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Wing Chun Academy of Thailand WING CHUN
LESSONSSIU LIM TAOSECTION ONE
1. Like any form of exercises or sports, do not perform Siu Lim Tao
right after a meal. Make sure you have given your system at least an
hour to digest the food.
2. Do not wear restrictive clothing as you
will tire out sooner.
3. Perform Siu Lim Tao (SLT) in an area with
fresh flowing air. You will need plenty of oxygen.
4. Make sure
that you are in a relaxed state of mind. Tension knots up your
channels. You are not only exercising your physical body, but your inner
Qi as well. 5. After finishing each round, massage your knees, elbows
and other joints to help the blood and Qi circulate.
1. The SLT lessons are structured to show you the moves sequentially
first, frame by frame
2. The moves are detailed and analysed next.
3. Then videos or more pictures are presented for further
analysis.
1. First look at the sequence frames to have a mental picture of the
sequence.
2. Then study the details and explanations. This is very
important. Knowing the purpose of the moves helps you perform them
correctly.
3. Stand in front of a full-length mirror, and place the
instructions on a (music) stand for referral.
4. Perform each move,
according to the illustration and instructions.
5. Call out the name
for each move. This will not only help you remember the sequence, but
remind you of the details for the moves. In the future, it will help
you teach your students.
6. Treat each move individually. Do not
rush through them.
7. Don't worry about breaking up your moves to
refer to the instructions. You do this in the beginning, until you have
memorized the sequence. You will not need to do it when you have learned
the sequence. However, it is important that you know each move
precisely and perform it to perfection.
8. Repeat, repeat, and
repeat.
9. When you have finished, remain in the low horse stance
for awhile. Extend the length of time gradually.
10 Try to stay
affixed in the low stance and not fluctuate the height.
11. Don't
ignore your breathing. This is part of the SLT training.
12.
Practise every day, as many times as you can. Strive for PERFECTION.
Generally, Wing Chun schools start new students on the first third of
Siu Lim Tao. From my teaching experience, I found that to be more than
a student can handle. Surely, they are able to grasp the sequence and
do it roughly in a few days; and in a few weeks, have no trouble
remembering the moves and following the class. At this time, they are
anxious to learn the next third, and so on. Often, this is obliged by
the teacher. What happens in this situation, is that the students learn
the superficial actions of Siu Lim Tao without grasping the roots and
essence of the form. When students begin on this path, they step
forever into the land of Oblivia. There is no magic in any of the WC
forms. You will not become Bruce Lee by learning them all. The only
way to become a fine martial artist is to work hard at it. You train,
train, and train. That's what Bruce Lee did. You must have patience and
think long term. The WC course I'm offering beginners is dissected in
many small segments for long term training. I outline a schedule for
each segment. It is a recommendation as I have no control over how you
follow the schedule. You will only cheat yourself if skate over the
lessons and don't practice hard. Before you embark on the first
lesson of Siu Lim Tao (SLT), spend a week learning how to
breathe (Qigong). "Don't I know how to breathe?" You may be asking
yourself now. Most of you don't know how to breathe efficiently. (Read
about Qi Force, in the Lecture 2 section.) If you breathe using your
chest muscles instead of your diaphragm, you will bring the air to your upper chest only instead of
filling your lower lungs. You will not fill the lungs to its full capacity, and will be out of
breath quicker, and will also imbalance your structure. (Read about Qi Balance in
Lecture 3 for explanation.) So let me show you how to conserve your
energy, maximize your intake and minimize the expenditure.
Here's your
breathing lesson:
Natural Stance  1. Begin with a natural stance. Spread your feet about your
shoulder's width apart.
2. You may keep your eyes opened or shut.
Semi-opened is recommended. This takes you to a realm between the
conscious and subconscious mind.
3. Curl your tongue upwards,
pressing the underside of your tongue against the top palate of your
mouth. This keeps the Qi or energy circulating continuously without a
break.
4. Relax yourself completely by dropping your shoulders and
not thinking about anything but your breathing pattern.
5. Inhale.
Instead of contracting your stomach and expanding your chest, reverse
them; that is, collapse your chest and expand your stomach. Instead of
sucking air from your nostril and sending air down to your lungs, draw
air and energy from the bottom of your feet to your stomach. Now, you
are all confused. Well, you will need a little help here.
Your
mouth and nostrils are the main orifices where air comes in and goes out.
Many of you may know this, and many may not, that the pores in our skin,
vent air in and out. In addition, Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM) understands
that there are larger openings, call meridians, where air, energy
(positive and negative) and nutrients flow in, travel through our body
channels, and exit out. During this process, our body uses what it
needs and discards what is not necessary. We receive excess positive
energy (Yang) from the sun and need negative energy (Yin) from the
earth to maintain balance in our bodies. Therefore we need to draw
energy from the bottom and bring it up no higher than the stomach
region. One of the main meridians is located in the stomach region,
called Dan Tian. It acts as a distributor, dispatching ingredients from
the intake to the appropriate organs. The Yin energy is drawn from a
pair of meridians located at the bottom of our feet. How do you do
that? You train your mind to. You are unaware of your surroundings
until you focus your mind on them. So, when you are inhaling, instead
of focusing on your nostrils, focus in on the center bottom of your
feet. Instead of feeling the air travel down your throat to your chest,
feel it travel up from your feet (inch by inch) through the channels in
your legs, meeting up in the genital area, and filling up the stomach.
5. Exhale. When you have filled your stomach with air, hold it
there for a moment, and then begin the process of sending it down from
your stomach to the genital area, splitting it down both legs, and exit
from the bottom of your feet to the earth.
This breathing exercise is not as difficult as it sounds when reading it
for the first time. You will get the hang of it after a few attempts.
Do this exercise at least three times a day, for at least ten minutes
each time. This would equate to 30 minutes per day, or 3.5 hours a
week. It is best to do it in the morning, evening, and at night. When
you get the hang of it, try to use it as your normal breathing pattern,
if not the whole, at least use the diaphram instead of your lungs for
bellowing, and your stomach for storage instead of your chest.
Qigong is a study on its own. It is intricate, but I will not get into
it as this is a Wing Chun course. All martial arts training once
included internal training. Today, they are distinctively separated.
However, most martial artists and athletes do develop internal strength
without consciously knowing or working at it. Internal strength is what
separates the top athletes from the mediocre.
Wing Chun is considered (by those who like to categorize it) a cross
between "hard" and "soft" styles. Siu Lim Tao, unbeknownst to many,
includes Qigong training. I don't know of any other fighting styles
that has a practitioner standing in one position through a whole set.
Neither do I know of any hard styles that have such so slow movements in
a set. Great-Grand Master Yip Man was known to have taken an hour to
complete a set of SLT. If you don't believe that GGM Yip Man was
practising Qigong, then you will have to believe that he was sleeping
through the set.
When you have practiced enough breathing and feel natural with it, you
may move to the first three movements of Siu Lim Tao. Note that links
for movements (white text) are located at the bottom page border
(black). Although there are link buttons for Siu Lim Tao Sections II
and III, the pages are not ready.
Copyright © Daniel Y. Xuan
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