Wing Chun principles: 1. Relax.

These are the words my SiFu says the most during training. And for a reason.

Relaxation doesn’t mean turning into a couch potato that doesn’t move because it’s so relaxed. On the contrary, what we in Wing Chun understand as relaxation is relaxing the muscles that do not need to be used at any particular moment.

How we learn to do this during training can be learned only at training 🙂 There is no way I can find enough words to fully describe how the process goes. It has so much to do with the inner feeling and reaching the comfortableness with your own body disregarding the action, that every student experiences this process in their own way. Revelations usually seem to come unexpectedly – when a student realized how much more comfortable he or she had become with their own body.

Still, there are some common signs, which show that a person is not feeling comfortable. Our mind and body work as one mechanism, and what goes on in our mind usually shows in the body, and vice versa.

There are techniques that help us work with our mind. However, there are moments when affirmations or our skills to abstract away simply aren’t enough. This is when working with the body helps, and the efficiency grows the more time is put into learning to rule your own body – and thus calming down the mind.

So, among the most common visible indicators that the person is not relaxed (i.e. is using more effort than needed, thus straining the unnecessary muscles) are:

– slightly raised shoulders. That affects the blood circulation to the brain, and the person usually feels tired, quite often without any visible reason. Trace your own shoulders now – are they relaxed? If yes, that means you’re already a lot happier person than many others.

– stooping back. Often is seen together with the slightly raised shoulders. One of the main hardships it gives to the body is lessening the volume of lungs, and the amount of air inhaled is smaller than that of a person having a straight back. Results – lack of oxygen, apathy, tiredness, aching back and feet, headaches, and more.

– frowning. Yes, the simpler the face, the more relaxed the person usually is – and the more energetic they are. Frowning uses a few dozens of muscles, whereas smiling needs twice as less. Smile more – and you will acquire a new habit of ridding of facial tension, and a brighter life as a result of the new habit.