WING CHUN LESSONS

SIU LIM TAO

By Wing Chun Academy of Thailand,  Daniel Y. Xuan

SECTION ONE

Preparation

1. Like any form of exercises or sports, do not perform Siu Lim Tao right after a meal. Make sure you have given your system at least an hour to digest the food.
2. Do not wear restrictive clothing as you will tire out sooner.
3. Perform Siu Lim Tao (SLT) in an area with fresh flowing air. You will need plenty of oxygen.
4. Make sure that you are in a relaxed state of mind. Tension knots up your channels. You are not only exercising your physical body, but your inner Qi as well.

5. After finishing each round, massage your knees, elbows and other joints to help the blood and Qi circulate.

Lesson Structure

1. The SLT lessons are structured to show you the moves sequentially first, frame by frame
2. The moves are detailed and analysed next.
3. Then videos or more pictures are presented for further analysis.

How To Learn It On Your Own

1. First look at the sequence frames to have a mental picture of the sequence.
2. Then study the details and explanations. This is very important. Knowing the purpose of the moves helps you perform them correctly.
3. Stand in front of a full-length mirror, and place the instructions on a (music) stand for referral.
4. Perform each move, according to the illustration and instructions.
5. Call out the name for each move. This will not only help you remember the sequence, but remind you of the details for the moves. In the future, it will help you teach your students.
6. Treat each move individually. Do not rush through them.
7. Don’t worry about breaking up your moves to refer to the instructions. You do this in the beginning, until you have memorized the sequence. You will not need to do it when you have learned the sequence. However, it is important that you know each move precisely and perform it to perfection.
8. Repeat, repeat, and repeat.
9. When you have finished, remain in the low horse stance for awhile. Extend the length of time gradually.
10 Try to stay affixed in the low stance and not fluctuate the height.
11. Don’t ignore your breathing. This is part of the SLT training.
12. Practise every day, as many times as you can. Strive for PERFECTION.

Qigong

Generally, Wing Chun schools start new students on the first third of Siu Lim Tao. From my teaching experience, I found that to be more than a student can handle. Surely, they are able to grasp the sequence and do it roughly in a few days; and in a few weeks, have no trouble remembering the moves and following the class. At this time, they are anxious to learn the next third, and so on. Often, this is obliged by the teacher. What happens in this situation, is that the students learn the superficial actions of Siu Lim Tao without grasping the roots and essence of the form. When students begin on this path, they step forever into the land of Oblivia. There is no magic in any of the WC forms. You will not become Bruce Lee by learning them all. The only way to become a fine martial artist is to work hard at it. You train, train, and train. That’s what Bruce Lee did. You must have patience and think long term.

The WC course I’m offering beginners is dissected in many small segments for long term training. I outline a schedule for each segment. It is a recommendation as I have no control over how you follow the schedule. You will only cheat yourself if skate over the lessons and don’t practice hard.

Before you embark on the first lesson of Siu Lim Tao (SLT), spend a week learning how to breathe (Qigong). “Don’t I know how to breathe?” You may be asking yourself now. Most of you don’t know how to breathe efficiently. (Read about Qi Force, in the Lecture 2 section.) If you breathe using your chest muscles instead of your diaphragm, you will bring the air to your upper chest only instead of filling your lower lungs. You will not fill the lungs to its full capacity, and will be out of breath quicker, and will also imbalance your structure. (Read about Qi Balance in Lecture 3 for explanation.) So let me show you how to conserve your energy, maximize your intake and minimize the expenditure.

