Some of my learnings from the Xingiquan Course
Greetings to all!
I have had a couple of days to reflect and some time to type up some of the things I learned at this great course based on my personal experiences. I realise they are not very 'technical' and perhaps not specifically linked to Xingyiquan itself but this is what came to mind:
This was my 5th Summer Camp and my 6th intensive kung-fu course with Sifu. Each time I attend one of these courses it is a great moment for me to pause and reflect on progress and change.
Things I noticed this time :
-- I have so much more stamina and mental clarity than even last summer camp. Sometimes during the year progress is slow so you don't notice, but at a course like this where you are on your feet for 5 consecutive days, pushed to your limit, then the effect of your training really shows! This time round, even though I had periods of being overwhelmed, I always felt good after the day was over and mentally I could quite easily keep up, even if my body was sometimes out of synch... It was great not to have the 'burnt out' feeling like I used to in my early years...
-- Maintaining a chi kung state of mind: we covered so much ground that it seems 'ridiculous'. Also this time round for various reasons I was not able to spend a lot of time learning the sets before the course -- only a few hours of familiarisation. This time, however, I remembered to try to always keep in the 'zone' by following the three golden rules (relax, don't intellectualise and enjoy) . I was truly amazed at how effective this was. I recall at one point Sifu was moving very quickly through teaching us the sets, and I began to feel lost. I thought it might be a good idea to change position in the room to move behind someone who I knew had spent much more time learning the set than I. Unfortunately they were also lost and they made quite a few mistakes, but somehow just by relaxing and enjoying, I noticed that I actually recognised their mistakes and spontaneously knew the correct movements -- so I just reverted to following my own mind . I didn't execute the set perfectly (not by a long shot) but I think the correct essence was there. This moment was a big realisation for me -- it's really important to maintain a chi kung state of mind and trust Sifu's teaching and our own abilities -- especially when things get out of our comfort zone! I think this is one of the keys to maximising the benefit of the course.
-- Nourishing keeps you on your feet -- I tuned into the fact that Sifu often asked us to keep our flows gentle and tried to follow the intention behind this. So I kept many of my chi flows during the day quite gentle and sometimes even still, although there was strong inner chi flow. I noticed that this had a powerful 'nourishing' effect and greatly contributed to keeping me in a good chi kung state of mind and also feeling happy and peaceful as we went through the intense syllabus. I think that the recent forum thread with Sifu's answers on cleansing, building and nourishing was invaluable in helping me to crystallise 'nourishing' as a distinct skill, and this awareness made it much easier to obtain this benefit during the course. Of course I did have a few vigorous flows as well every now and then!
-- Gentle is best: I think one of the reasons I managed to avoid severe 'burn out' was that I tried not to get carried away with force experience -- which can be tempting! Whenever we did force training I allowed the force to arise and build naturally, and tried to keep the 'volume' at a stable level without letting it build to a peak that might lead to 'burn out' afterwards. I find that I'm getting more and more conscious of this as well as my ability to regulate force. I knew from previous experience that once you have learned the force skill (e.g. the three modes of three body stance), it's not going away -- so no need to seek immediate and intense experiences of it -- you have a lifetime to gradually build...
-- Its great to see, once again, and each time more clearly, the essential simplicity and efficiency of Sifu's methodology. Even though we were learning an entirely new style, Sifu followed the same step by step methodology (although as always subtly improved). Each time I go to one of these courses I gain a better appreciation of the methodology itself in addition to the specific style we learn. There are so many ways that this will help me in my everyday training and also to everyday life! Having done the 36 Strategies course also greatly helped me to observe and appreciate the genius behind Sifu's training methodology.
As always, there were so many other insights and learnings, some of which I feel will take some time to crystallise in my mind.
It was a great joy to see Sifu again as well as all my fellow Wahnam brothers and sisters each of whom had something to teach me and a smile to keep me going during the intense training.
I wish everybody happy training and looking forward to the next one!
