, just to prove my point.

 

Siu Lim Tau could be thought of like being given a book on ‘How to read Chinese’, but the thing is written, in Chinese!

I use this example because it is not until we experience Chum Kiu, Dummy, Knives and Biu Gee that we come to better understand Siu Lim Tau, by not being blinkered, or so focussed on the first form that we cannot see the wood for the trees.

Meaning that, the advancing forms can teach us how to read Chinese (stay with me), so that when we come back to the book on ‘How to read Chinese’, we realise that we need longer need that book, or to reverse this thinking, we will come to understand that everything in the Wing Chun system, is in the Siu Lim Tau, but only if you know where to find it (and translate it).

 

I like to think this is the same for students wanting the answer to a question, the answer to the question is often not in the question itself but is in why the question was asked in the first place.

 

Confused?

 

What I mean by this is, rather than just answer the question directly and be done with it, spoon-feeding information willy-nilly, try to step back from the focus point and see where this question has come from, because just like in the wooden dummy form, when a mistake is made, it usually does not present itself until three moves later.

 

Stop treating the symptoms and let’s look at the cause.

 

To give a clearer example.

When you look down at the floor do you see the ground as blue?

Possibly not, and yet it is not until we are many miles away from earth that we see we live on a blue planet!

To not rush on in Wing Chun is correct, but at the same time we need forward progression to better understand what the very basics were trying to tell us.

 

A very simple idea of this…

Why do we need to keep our back arm elbow, tucked in during Siu Lim Tau?

It is true that it keeps the form looking tidy, and yes it stops it from getting in the way of the training arm, and yes it shows discipline, much like you may question, ‘Why should a soldier keep his bed neat, and his boots polished?’, to have some damned pride in what you are doing!

 

But does it matter if it looks good or not?

Yes, yes it does.

Maybe in the same as when a beginner at Karate first puts on their Gi, looks in the mirror and thinks, ‘I look good’, this is true, you do look good, and when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you train better.

But of course, there is more to it than that, keeping the elbow tucked in is stretching the shoulder, so that it retracts safely and smoothly, something we will discover when we get to the Chum Kiu form.

We will then get to a point where we will retract this with speed and power, by way of a rear elbow strike, something we will discover when we get to the Biu Gee form, a well needed stretch, because if we were to go straight into the rear elbow strikes, with speed and power, there is a good chance of you injuring yourself.

So, we need to be made aware of this possibility, through the learning of Biu Gee, to better assist us in getting more from the Siu Lim Tau and its held elbow position, ironically something we may have easily overlooked in the Siu Lim Tau, because we were so insistent of trying to perfect the Siu Lim Tau before we moved on FROM the Siu Lim Tau!!!

And….. relax.

 

So, trust in your teacher if they tell you, it’s time to move on, and trust in your teacher if they tell you, it is not, but at the same time, if you are being held back, so use your judgement, politely ask them the thinking behind their decision to presently hold you back.

If it is your fault and you can see this, drop the ego and step up!

But if their reason seems to be to keep you paying, you may be in the wrong place?

 

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