Breathing Lesson

Here’s your breathing lesson:

1. Begin with a natural stance. Spread your feet about your shoulder’s width apart.
2. You may keep your eyes opened or shut. Semi-opened is recommended. This takes you to a realm between the conscious and subconscious mind.
3. Curl your tongue upwards, pressing the underside of your tongue against the top palate of your mouth. This keeps the Qi or energy circulating continuously without a break.
4. Relax yourself completely by dropping your shoulders and not thinking about anything but your breathing pattern.
5. Inhale. Instead of contracting your stomach and expanding your chest, reverse them; that is, collapse your chest and expand your stomach. Instead of sucking air from your nostril and sending air down to your lungs, draw air and energy from the bottom of your feet to your stomach. Now, you are all confused. Well, you will need a little help here.
Your mouth and nostrils are the main orifices where air comes in and goes out. Many of you may know this, and many may not, that the pores in our skin, vent air in and out. In addition, Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM) understands that there are larger openings, call meridians, where air, energy (positive and negative) and nutrients flow in, travel through our body channels, and exit out. During this process, our body uses what it needs and discards what is not necessary. We receive excess positive energy (Yang) from the sun and need negative energy (Yin) from the earth to maintain balance in our bodies. Therefore we need to draw energy from the bottom and bring it up no higher than the stomach region. One of the main meridians is located in the stomach region, called Dan Tian. It acts as a distributor, dispatching ingredients from the intake to the appropriate organs. The Yin energy is drawn from a pair of meridians located at the bottom of our feet. How do you do that? You train your mind to. You are unaware of your surroundings until you focus your mind on them. So, when you are inhaling, instead of focusing on your nostrils, focus in on the center bottom of your feet. Instead of feeling the air travel down your throat to your chest, feel it travel up from your feet (inch by inch) through the channels in your legs, meeting up in the genital area, and filling up the stomach.
5. Exhale. When you have filled your stomach with air, hold it there for a moment, and then begin the process of sending it down from your stomach to the genital area, splitting it down both legs, and exit from the bottom of your feet to the earth.

This breathing exercise is not as difficult as it sounds when reading it for the first time. You will get the hang of it after a few attempts. Do this exercise at least three times a day, for at least ten minutes each time. This would equate to 30 minutes per day, or 3.5 hours a week. It is best to do it in the morning, evening, and at night. When you get the hang of it, try to use it as your normal breathing pattern, if not the whole, at least use the diaphram instead of your lungs for bellowing, and your stomach for storage instead of your chest.

Qigong is a study on its own. It is intricate, but I will not get into it as this is a Wing Chun course. All martial arts training once included internal training. Today, they are distinctively separated. However, most martial artists and athletes do develop internal strength without consciously knowing or working at it. Internal strength is what separates the top athletes from the mediocre.

Wing Chun is considered (by those who like to categorize it) a cross between “hard” and “soft” styles. Siu Lim Tao, unbeknownst to many, includes Qigong training. I don’t know of any other fighting styles that has a practitioner standing in one position through a whole set. Neither do I know of any hard styles that have such so slow movements in a set. Great-Grand Master Yip Man was known to have taken an hour to complete a set of SLT. If you don’t believe that GGM Yip Man was practising Qigong, then you will have to believe that he was sleeping through the set.

When you have practiced enough breathing and feel natural with it, you may move to the first three movements of Siu Lim Tao.

Source: https://wcats.com/WCLessons/SLT/SiuLimTaoPrep.php

How to play good Siu Nim Tao

by Moy Yat

Siu Nim Tao is a form that is easy to learn but not quite so easy to play well. One must keep several things in mind in order to achieve a high caliber of Siu Nim Tao. Of course, the most important requirement is to know all the movements in the proper sequence. The movements are in themselves simple ones, but it is essential that they are performed frequently, in a relaxed manner. A relaxed mind and body is the key to perfecting them. One in fact must not play Siu Nim Tao unless one is in the mood for it; you do not force yourself to play it. Regimentation is not the way; frequent practice must arise from desire. Another vital consideration is the attitude with which Siu Nim Tao is approached, namely, trust and faith in the form. One needs to have complete confidence in the wisdom of the movements without any intention of modifying them.

