Mindfulness in Kung Fu

Mindfulness in Kung Fu

Kung Fu training is a marvelous platform besides to train the Physical Body, Energy Body, also there is unlimited boundary to expand the Mental Body, the Mind in particular. The Mind has the opportunity to cultivate, reflect, refine and create. "Create", a Universal Gift bestowed upon us as Human Beings, to expand Consciousness ......... We are the agents, the facilitators, the catalyst, the medium, to manifest in the Physical Realm. Now we know how "great" we actually are. Martial Art can be the Path to realize this. Start to with Mindfulness.

What is Mindfulness?

 As define in Wikipedia, is the psychological process of purposely bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgement, which one develops through the practice of meditation and through other training.

In Martial sense, is the quality or ability to be fully present at the very moment of any    encounters, engaging accordingly and appropriately without any mental distraction, or presumption, but aware of what's happening around us at every moment. Put simply, Mindfulness  trains our Minds to pay attention to the present moment, without judgement and discrimination. Many a time a martial artist during sparring, may be too preoccupied to execute his combat strategy and not mindful with the developing scenario and misinterpret the combat situation. Mindfulness training will let the martial artist be in the moment and act accordingly.

Sao Lim Wing Chun's Dap Sao Flow exercise is the platform for the Mindfulness training, which we will emphasize in the next post. There are also many different ways to practice this. In the Section 8 - Meditation, one can observe the whole sequence of the form without judgement but with pure acceptance. One of the way we find it interesting is through weapons training. The weapons are used as a tool to facilitate the training, increasing the sense of "present-ness"(as the Mind has no time to "wander", but focus on the moment). You will find that you tend to react instinctively. This will also expedite your learning curve. After which the techniques can be drilled until it becomes second nature to you. Your Subconscious Mind absorb them and manifest them effortlessly the next time the same condition arises.

Following are summary of six elements to be observed during the exercise, with Mindfulness:-

• Patience (perseverance)-- patience is a virtue that need to have to acquire the skill or Kung Fu. Are you willing to invest your time and effort to train progressively? 

• Beginner's Mind (novice's mind)-- the mind must not pre-empt or anticipate during the exercise, but flow with it. Which is quite difficult if you don't have patience.

• Faith (self-reliance)-- belief in your ability and have confidence that your body will adjust, re-position and able to recover to a advantage situation. If you base on certain martial arts system that you are already trained before, it is difficult to have a beginner's mind.

• No resistance (accommodating)-- be aware physically and mentally without striving to do or counter, just flow with the vector force to a neutral, empty  or advantage position. Without patience, a beginner's mind and faith in the training method, you will tend to anticipate and counter, instead of moving with the flow.

• Acceptance (give & take)-- observe the current physical and mental phenomena, accepting that there is no winner or loser, but just two cooperative practitioners, training together to achieve excellence. The Ego may be the biggest obstacle to just accept and not triumph, thus interfere with the four elements described before.

• Let go (be in void)-- do not over react or tense up. Let go of the discriminative mind. Just be aware of the situation that takes place at each moment and the feeling, both physically and mentally. When the exercise escalates in momentum, it is difficult to hold on to the above five elements, as the "fight or flight" natural instinct kick in. 

The training will not only develop "Mindfulness", enhance your Kung Fu sensitivity level, but also empower you as a righteous, considerate and conscientious human being.