Are Your Forms Perfect?

by Sifu Nick Francis

When we are young, we take on the process of learning to read and write.

We utilize common tools. 

• Others read to us

• We try to recognize letters and words ourselves

• We learn the letters and the sounds they make

Now, there are a variety of ways that these experiences are combined to help us practice, but the commonality among them is ...

The alphabet.

Have you ever wondered why the alphabet is arranged in a specific way it is? Have you ever wondered why some letters naturally flow together and why others do not? 

You can easily think of words that begin with "Ab" right?Perhaps like..

Abstract

Absolutely

About

But can you think of words that utilize "Bc" ???I cannot?

Yet, lots of words begin with the combination "De", and even "Def".

Decide

Defer

Deflect

 Outside the complex explanation that the order of our alphabet took shape over time, I do not know why our lettering is in the specific order that it is. What I do know is that the letter order doesn't matter! What matters is that we know the letters and how they can be used to communicate.

The alphabet is a literary roadmap to building our communication skills.

Learning the letters, like everything, is a process.

First, letters are unrecognizable.

Then they can be recognized.

Then from being recognized they become known.

and, finally once they are known,

they are understood and utilized.

Looking at learning, from the outside in,

I would never call anything in this process a mistake.

When my son was young, he made lots of spelling mistakes. Take "There, Their, and They're" for instance. Trying to figure out the spelling for these words and their usage is torture for a young student, yet, and here is my point, instead of being in a rush to say that a mistake has been made when first using this spelling, perhaps it is more true to say that what we are seeing is evidence of that which we do not yet understand.You see, for me, it is difficult to call something a mistake when learning has yet to have taken place.

How can you be wrong about something

if you do not yet even know what is right?

This takes me back to the alphabet.

How did most of us first learn?

This is the easy part. We learned a song, and that song was fun. Yet, have you noticed that even though you know the "Alphabet Song" you may still struggle to demonstrate that you "know" the alphabet.

Take a little test for me. Answer as fast as you can.

How many letters are there in the alphabet?How many consonants are in the alphabet?

Quickly, say the alphabet backwards?

As fast as you can now, what letter comes before "W"?

How did that go?

All this little test is proving is that maybe we don't know the alphabet as well as we think we do.Does this mean we are making mistakes or does it show where more learning can take place?

This is precisely the idea I want to share behind our Wing Chun hand-forms.

• Sil Lim Tau

• Chum Kiu

• Muk Yan Jong Fat

• Baat Jam Dao

• Biu Gee

• Luk Deem Boon Kwun

These forms are our alphabet!

 The other week, as I often do, I had students take turns leading hand-forms. After completing one of the forms, a wonderfully delightful (& passionately committed) student observed and stated that they had made many mistakes.

I found this to be quite an interesting statement, quite simply because I know he didn't even know the half of them. Perhaps he knew where he wanted to improve, but there were also many lessons I know he has yet to explore.

This had me thinking,

How do we know that we are making mistakes?

If we knew we were making mistakes,

then why are we making them?

I just thought, wow, what pressure! Why are we trying to get something perfect while still learning? Can these two goals even go together?Also, doesn't acknowledging that we know all our mistakes suggest that our learning is already complete?Maybe, what if learning our forms is like learning to write. What if it isn't our job while learning to know where the mistakes are in the forms but rather allow the forms to be a demonstration of what we know at the time and also a guide for what we have yet to learn?

Our forms demonstrate what we know at the time.

Our forms are a snapshot of the knowledge we have in that moment.

I think this is a great gift we can have while we are learning, I find that we are better off trusting our teacher to help us grow in our current understanding, knowledge and application. If we can do this, then we can enjoy being in the moment.

How freeing is this!

Sidenote: This is why it is essential to find a teacher that has our best interest at heart and also how trusting them can be freeing, not feeling like we need to rush on to complete something that we don't yet fully understand.

*Makes me think of Sigung's, "Stop Pulling the Flower" Story.

Maybe our task in Wing Chun is to enjoy the process and journey of learning.

After all, isn't this why we are learning in the first place?

Here are some forms for you to practice and train at home. Honestly, these were filmed many years ago. Since then I too have learned more. So don't use them to train as though they are the final goals for your learning, but like me, they are only a stop and a snapshot along the way.

"The Lancaster Wing Chun Association exists

to build people through learning traditional Ip Man Wing Chun

in a safe and supportive environment."