Stillness – have you tried “standing still “ for an hour, or even just not moving your feet…… It’s very difficult and at the start we resist with conviction.
What I love about Wing Chun, is that I get to challenge the status quo, on mental concepts that Ive held for all my life. I get to begin an internal exploration, to soften ideas and break down boundaries, to accept rather than resist. It is in acceptance that we find internal strength.
But its more than just acceptance. There is a feeling of searching that is present. A feeling that you are in a state of observation, observing and understanding movement , balance, sounds , light and all things environmental. So when there is a loud sound, or sudden movement, you are not surprised by it, you accept it for what it is. There is no adverse reaction from judgement.
When we think about being still, we become critical of ourselves for any movement, the conscious mind gets distracted or focuses on pain and discomfort.
Possible To Be Still?
In reality, its impossible to be “still”, the more awareness we create in our body, the more we realise, how much movement is occurring, so rather than being “still”, perhaps we should just accept the movement for what it is. A bit like standing on a boat, where we are more aware of movement. If you stand in a room and visualise the room floating on water, our ideas change. In a way the room is not still anyway, it is attached to a ball spinning at twice the speed of sound, relative to an observer in space.
While standing, Ive found this helpful is creating acceptance of movement, of letting go of an age old idea of stillness.
As we employ concepts like accepting movement and becoming more aware of the environment around us, it feels like it takes all of our attention, a lot more capacity than normal thinking and we feel very present. It feels very expansive.
With Balance Comes Stillness
When in this expansive state of awareness, Ive found that balance takes care of itself, there is no need to be thinking about it, balance is a result of our depth of awareness. With balance comes “stillness”. Stillness is a result of no thought other than having a depth of awareness. This stillness is a mindful stillness, not a physical stillness.
Once we have this state of awareness, we can layer another idea on top. Our mass. If awareness is expansive , then the idea of mass is like drawing down on our foundation of awareness, a feeling like you are recruiting it. Once we have both these feelings as one, we then just have intent, which is just the minds finger pointing to where you would like all this mass delivered. Its like place the last lego atop a tall pile, so very gently.
And if the mass of your body is not enough, think about the mass of the room or the building. This in effect is just increasing your depth of awareness, improving balance and relaxation, and muscle expansion, thereby creating more power.
While all the above is in play, the conscious mind becomes a passenger, leaving a feeling of observation, like the wake of a boat. The subconscious mind is the driver, it is the awareness and intent.
In Summary
Through deep awareness we understand movement, stillness is the result. Awareness becomes the foundation for recruiting mass, and intent is just a tiny thought of where mass just pours through.
– Keven Tate, Mindful Wing Chun Hong Kong Grade 5 Senior Student