Questions (and Answers) - Welcome to The Wing Chun Club

(1) Is there concentrated effort to rise up or does it occur naturally due to no blockage in the spine?

“Yes, there is a concentration or an intention of rising up but it’s very light. It’s very subtle. If your using too much effort, it’ll become tension. That’s why I say, in the beginning, observe rising up. Don’t actually try to create it or do it – just observe it. Just by observing it, your tricking your mind to do it very lightly and subtly rather than using too much effort. And as you relax more and more and more, naturally that observing, that light rising up feeling or the idea of standing upright – it doesn’t even have to be rising up. Just think about the idea of standing upright with less and less effort. And then the rising will naturally happen. The spine will unblock which will turn into better rising. So again, it’s not something that can be answered directly. Do I think about rising or don’t I think about rising.. You do both. How are you thinking about rising? Are you using muscular effort to rise or are you not? How much mental effort are you using? So again, what is the taste of salt? These kinds of things can’t be really described. But I can say is, yes, you do think about rising up but hectically – not too much – very lightly. As much as tai-gong.”

(2) When a lot of pressure is applied to my arm, why can’t I work against it? Not relaxed enough?

“Yes, the reason why we can’t work when there’s a lot of pressure coming – the reason why we can’t relax is because the muscles just start kicking. Muscle memory, muscle strength, muscle control always overrides your intent. What the mind tries to do. For example, you want to point towards a point that you concentrate on. If someone pushes down on your arm, even if you continue trying to point to that point, if the muscles come on, then your resisting his force. The muscles will be resisting his force. His downward pressure. And even though you feel like your pointing, or your concentrating to point, your arm isn’t. Your arm is actually resisting. So the more you can relax, the less the muscles interfere and the more the body will start to obey your intentions.”

(3) What are the shapes and what are their functions – this one I will ask other instructors for hands-on.

“The shapes are very important. The shapes and structures are very, very important, an integral part of Wing Chun – in the beginning. Because having a straighter spine will enable you to be able to relax. Later shapes don’t matter. Having a round bong sau – the rounder the better. The more triangular the stance and the shapes, the better. The straighter the lines, the better. Because in terms of physics, it means, that your able to take in force and give out force with as little effort as possible. We need to have that ‘help’ with the shapes – to utilize physics like that. So the less effort we use when we have to take force, because we have more – in terms of geometry, we’re using the most perfect shapes. Then, the more the mind is calm, the body is relaxed for us to still maintain a state and work on developing a better state while we’re under pressure. So the shapes are very, very important.”

(4) If relaxing is sing, then when I am relaxed can I naturally sing? (if I am doing both joint relaxation and tai-gong.) If I am singing, then am I relaxed?

“This idea of sing. This, um, if relaxing and sing, then ‘when I am relaxed, can I naturally sing?’ Not necessarily, no. I mean, what is relaxation then? What do you mean by relaxed? Can a baby sing? No. Their body has the potential to rise up the spine and with guidance they might be able to get a glimpse of it but can they sing themselves? No they can’t. Because..that’s something that they have to…rising up energy and activating that part of the brain is something that has to be cultivated and be balanced. So relaxation is the prerequisite to being able to sing. And actually sing makes you be able to relax to a deep level that Nim-Tao comes out and you can sing better. So again, it’s it’s it’s a loop. The more you relax, the better you can sing. The more you sing the more you can relax. And it keeps going, keeps going until your at a very high level of Nim-Tao. So if your naturally relaxed can you sing? Not necessarily. Not if you haven’t actually worked on trying to rise up the correct way.”

(6) How am I getting into this stage? Tai-gong, keeping my spine straight and then singing up? Where is the focus? What is error in feeling my legs heavy?

“Yup yeah, you get into the stage where tai-gong, keep the spine – keep the idea of the spine, keep the rising idea of the spine or the uprightness of the spine.. Where is the focus? The focus is on equilibrium with gravity, being as, holding yourself upright and moving as effortless as possible, keeping the spine decompressed continuously. Make sure tai-gong is on but don’t focus too much on tai-gong because then you’ll get this mental tunnel vision just in that area and you can’t feel the rest of your body. That’s where the focus is is. It’s everywhere. The focus, eventually, it’s all one but where do you start? Tai-gong, sing, relaxation.