Although it is difficult for a student to judge whether Siu Nim Tao is being played properly, there are basic checks for determining if the positioning is correct. For example, there is a direct relationship between a correct tan sau and bong sau; if one hand positioning is correct and if it is changed to the other, then both hand positions will be correct. Therefore, one technique serves as a check for another. Another important check is the distance of the elbow from the body. In certain techniques such as a tan sau and fuk sau, the elbow should be a fist and one half from the body, or the technique will be (chuk kiu) short and jammed.

However, the best judge of a well-played Siu Nim Tao is the student’s Sifu. After a year or more, it is the Sifu’s responsibility to correct and explain all the intricacies of Siu Nim Tao. But only with continuous practice can Siu Nim Tao be improved.

Perhaps this would be a good time to clear up a misconception about Siu Nim Tao. Because of Siu Nim Tao’s slow speed and the great attention to detail and relaxation, many people have been led to believe that a person of a gentle, quiet nature is best suited to play Siu Nim Tao. In fact, Tsui Shong Tin, a Ving Tsun Sifu was nicknamed “King of Siu Nim Tao” because of his gentle nature, rather than his proficiency at performing the movements of Siu Nim Tao correctly. The truth, however, lies elsewhere. Wong Sheun Leung is also an excellent Siu Nim Tao player. Only a good, reputable Ving Tsun Sifu and diligent practitioner can give a disciple a good Siu Nim Tao. Disposition, character, and soft-spokeness have nothing to do with it.

text excerpted from the book: Ving Tsun Trilogy, by Moy Yat. Published by Winner Sports, Brooklyn, NY 1990.

“Please before you practice any Chi-Sao, warm up first
by doing the first form (Siu Nim Tao).
Please after you practice any Chi-Sao, cool down first
by doing the first form (Siu Nim Tao).

Thank you” 

source: http://www.txkungfu.com/vt-trilogy/how-to-play-good-snt

3 Ways To Boost Your Siu Nim Tao

Hi folks,

This is article I wish to share with you some ways to train your Siu Nim Tao (SNT).  SNT or “Little Idea” is the first and perhaps the most important form in Wing Chun. Its name implies that a small idea, a small practice or a beginning can grow into something big and the longer you practice SNT the more it will reveal its secrets to the practitioner.

To help you to further explore this “little idea” I will discuss in this article three concepts or methods to practice your SNT.  Okay, which methods are we talking about?

Smooth is fast and fast is smooth

It is a term used in the military to teach new recruits to unload, load and aim a rifle as efficient as possible. Basically it means you are faster if your movements are focused and in a deliberate manner and pace. There is no visible start and stop in the movements they flow into each other.

“Be like water my friend”

In this method you practice SNT smoothly as if the form is one (1) movement. No start, no stop, all movements are relaxed and flow into each other. For instance the left center line punch in the first section, when the hand pulls back and almost reaches the left side, the right hand will start its movement.  Keep one steady pace, no “contraction” at the end of your movements. As mentioned above, this practice will help you to move “faster” and more deliberate. Over time this skill will spill over into your other forms and Chi Sao. As you get better at it you can slowly increase your pace.

Breath and movement

In this SNT practice we link the SNT movements and our breath. General guidelines to synchronize the movements and your breath:

• Hand moves away from your body – breathe out. Towards your body – breathe in.
• Hand rises – breathe out. Hand sinks – breathe in.
• Circular movement (360 degree) eg. Huen Sao – full breath (in/out)
• Lin Wan Kuen in 3^rd section: first punch linked – breath out. Subsequent five punches in one (1) breath.
• Throughout the form we breathe in followed by out breath, however, there are two exceptions:
  • In 2^nd section: double gang – breathe out / Tok Sao – breathe out / etc.
  • In 3^rd section: Tan sao – breathe out/Gang sao – breathe in / Gan Sao – breathe in etc.

Breathe smoothly at 2/3 of your capacity.

Feel and Test

The purpose of this SNT method is to mentally connect to your body, your movements and test our posture. To achieve this we need to practice our SNT at a slower pace than normal. How slow? Well, just enough to feel all parts of your body as you move. Stop for 2-3 seconds after each move to connect to and feel your posture.

