A Return to Form (siu nim tao)

Me, playing SNT, circa 2015. Large orange cat recommended, but not required.

The first time I played siu nim tao, my 35-year-old bag of aching bones had no idea what the hell was going on. My legs were bent funny, my brain was clocking overtime trying to get my arms to do two different things simultaneously, and somehow I was drenched in sweat while standing still. But an hour later, none of that mattered because for the first time in years my body didn’t hurt. The effect was temporary, but it was magical.

Siu nim tao is the very first thing we learn in ving tsun kung fu. It contains the most basic movements, and the most complex study, of the entire system. Ten years after that first day, I’m looking at the form with new focus and still learning new things about it.

Why am I studying the basic form a decade into my kung fu? Excellent question; I’m glad I’m pretending you asked. Two reasons …

1 - I never really stopped studying siu nim tao, but I did let my training lapse for a few years. Major changes stomped into my life and squeezed out all of my spare time, until kung fu became a casual pursuit at best.

2 - I got sick. Very sick. The kind of sick that lands you in a hospital bed for a week and drains every drop of stamina out of your body till your tanks are dry and the smallest tasks seem impossible.

During my recovery, I realized that part of the reason why #2 was such an epic struggle was because of #1. Sure, regular kung fu training had given me a certain level of physical fitness, but it was the siu nim tao that I was really missing. The form doesn’t just teach you the basic movements of ving tsun, it also prepares your body for training by limbering muscles and building up stamina. All of which happens while standing still for anywhere from two minutes to an hour, depending on how hardcore you’re feeling that day. That kind of quiet efficiency is just so very ving tsun.

Okay, problem identified: physical stamina wrecked by illness.

Solution identified: get back into training.

But! If I just fling myself back into it, especially at the level I was training at prior to my hiatus, I’m just going to hurt myself. So I’m taking it back to basics, and spending some quality time with siu nim tao.

The form that built the foundation for my early kung fu will now repair and rebuild the damage done to my health. Every time I sink into horse stance and breathe through the motions, I’m recharging my body’s batteries. When I get frustrated with my own weakness, with how long it takes for a 45-year-old body to recover, I recall what my Sifu taught me, because his Sifu taught him:

Don’t expect. Don’t compare.

I can’t expect that just because I have years of muscle memory laid in by hundreds of siu nim tao forms over the years, that I’ll be instantly operating at the same level I was the last time I was seriously training. I can’t compare Current Post-Serious-Illness Me to Past Peak Training Intensity Me. That way lies madness and defeat. And injury. Like, so much injury.

So if you see me at the kung fu school, sweating through an hour of siu nim tao after siu nim tao, know that the work is hard, the struggle is real, and it’s all 100% worth it. For a strong foundation, and the power to rebuild yourself - always play more siu nim tao.