(7) What’s the error in feeling your legs heavy?

Um, well you just haven’t relaxed the legs enough. And we all feel that. I still get days where the legs feel heavy, they don’t feel light. I mean the legs are the hardest parts to relax because they’re the weight-bearing part of our body. So that takes time. So the error is that the legs haven’t relaxed yet. Why haven’t they relaxed? Your tai-gong’s probably not good as it should be or definitely not good as it should be..uh..cause mine isn’t. How about sing? Same thing. Not enough sing. How do you get more sing? Better tai-gong, better relaxation, better idea of sing and in turn, that will enable you to tap into your legs and relax them in that way.”

(8) How am I relaxing more? Rising and then focusing the mind on the associated part?

“Relaxation is a never-ending thing. It’s not just one state like that now I’m relaxed. It’s peeling layers off a onion that’s got unlimited amounts of layers. I mean, what’s effortlessness? Effortlessness can’t be reached. It’s not something that can really be reached. Because there’s always the next layer that you can release. That’s a good attitude to have towards relaxation. That it’s never ending. Not that I’m relaxed now and take it off.”

“Purify your tai-gong. Make it better. The rising up – I mean the rising up, you might be using 90% muscular effort. So try and make it 89%. Purify your balance. Just because your standing up on one leg and not falling over doesn’t mean you have dynamic balance. Meaning if someone pushed into you when your on one leg, you’ll probably fall over. Or maybe not. So purify your balance. By purifying all the things which is tai-gong, sing (rise) and balance, with the intention of doing all to go into the realms of effortlessness is going to make you relax more and more.”

“Falling” is when “the muscles relax (and so fall towards gravity). Its just another way of saying relax the muscles.”

(9) How can I understand my axis and mass?

“When pivoting, I’m using my axis. My spine pivots automatically as it is attached to my axis. However, I’m also focusing on my center of mass. So instead of merely moving my axis, if I keep an idea of the axis but move my center, my axis will move automatically. The way to understand the center is like a knot in the middle of a rope. The top part of the rope is the upper axis. The knot is the center of mass. The bottom potion of the rope is the lower axis. Just try to use as little effort as possible.”

(10) How can I find my center of mass?

“They have to happen at the same time. So you have to think about the mass. You have to feel your body. Thinking about the mass is just feeling the reality of your body in relation to gravity. So you feel your mass at the same time you are rising up. The rising up puts you in a state that you can feel the holistic mass better. And by feeling your whole mass, by having a holistic view of your body in relation to gravity – which is balance – you’ll be able to rise better. So they come hand in hand. You can’t do one without the other basically.”

(11) How can I find my second tai-gong?

“Soft awareness needs to be maintained. Little more then a thought, a very light contraction. Then when the hips soften and the legs relax the tailbone will softly relax and align under the crown of head.”

(12) Am I “curving” into the Tai-gong or is it just the mental process of clenching anus?

“No. You’re not curving into tai-gong. I think for you at the moment, its a…”

[In the beginning it is a] “…very, very, very slight physical drawing up from the anus. Very slightly physical. Later on it becomes a mental process. It’s not clenching. It’s a lifting up. Very lightly lifting up. Very lightly. Cause, like if you lift up a baby chicken by the head. You don’t want to squeeze too hard or anything cause it’s, your gonna kill it. Very, very lightly. Very gently lifting it, lifting up. And lifting up only about an inch. Make, couple that with the intention of relaxation in the mid-region.”

UPDATE: Do tai-gong by doing ashwini mudra. Take a breath – hold it -, clench anush and pull it up, release and then release your breath. Do this 5-10 times a day for 5 seconds each. When you get better at it, do it mentally! Then you will always be able to keep it on!

(13) How can I relax the point between my armpit and chest area?

“Think of armpit coming out. Armpit moves first. Leading the whole arm. Or even better – just rotate the shoulder.”

“With your mind. Take your time and you’ll gain control. Attention on spine + rise.”

UPDATE: Relax that point by lsoj (localized separation of joints). This has to be done either 1) with your mind (hard) or 2) by pulling on the joint until it separates (painful)

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