LETTING GO IN YIQUAN!
These series of post are mainly
my own LIMITED thoughts and experience from practicing Yiquan and should be
taken with a HUGE DOSE OF SALT.
Bruce Lee had an interesting
quote “Empty your cup so that it may be
filled; become devoid to gain totality”. In learning Yiquan, I begin to
realize that perhaps the most challenging obstacle lies not trying to ACQUIRE
things. Rather the challenge is in trying in LETTING go of things. It sounds
mysterious but it’s rather simple.
In this day and age,
materialism has become all-encompassing and pervasive, that we don’t even blink
an eye. All our efforts are directed in acquisition of STUFF. What kind of STUFF?
Well, take a good look:
1. From young up to university, we
want to acquire impressive grades in our school subjects. Perhaps all manner of
trophies and certificates in sports and other extracurricular activities.
2. Upon working, we want to
acquire more stuff. More status, more wealth, more power, more belongings, more
clutter, more and more till we can’t take no more.
3. Of course, as we get older and
more fearful of illness and death, we want acquire MORE health.
Aha! See, this is an IMPORTANT
point. We want to ACQUIRE more health and perhaps improve our internal energy.
The mindset itself is we want to ACQUIRE health from our instructor, preferably
quickly, easily without and fuss and worry. Perhaps we can ACQUIRE Yiquan like
we acquire a house or car?
Unfortunately, learning an
internal martial art like Yiquan is not IMMEDIATELY about the acquisition of
techniques, strength or internal energy. In my humble opinion, the basis of all
internal martial arts is about relaxation, a return to one’s original state.
So, the very first step in
learning an internal martial art is of utmost importance. And it is also the
most difficult. It is about looking deep at oneself and asking what is your
PHILOSOPHY in life? What is YOUR purpose of life? If your purpose in life is
MATERIALISM, it conflicts directly with the core principle in internal martial
arts, which is rooted in SPIRITUALITY.
That doesn’t mean you should
avoid learning any internal martial art. However, you must realize that the
more materialistic you are, the more you’ll tend to stick to your preconceived
notions and beliefs. Since your mind control your body, what it means is that
you’ll also heavily resist efforts in correcting your body posture and
misalignments (if any).
Often, what will happen is that
within the allocated period of exercise, say 1 hour daily, a typical person may
make the effort to correct their body postures and do the prescribed exercise.
This may be done in a half-hearted manner. And then it’s totally forgotten
until the next exercise session. Repeat and repeat again… There is no effort to
try to continuously improve and correct any mistakes at all times. Rather the
effort is on acquisition, to acquire the next technique, routine or fancy sets
of moves, rather than to refine and consolidate on what is already learnt.
In order to improve, one must
be MINDFUL. As we practice, we want the body to relax and loosen up. Let go of
the continuous stress and tension. However, we must loosen our mind as well; avoid
at continuously grasping at material things. The more you empty your mind, the
looser the body becomes. You become more aware you are about your body posture,
whether your exercises are done correctly and mindfully. Over time, you gain
enough awareness to correct your own mistakes without an instructor watching
over you. At this point, you have established a feedback loop, which will
ensure you are on the right path to YIQUAN.
Perhaps this advice will help
avoid the scenario where you mindlessly practice an internal martial arts for
decades and yet gain very little benefit from it!