🥷 Skill ☯️ · The Wing Chun Family

Sifu John Cogan

🚀

Jul 7 (edited) in FORMS🏹

🥷 Skill ☯️

Skill does not care who has been training longer.

It only cares who has it.

Ip Man one of the greatest martial artists of our time discerned this by the above statement.

There are many factors that go into skill development.

Training time, focus, the teacher, the quality of the information, the skill of the room, the level of consciousness of the student and so on.

Skill cannot be defined only by time, it is certainly a factor as you will never progress if you don’t actually spend time training, but it is not the only factor.

Some schools can be overly focussed on time as a measurement of skill ie the giving of belts/grades based on time.

This is purely surface level and related to only perception and not the essence of martial skill.

In Wing chun many overlook the skill of the Siu Nim Tao and think of it only as a perfunctory set of movements, or even just a warmup before you get to the ‘real’ training in techniques, sticky hands or sparring.

But the skill of Siu Nim Tao lies not in its shapes or sequence, but in the power of the mind.

Siu Nim Tao means ‘small thought’ or ‘tiny idea’ further to that the translation of ‘Nim’ takes us into the heart also.

The hidden skill in Siu Nim Tao infuses the body with ‘spirit’ or ‘energy’ which can be directed and utilised for overwhelming power.

Ip Man demonstrated this power and taught the keys to the students which showed interest in this ‘Mind Power’ aka ‘Lop Nim’ & ‘Nim Lik’.

In my opinion if you do not possess the mind power of Siu Nim Tao, which is cultivated from diligent practice of the said form then your Wing Chun is weak and easily overcome with enough brute force.

For all those wishing to develop their Wing Chun skill to the greatest degree possible, which unlocks internal power for both martial arts and life I wish you reach beyond what you hope for and step into your power.

Ip Man was a magnificent teacher who not only laid the foundations of development for so many future generations, but instilled belief into his disciples that they could achieve the heights that they were pursuing.

Long Live Wing Chun!

What level of skill are you aiming for?

🚀 I got the skills to pay the bills

🌶️ Spicy!

🌪️ I AM Wing Chun ⚔️

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