THE KEY TO YIQUAN: HABITS!
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.
In
the Dhammapada, verse 122
states: One should not think lightly of doing good, imagining 'A little will
not affect me'; just as a water-jar is filled up by falling drops of rain, so
also, the wise one is filled up with merit, by accumulating it little by
little.
Although the verse is talking
about morality, we can with a little imagination apply this to our practice of
Yiquan. As with all things health related, it is what we habitually practice
from moment to moment that defines who we are and how healthy we are. Often
times we are attracted to the superficial, expansive and gross rather than to
the subtle, small and refined.
The simplest example I can
think of would be say, the quest to achieve a SIX PACK for a guy. Often many people
think that this is achieved via extreme vigorous exercise and extreme dieting
like you see on shows like the Biggest Loser. However, if you analyze the few
people who actually achieve this goal, you will realize something. It is their
habitual practice that allows them to succeed in this goal.
Habitually being very careful
with their diet and calorie intake.
Habitually exercising a certain
number of hours each day.
Habitually making an effort to
use their body in exercising, for example through NEAT
exercises.
The key here is consistency and
awareness. There cannot be any momentary lapse of concentration or cheating.
Any binge eating will immediately result in the gaining of body fat.
Similarly, if you seek to
improve in Yiquan, in every moment of your life, are you:
·
actively
being aware of your bodily posture?
·
are
you sitting up straight? or slouching?
·
are
you standing up straight? or slumping?
·
are
your shoulders hunched up? or is it relaxed and sunk down?
·
when
walking up the stairs, are you using you kua and the back leg to move up or
using your front knee?
·
when
walking down the stairs, are you relaxing the kua and using gravity to let go
and lightly place your front leg forwards?
Even if you are practicing
Yiquan diligently every hour a day, it is still insufficient. 7 hours a week is
only about 4.1% of the total number of hours in a week (7/168). Even if we
assume you sleep about 10 hours each day, that’s only 7.1% of waking hours in a
week (7/98). How then can you expect there to be any drastic results? The key
here is to integrate the principles
of Yiquan in your daily life. Only then can you hope to see satisfactory
results.