As you move or when you hold a posture, ask yourself:

• Do I hold any tension in my body or when I execute a technique? When feeling tension take note of your face and eyes. Relax your eyes, have a panoramic view, don’t stare but let the images “come into your eyes”.
• When I hold my posture do I feel my energy sinking through my feet into the ground? Is my body aligned correctly?
• Do have/did I use correct technique and body frame. For instance elbows down, square hips and shoulders etc.
• Is my mind drifting away?

For this training it would be great if you have a training partner who can give you feedback, because sometimes we think our hips are square, our elbows are down but they are not. Your partner can also test your body structure. For instance, he can lightly push your chest, your bong sao or tan sao as you hold your structure?. Can you maintain and absorb the incoming pressure without pushing back and using local muscles?

Hope you like this post: 3 Ways To Boost Your Siu Nim Tao.

Happy training and feel free to comment or ask questions.

Steven Wang

Head Instructor

Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Singapore.

Source: https://wingchunsingapore.sg/3-ways-to-boost-your-siu-nim-tao/

Using Siu Nim Tao

By Gary Lam

It is said that Dat Mo retired in his later years to the Shaolin Temple and taught the monks a series of exercises which were developed to form the basis of Shaolin Temple Boxing (Kung Fu) so their bodies would not deteriorate whilst spending long periods in meditation.

As Dat Mo was said to be the father of Kung Fu, even though the development of Wing Chun took place many years after his death, I suppose we should expect that as a refinement of old traditions, Wing Chun should still be concerned with deep thinking and the connection of mind and body.

Dat Mo is still associated with the idea that spiritual, intellectual and physical excellence, are all equally important and interdependent in the pursuit of enlightenment.

Although enlightenment may appear to be rather macro and beyond the casual pursuit of the modern martial practitioner, if Dat Mo had forged his temple activities in Shaolin with the implicit intention of upgrading these qualities, Wing Chun as a refinement of Shaolin wisdom should continue to embody these things.

Hopefully you can draw a parallel and a level of acceptance that even if enlightenment does not factor into your daily practice, if we took Wing Chuns’ body feeling, structure, and attunement to pressure, as a ‘physical’ upgrade, awareness, study and refinement  as the mindful component, and the resultant conceptualisation of experience , inducing a change in perspective and emotion  to produce a degree of ‘spirituality’, it would seem that although our personal motivations may be detached from the original tradition, the correct teaching and absorption of Wing Chun is still in keeping with Dat Mo’s ethos.

With this in mind, we can begin to appreciate how complete martial training can be, in the personal development of people. As long as we practice, this process will operate continually behind our training to upgrade our natural ability and improve our human experience. This is Kung Fu.

Relaxation and focus are important attributes. They help to keep us alive! Everybody knows what a killer ‘stress’ is, and without ‘focus’, if we had no access to supermarkets and were reliant on hunting to eat, we would starve. (In this day and age without focus you might have a road accident).

Relaxation and focus are, without shadow of a doubt, core components of functional fighting. Relaxation aids acceleration – hence power, relaxation also aids our ability to change position and absorb impact.

Without focus to the target, we lost before we began. Relaxation and focus are (not surprisingly) core components of the Siu Nim Tao form.

Outside of contemplating the practical application of my forms, I like to ground myself in the knowledge that every repetition is gradually refining relaxation and focus that I can put to use in any way I like. I want relaxation and focus to be so embedded in my personal makeup that it permeates into everything I do. Something built through physical and mental diligence. I recognise that relaxation and focus help me in everything I do.

Meditation is concerned with training the mind for the purpose of self cultivation and self realisation. More often than not individuals employ relaxation to enhance this focus. Siu Nim Tao is the first form of Wing Chun and you can view it as a standing meditation.

We can use a standing meditation to isolate and explore anatomical adjustment within a structural framework.

