| Advanced chapter on the Sil Lim Tao form from Sifu Rick Spain’s upcoming book |
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Advanced chapter on the Sil Lim Tao form from Sifu Rick Spain’s upcoming book..... Sil Lum Tao Form A complex and often misunderstood form in the Wing Chun system is the Sil Lum Tao this rich and rewarding form offers many internal and external benefits to the practitioner. This chapter is not written to teach you the form in a visual sense per se - the dvds are far more effective for that purpose - but to give you the essence of the form and how to direct your thoughts and focus. What I believe to be one of the deepest principles of the form is the development of unified body and mind made body (see chapter x ). The structure, posture and breathing patterns of the form are so critical to reap any benefits, also applying the principles of engagement – by that I mean how you engage your base with the apparatus (the floor), how you engage your core, the execution of dynamic tension and the integration of these principles with your mindset – when these aspects become greater than the sum of their parts, we really come to understand how much of an entire body, or unified mind body experience the Sil Lum Tao form is. At first, students generally concern themselves with initial problems such as the order of things. As a student progresses through the system they spend a great deal of time initially just trying to keep up with what’s happening in front of them (mimicking), so their general concern is simply with what comes next. We consider that the very base level. However even at that base level it is critical for the instructor or coach to instil the right work ethic – that yes, there is an order to things on a visual viewpoint, but there is also a correct order of things in the sense of internalising the correct structure or internal posture and how you continually engage all aspects of your physiology with a purposeful mindset, that by paying attention to even the slightest detail is in its essence embodying pure engagement. We are drawn to attention in starting the form when we stand with our arms to the side pressing against the thighs, feet together in a tall ready posture(photo1). This is really designed to bring about a sense of awakening in the student. So the form starts to me when we slap our hands on the sides of our thighs and stand tall, that’s really your wakeup call and the form begins at that moment. As we breathe out, we take an extra effort to breathe the last portion of air out of the lungs, so that the first intake of air, as our arms are raised (ph 2), is from completely empty lungs. The internal breath, or the intake breath, at that point is quite profound and the lungs fill as the arms draw back (ph3). While we draw back the arms and open the ribcage we engage the upper body through the shoulder girdle with both a contracting tension and a lengthening tension, this encourages a full expansion of the lung developing our internal and external posture (see chapter) and Chi flow. As we descend into the stance (ph4) and begin to engage our base we move our feet into position in two semicircular movements (ph 5&6)and at that point, before we proceed, we grip and engage the floor and consciously rotate our hips, tilt our pelvis, touch the tongue lightly on the roof of the mouth (ph 7&8) (to engage the front and back trunk meridians) and engage our core before we move on (a section more often than not overlooked). Now we search for the centreline in the middle gate and upper gates by crossing our arms in the centreline (ph9&10) - this is also part of the grid pattern principle unique to our method (see chapter x) - and then withdrawing the arms back into that strong riding stance. We then excecute a vertical punch down the centreline on both sides (ph11&12) and huen sau(circling hand ph 13&14) as we do the Huen Sao (which is performed at the end of a great deal of our movements) maintain a conscious effort to promote a full stretch through the wrist while still rotating the elbows and shoulders to create a full Huen Sao that has actual combat application. From here we move into the Tan Sau.(15) As the Tan Sau pushes into the centreline (16)we are consciously running through a continual loop of engagement of the feet and how that corresponds with the calves, the hamstrings, the glutes, the pelvis being tilted, we’re consciously drawing or gripping the floor and opening our pelvis. As the pelvis tilts under we’re opening it outwards, the core is engaged, the back is strong and firm. As we push the Tan Sau into the centreline we are constantly monitoring the dynamic tension in the arms. We have a shortening tension through the back muscles but a lengthening tension through the chest muscles on the chambered arm. We have a contracting tension through the chest muscles and a lengthening tension on the back muscles on the lead side (agonist &antagonist). So you can feel the corresponding stretch versus contraction, at the end of the tan sau rotate the wrist and perform a dynamic palm strike (17)there is a front step in this sequence and therefore you must reengage your base, withdraw the arm back to the solar plexus (ph18) then push forward on that line. Perform a jut sau and then a tarn sau, huen sau and palm strike. This sequence of moves is performed three times, then repeated on opposite side before we move in to the second half of the form, once again, best to refer to the dvd for this section We should be experiencing the Sil Lum Tao form in three distinct breaths. In high tension days you will be doing it with an Ibuki(see chapter) style breath, which demands a tremendous amount of focus and concentration and a great deal of core work. On other days we will be using a slightly more relaxed breath, either Taoist or Buddhist breath(see chapter). And I recommend that you study all 3 different breaths as they are developing different Chi cycles or Chi cultivation. So the principle of the Sil Lum Tao form is not just the order of things from the external viewpoint, but the order of things in engagement, breathing, focus and concentration on the internal aspects. The next level, correctness of technique not only relates to the structure of your arms, body posture angles etc, but also to the way you’re engaging , contracting and dynamically tensing your body throughout the entire form. The third aspect that we touch upon is rhythm and flow – how to co-ordinate and synchronise our breathing with our movements. Whether it be a blocking movement, a dynamic tension movement or a striking movement, when to move with speed or power or to be slow, each one corresponds and interrelates with the breathing cycles, and the flow of Chi is affected by this. So rhythm and flow relates with the first two sections – the order of things and correctness of technique – but now is becoming more than the sum of its parts with the rhythm and flow of the breathing essentially giving the form life, peaks and troughs, colour if you will. The emphasis is on developing a sense of oneness, all these things come with time and practice, the body is the gateway to awareness, becoming in tune with how your breathing your body and your mind are part of the whole develop the oneness of the form. |
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