Greetings to all!
I have had a couple of days to reflect and some time to type up some of the things I learned at this great course based on my personal experiences. I realise they are not very 'technical' and perhaps not specifically linked to Xingyiquan itself but this is what came to mind:
This was my 5th Summer Camp and my 6th intensive kung-fu course with Sifu. Each time I attend one of these courses it is a great moment for me to pause and reflect on progress and change.
Things I noticed this time :
-- I have so much more stamina and mental clarity than even last summer camp. Sometimes during the year progress is slow so you don't notice, but at a course like this where you are on your feet for 5 consecutive days, pushed to your limit, then the effect of your training really shows! This time round, even though I had periods of being overwhelmed, I always felt good after the day was over and mentally I could quite easily keep up, even if my body was sometimes out of synch... It was great not to have the 'burnt out' feeling like I used to in my early years...
-- Maintaining a chi kung state of mind: we covered so much ground that it seems 'ridiculous'. Also this time round for various reasons I was not able to spend a lot of time learning the sets before the course -- only a few hours of familiarisation. This time, however, I remembered to try to always keep in the 'zone' by following the three golden rules (relax, don't intellectualise and enjoy) . I was truly amazed at how effective this was. I recall at one point Sifu was moving very quickly through teaching us the sets, and I began to feel lost. I thought it might be a good idea to change position in the room to move behind someone who I knew had spent much more time learning the set than I. Unfortunately they were also lost and they made quite a few mistakes, but somehow just by relaxing and enjoying, I noticed that I actually recognised their mistakes and spontaneously knew the correct movements -- so I just reverted to following my own mind . I didn't execute the set perfectly (not by a long shot) but I think the correct essence was there. This moment was a big realisation for me -- it's really important to maintain a chi kung state of mind and trust Sifu's teaching and our own abilities -- especially when things get out of our comfort zone! I think this is one of the keys to maximising the benefit of the course.
-- Nourishing keeps you on your feet -- I tuned into the fact that Sifu often asked us to keep our flows gentle and tried to follow the intention behind this. So I kept many of my chi flows during the day quite gentle and sometimes even still, although there was strong inner chi flow. I noticed that this had a powerful 'nourishing' effect and greatly contributed to keeping me in a good chi kung state of mind and also feeling happy and peaceful as we went through the intense syllabus. I think that the recent forum thread with Sifu's answers on cleansing, building and nourishing was invaluable in helping me to crystallise 'nourishing' as a distinct skill, and this awareness made it much easier to obtain this benefit during the course. Of course I did have a few vigorous flows as well every now and then!
-- Gentle is best: I think one of the reasons I managed to avoid severe 'burn out' was that I tried not to get carried away with force experience -- which can be tempting! Whenever we did force training I allowed the force to arise and build naturally, and tried to keep the 'volume' at a stable level without letting it build to a peak that might lead to 'burn out' afterwards. I find that I'm getting more and more conscious of this as well as my ability to regulate force. I knew from previous experience that once you have learned the force skill (e.g. the three modes of three body stance), it's not going away -- so no need to seek immediate and intense experiences of it -- you have a lifetime to gradually build...
-- Its great to see, once again, and each time more clearly, the essential simplicity and efficiency of Sifu's methodology. Even though we were learning an entirely new style, Sifu followed the same step by step methodology (although as always subtly improved). Each time I go to one of these courses I gain a better appreciation of the methodology itself in addition to the specific style we learn. There are so many ways that this will help me in my everyday training and also to everyday life! Having done the 36 Strategies course also greatly helped me to observe and appreciate the genius behind Sifu's training methodology.
As always, there were so many other insights and learnings, some of which I feel will take some time to crystallise in my mind.
It was a great joy to see Sifu again as well as all my fellow Wahnam brothers and sisters each of whom had something to teach me and a smile to keep me going during the intense training.
I wish everybody happy training and looking forward to the next one!
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