Siu Nim Tao is, a catalogue of postures and positions that are useful when fighting within striking distance. Its practice requires that we donate time to self assessment – assessing how the joints bones and tendons can work cohesively to support combat within striking range – to remain connected, strong and stable. This in my opinion is the difference between Wing Chun and most other striking arts – we use a balanced grounded, magnetic quality to adapt to our opponent, rather than delving in and back out of striking range. It is important then, that we develop a cohesive connected body state to achieve this or we will be bumped off balance or sacrifice power and timing in our shots.

Wing Chun as a skill, is geared to produce a relaxed state so that the latent power of the human form may manifest via its relationship to bone structure, gravity, and the mind.
This is the root of maximum impact with minimal effort.

The Siu Nim Tao form is a vehicle for this development.
Although Siu Nim Tao is seldom recognised as a meditative process it has direct parallels to other
types of meditation. As Siu Nim Tao is usually the access point for Wing Chun, from the outset we
are exploring relaxed transition through the form’s movements.
The beauty of Siu Nim Tao is that if we are paying attention to how we feel inside (our relationship to the mechanics of our body) mental progression takes place at the same rate of physical progression as we contemplate the efficiency of the body moving to exact each change.

Enhancing relaxation through movement, and contemplating the practical intention of each change,
the form will serve to upgrade our thinking feeling and doing simultaneously. So our physical
progression matches our mental progression – something you could not achieve whilst sat cross
legged with your eyes shut in standard meditative poise.

Siu Nim Tao is for fighting but it is much more than a physical catalogue.

It addresses structural cohesiveness and it is that which allows us to break away from the reliance on muscle alone and develop power that is not reliant on excessive body motion.

Structural cohesiveness is also essential in the collection of pressure.

Siu Nim Tao is more than the sum of its part’s. It is a state of mind and a state of being. It is this state that serves to enhance combat efficiency.

Siu Nim Tao is the unceasing practice of relaxed focused mind and body in combination that when transferred to combat will enable the mind to conduct and the body to perform two tasks at the same time. If we are incapable of doing this under pressure, we do not possess Wing Chun.

The Wing Chun mindset is rooted in Siu Nim Tao practice and is in essence a coping strategy to help you remain calm and focused whilst enabling the hands to conduct two tasks simultaneously, independently, correctly, inside the chaos that is fighting. We only move one limb at a time in the majority of the form to focus the minds attention on the subtleties of adaptation.

Standing still, we amplify connection to personal feeling. We can really get in-touch with ourselves. Moderate our thinking, minimise external stimuli.

We can use this time to develop internal comprehension and mind/body connectivity, before connecting to the outside world.

Mindful practice as such links back to the masters who had developed Wing Chun.

Had they transcended the external properties held within the form and catalogued a procession of change in the context of stillness to create a transformational meditation capable of inducing a paradigm shift through daily practice as people attach to feeling? This way, mind and body could upgrade simultaneously in dualistic support of one another. “Siu Nim Tao, once a day – more will do no harm”.

Was this Dat Mo’s plan when introducing a fighting culture to Shaolin? Is there a basic deficiency in human behaviour when mind body (and spirituality) are not balanced?

Was it the plan of the adepts when developing Wing Chun to create a catalyst for fighting ability alone? Or was it dualistic in the recognition and further development of important human attributes? Attributes (more often than not) latent in man? A base appreciation that in developing the sense of feeling, and developing response to stimuli we connect more intelligently to the actual/immediate/now, rather than to the assumed/perceived. A collective, training to embody further refinement of wisdom that was being developed inside a temple? After the sacking of a temple (true or untrue) this practice would be far too valuable to loose.

As a Daoist art then, Siu Nim Tao depicts Yin Yang dualism, we practice mind and body, tight and soft, inside and outside, attack and defend, high and low, close and far, in and out, fixed and active, and a practice designed to destroy coupled with practice to foster human potential.

It is only through periods of separation from contact that we can fully appreciate the unadulterated output that belongs to us. The more familiar we are with this, the better equipped we are at differentiating between that which is our own, and that which is imposed upon us.

