Siu Nim Tau Weak?
Article by Sigung Keith Kernspecht translated from German by Sifu Asad Mir
Grandmaster Leung Ting instructing a WingTsun™ class in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Some students see the first form of WingTsun™ Kung Fu, the Siu Nim Tau (SNT), as an unnecessary bond to tradition and thus don’t pay enough attention to it. In Western society, people want to see results as soon as possible. If an instructor would only let the students stand in the IRAS, they would have the feeling of not learning something practical, they would become impatient and would then turn away from the school. By doing this, they lose sight of some of the most important aspects of any art: patience and endurance.
In the Asian cultures it’s a different story. They (still) know that it takes time to learn an art and it takes a lot of effort (Kung Fu = Hard Work), not only for the techniques, but also on the self. Western people for the most part are more like someone who wants to be a pianist without doing his finger exercises and without practicing scales. As soon as he has started playing his first notes, he brings out a piece by Mozart. After practicing twice a week for a year, he can play the piece with a LOT of mistakes, out of tempo, and believes he is a pianist, a master.
Siu Nim Tau means "Little Idea", but often students forget that. They don’t concentrate on the muscles involved in the movements and don’t realize the difficulty of them. Once you’re "settled" in the IRAS, you start your movements, Tan Sau, Gaun Sau... and presto, you’ve already let up in your stance. You won’t achieve the goal of SNT, which is to develop independence of hand techniques from footwork and maintain an evenly stable stance while performing whatever hand technique. To reach this goal, you not only have to bring your muscles to a certain state, but must also be conscious of this state at all times. You have to sense your body from toes to scalp, without any area taking up too much attention.
As your right arm is pushing forward to the correct position, you must pay attention to your left arm, maintaining position with constant tension. An increase of tension in the right arm may not lead to even the smallest move in the left arm or stance. Or the face, for that matter. Even with greatest tension in the arm, your mouth shouldn’t tense up. What does your mouth have to do with your arm? If you tense up in the face, it’s an indication that you can’t achieve a higher amount of tension "without effort". The WT-student should try to reach a state, where he/she can apply force "without effort", thus without tensing up. If I can only stabilize my right arm with extra effort, it takes away attention from my left arm, and that will tense up as well.
In his younger years, Grandmaster Dr. Leung Ting used to practice the third set of the SNT very slowly. He said he needed an hour (!!) to complete the third set once. You should try this at least once. The most difficult aspect of this lies in concentrating, because you can’t think of anything other than the movement. It will be so slow that an outsider will barely notice any motion at all. As soon as your concentration is divided, the movement will become faster or stop. At the same time you have to keep the tension in your IRAS constant and pay attention to the other arm. The third set is also called "The Thrice Reverence of Buddha". Buddha said: "When I walk, I walk. When I eat, I eat," meaning, his consciousness was focused on what he was doing at a particular moment. This ability has to be developed, in order to do the set this slowly. Or put differently, by doing the third set of the SNT so slowly, you are practicing Buddha’s method, thus "paying reverence" to him. It doesn’t make a difference if one circles the Bodhi-tree once in one day (the tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment) or pushes Fook Sau forward three times in one hour. So much for the explanation of the third set’s colourful name.
The SNT, of course, has more aspects to it than just the ones I mentioned here. I hope though, that I may have given you some food for thought and an inclination to think a bit more about "The Little Idea".
WingTsun™ Kung Fu is a martial art that stresses practicality in a no-rules self defence situation, but it offers a whole lot more than only learning how to heap a world of pain on another person.
