LISTEN, JUST LISTEN!
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.
One of the most often repeated
advice given to me in practicing is that one must improve one’s listening
skills. In Internal Martial Arts, one of the founding principles is to negate
or neutralize the opponent’s force rather than oppose it. Most of us pay lip
service to this principle, but rarely do we sit down and reflect and
contemplate on this deeply.
Imagine if your close friend
was to suddenly start shouting and uttering expletives at you due to an argument.
What would be your reaction? Especially, if some of the comments start
hitting home. Most of us might feel our blood start rising and begin reacting in
a similar fashion. Can you see how difficult it is to just listen intently and
not react in a similar fashion? Can you honestly just walk away? Or even better
smile and tell your friend you respect his opinion but yours remain unchanged?
That’s Internal Martial Arts in action.
Often, listening is a very
difficult art to master. True listening requires us to let go of something that’s
near and dear to us. What is that thing? In hindsight, it’s as clear as day. It
is ourselves, or rather our EGO. Most of the time we’re so full of ourselves:
MY opinions, MY problems, MY self, MY afflictions, MY happiness… It’s I, ME and
MYSELF. Even when we are thinking of others, it’s most on they can satisfy MY
happiness.
In our zhan zhuang, at the more
sublime levels, we must strive to let go of this EGO. Let go of this attachment
to self and this incessant thinking. Just be naturally, concentrate of the
breath and the expansion and contraction. The more aware we are of the present
moment, the more sensitive we are and the faster we can react. Once the mind is
concentrated and is staying with the body at each present moment, we become
more sensitive. We can then truly begin to LISTEN. Not with just our ears, but
to engage the six senses and listen intently. Firstly we do this with our body,
then the inter-relationship between the body and environment, i.e. the ground,
the friction between our skin and the air around us.
It is my opinion that such
practice will assist in the practitioner to maintain a relaxed and yet
sensitive stance upon touching hands with a partner. The greatest obstacle in
real practice is that the moment one touches another being, is that we
instinctively focus on I, ME and MYSELF. Our Ego comes into play and we want to
protect it. The Mind naturally reacts in this manner and tenses up. When the
mind is tense, the body will follow. No amount of physical training can assist us.
We must train our minds to let go of our EGO. Paradoxically, once this
incessant fear and worries is left behind, we become fearless and confident.
Hence, the chances of injury or defeat becomes even less.
Internal martial arts is all
about listening to your opponent and neutralizing his strength. Yet, if I am
unable to truly even listen intently to my own body, how much less can I do
this with an opponent? And TRUE LISTENING means you must not have any designs
or motives. Meaning, you must not be thinking, he will react in one way and
then you will counter in another way. It means, just listen and react
accordingly.