Wing Chun Garden
Keeping things in order
(Photo by Jonny Gios)
Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who is a counsellor /therapist, when he made one of the most wonder analogies I have heard in a long while, this was in connection with keeping a healthy relationship.
His comment was referring to how people in marriages wait until things are way out of control before seeking help or trying to get things back on track.
Whereas keeping a healthy relationship, would be like a person, daily going out into their garden to prune flowers, trim the grass, sweep the path and so on, therefore always keeping a healthy looking place of rest and happiness (well that’s my interpretation anyway).
As opposed to those who wait until the things has massively overgrown (trouble with their relationship), hack the whole garden back (seek help), and end up leaving hedges and flowers with huge gaping holes everywhere, yes it has been cut back and momentarily recovered but at what cost, the place is no longer overgrown but it will take quite some time for the natural beauty to return.
Well as always, my mind turned to Wing Chun, and seeing that this is no different to your training.
Why wait until you feel overgrown and out of shape to do something about it?
Little and often is the key to long term success, unless of course you are training as an athlete and then it would be LOTS, and every moment of every day!
For the majority however, we simply want to see steady and constant progress with no obvious declining, and this is where this mentality comes into its own.
Recently I posted a clip of someone on Goalcast discussing how, if you go to the gym, come back home and look in the mirror, you will see no change, and the same for the next day and the next, because it is not about intensity but consistency, meaning that it is only over the longterm that we see these benefits.
Cutting back your garden does give you an immediate result, and even some satisfaction, but as I say, at what cost, going from overgrown to destroyed is not the way to enjoy that space on a daily basis.
So keep your training regular, even if it is just a quick Form or a few punches, every little does help, and if you have a day or two off, this is ok, just do not leave it too long before getting back into it.
As soon as I finish this post I am going to run through all of my Forms and drill 1,000 punches, just to get my blood flowing and to practice what I preach, perhaps you will join me in doing the same?
To finish this blog I would like thank you for reading and to share a few words from my Sifu;
Grandmaster Ip Chun:
Think of your training as growing a beautiful flower, you plant the seed, give the soil food, sunshine and water, but you are still just looking at soil.
The next day again, you give the seed food, sunshine and water, but still you are just looking at soil.
It is at this point that many students leave Wing Chun because they do not see immediate benefits, only soil.
After a while you begin to see a shoot growing out of the ground, this is exciting, but it is also slow, and you are eager.
Each day you give the young flower food, sunshine and water, but in order to make it grow faster you give it a pull.
Again, every day you give food, sunshine and water, but again in order to make it grow faster you give the shoot a little pull.
The outcome of this will only serve to see the flower die.
So give the young flower food, sunshine and water, but also time, and eventually you will enjoy all the beauty it has to offer.