If we can develop a registered resting state of equilibrium through Siu Nim Tao practice, and then attempt to transfer and maintain that state inside our fighting, we create a benchmark, a constant, and in doing so enhance clarity in reference to analysing how well we can reproduce form under pressure. Analysing how a perfect state is affected by stimuli coming in, we develop a sound basis for structured improvement and self actualisation.

I don’t believe in emptying the mind during Siu Nim Tao practice. In doing so, you can only minimise what is directly transferable to real time eventualities.

If learning is ‘discover – not copy’, emptying the mind in this instance reduces ‘a little idea’ to……. something much smaller.

Not thinking is a complete impossibility, but if we separate thinking as a function of the brain (not the self) then by quieting the brain and directing willful attention through the body, in any activity, we are training the mind to support physical change and in doing so fortify each adjustment with mental attention.

To our benefit, fighting aside, each repetition provides a unique opportunity for us to learn more about ourselves through the experience of detachment.

It is only when we have internalised form, that Kung Fu output has the propensity to embody what people term as internal qualities. In simple terms this is the ability of the individual to separate cognitive thought from conative attitude whilst applying conscious focus inside the body.

Internal development is exactly what the statement implies. It is a personal recognition of what is occurring inside the body during change, that opens for epiphany of new feeling and awareness states that can be transferred to practical application to supplement and refine contact to the outside world and therefore combat efficiency.

Concentration on my internal workings through Siu Nim Tao repetition is a focus of mine. If conscious mental output serves only to deduce what is happening to the exterior of the human form and beyond, then martial output remains external.

Sometimes internal qualities may manifest through practice and repetition but it is my personal opinion that without the individual understanding as to what and where – (like driving a fast car every day without appreciation of its mechanics), our timing may improve but ultimately at some stage we reach limitation as the internal workings remain a mystery. An upgrade in skill may be stumbled upon, but more often than not it will remain random as without understanding we forfeit the aptitude for contemplative development, we would possess no control for testing frequency of success, and why ‘this or that’ has occurred etc..

Most people talk about their Wing Chun as being internal and external /soft and hard (which indeed it should be) when in fact accurately speaking it is more often than not either hard and empty or just plain empty. This is a great shame.

Inside of Siu Nim Tao sits some pretty impressive technology, yet some of us remain somewhat ignorant of its intricacies, both as a technical resource for infighting and as a vehicle of transformation.

Siu Nim Tao should always be time well spent.

The dictate for success in using Wing Chun is relaxation and analytical practice.  It is wise to be mindful in practice and to think in practical terms about how the role of the mind affects our fighting ability and performance. In developing feeling for use whilst fighting, the best place to start is definitely Siu Nim Tao.

Source: http://wingchunupgrade.blogspot.ro/2013/02/using-siu-nim-tao-part-one.html  and http://wingchunupgrade.blogspot.ro/search?q=Using+Siu+Nim+Tao+part+two

Siu Nim Tau

By Sigung Chu Shong Tin

Siu Nim Tao

The Heart of the Wing Chun by Sifu Paul Tennet

Wing Chun’s primary training routine is Siu Nim Tao or Little idea Way.  Many translations of the name have been suggested such as don’t have too many thoughts in your mind, concentrate on the small details or establish an idea in your mind.

Over the last 24 years I have learnt and investigated several different versions of this little form.  Each method I have been exposed to has its strengths and weaknesses so my advice would be to play with each method you have and also don’t discard anything as at some point you might find its usefulness.  This article is my little thoughts on the importance of this form.

Siu Nim Tao and Fighting Techniques

Anyone with a few ounces of worldly experience can look at the form and tell you that it is not designed to train the movements or essential fighting elements of movement, timing and distance.  The fact that you stand with your feet fixed and without any noticeable rotation of the hips or drive from the legs would make any would be functions extremely limited.  That being said I believe and have been taught that for the start of the Wing Chun journey, training the individual movements without having to consider movement of the body is enough to work on.  This allows the student to concentrate on the correct angles and positioning which is essential for short and close range movements and the almost unique tight structure that will become invaluable to students as they progress.  What you are essentially doing is developing the triggers and memory for the muscles to fire (twitch reflex) and isolating the mechanics.  This idea is not new to anyone who does traditional martial arts if you look at basic drills in your system.

Siu Nim Tao and Fighting Strategy

Beyond physical technique, what really come through in Siu Nim Tao are the strategies behind the system.  Virtually every movement in the form has a principle or fighting strategy if you can see it.  Right from the start you define the centreline which many would consider the primary Wing Chun principle.  Then you occupy or control the centreline with your punch and arm.

The first section concentrates on the tan, fook and wu sau shapes, especially the elbow position as it travels the centreline.   This could not look anything further away from fighting techniques but many elements of the fighting techniques have their base in this subtle exercise.  For example he Tan concept is taking the inside line as you do if you are countering a punch on the inside.

The second section looks at different structures and the release of short range energy.  The structures are of critical importance and this in my opinion is where most instructors and students fail.  The detail involved in the direction of force, elbow position and relaxation and tension is a massive area of study in these dozen or so movements.  The Wong Shun Leung family also say that this section is about recovery and when you look at the movements many of them return to centreline and drop elbows back into the correct positions.

The third section varies more between the various schools of Wing Chun but my opinion it is basic linkage and examples of movements and the motions between A and B.  More importantly this section three brings greater coordination and even more concepts of application to the student’s curriculum.  If you notice most of the movement return to the principles.  In most wing Chun methods you always finish with the hands up and on the centreline and attacking forwards. The way I practice is with the mind set of returning high and when off the centre you always return.

Most of the form is done left side then right which is an advanced but simple concept that each arm should operate independently of the other.  This pays dividends in chi sau and clinches as you have two lines of power to control.

Siu Nim Tao and the Mind

Training the mind is often overlooked by students.  In my opinion Siu Nim Tao heavily emphasises the mind in all movements.  The name of the form even suggests this.  Either way you are learning to concentrate, mentally relax and extend your focus beyond your physical body.

When first learning the form, your legs might tremble or ache.  This is natural and all part of the process or pushing through the discomfort and relaxing under pressure.

Focusing you intention or developing forward energy is another important aspect of the first part of Siu Nim Tao.  Keep your mind focused on the forward Tan and Fook Sau movements and some teachers also suggest that even with your Wu Sau movement you keep the forward intention.

In Wing Chun circles the principle of “lop nim” or establishing an idea in the mind is common.  Mental focus, concentration and will are fundamental to successful application of force.

Siu Nim Tao and Health

Tai Chi masters will often say that the form is the qigong (chi gung) and that all you need is the form, not other qigong.  Siu Nim Tao is the same, by doing the form you are working health and martial technique in one. A few weeks ago I was going to suggest to one of my Wing Chun students that he should do some qigong as rehabilitation on an injury.  A couple of minutes later I felt like slapping myself across the face when the reality hit me.  I did not tell the student to do qigong for the simple reason that practicing the Wing Chun forms correctly is your qigong.

Posture, Relaxation, Breathing, Balance, Energy, Coordination and Mind / Body unity are all promoted and maintained by doing your Wing Chun forms on a regular basis.  With an understanding of these elements then you can practice play you perform Siu Nim Tao and Chum Kiu.

If you look at the number of Huen Sau (circling Wrist) movements in the wing chun forms it tell you they must be important!  Although they can be used to train grabbing and energy I personally feel they are there to help develop and maintain flexibility and strength.  Hitting wall bags etc can tighten and damage the wrist and hand and the Huen Sau movements are a corrective measure.

Many people use Siu Nim Tao as a form of moving meditation in the same way as tai chi is often described.  Also looking at the internal martial arts it is not too far removed from the ideas behind standing post “Zhang Jong”.

Source:  http://www.traditionalwushu.com/Pages/SiuLimTao.aspx