Practicing Essentials of Xiao Nian Tou and the Names of the Postures
Xiao Nian Tou (small idea) is one of the three sets of Wing Chun Quan being the basic Kung-fu of it. It requires the practicer to stand uptight positioning central vertical, keep quiet and relaxed as soon as he is starting to do Ma Zhuang (horse –riding stance as a stub). He should have the distance between his feet equal the width of his shoulders with his whole soles touching land. His knees should not be ahead of his toes. He should open his knees and crotch, lift his anus, have his waist falls down and keep his breathing through and locating mainly in his bellybutton. He should make his chest shrunk and the back stretched-out, keep his shoulders sinking down and the elbows falling naturally. His tongue should be touched his palate. His head would seem to be hanged up by his Qi (his interior beathing and strength). Xia Nian Tou is the basic Kung-fu of the Quan since the practicer always pays attention to his minding. He has to keep his whole body in complete emptiness and softness focusing on his minding without any force or hardness. It emphasizes one's minding conducting his Qi moving followed by his body movements. As soon as his Qi coming, his minding is fight being over there, while his forces are also following them coming and meeting them at the same time. Moving slowly, orderly and evenly, he should develop all the flows of his minding, the flowing Qi and blood will benefit his spirit and all the interior viscera in his body. It is say that the Quan players have to pay attention to their inside practices of Qi and the outside to his Jin Gu Pi (his tendons, muscle, bones and skin).
Practicing Xiao Nian Tou, one should take attention to four
points as follows:
1. He has to pay attention to his minding. Wing Chun Quan emphasizes minding rather than forcing. One's minding should lead every movement in the process of playing the Quan with his spirit. He should concentrate his minding guiding his each movement and pose changing. This method in practicing all the movements according to the principle of Xiao Nian Tou is much faster to learn Kung-fu embodied and will get the player twice the result with half the effort in practicing the Quan.
2. Any player should pay much attention to and emphasize his own complete softness and relaxation as those are the precondition to practice Wing Chun Quan quite well. Keeping his minding leading his Qi and the Qi, conducting his body effectively, he has to keep his whole body soft and relaxed. Without the relaxation of one's minding and body, his all joints will not be relaxed and his body could not move or turn assistants. The main idea clearly requires the players to mind and know the direction of any movement, the proper distance between themselves and their opponents and the correct force they should send out, while the input of their minding, the locations of their fingers, palms, wrists and elbows should be known clearly. It might be hard to defend them well unless they could keep and use their central sections.
4. Xiao Nian Tou emphasizes the clarity of one's activity and calmness in practicing the Quan. There are five parts of one's joints: knuckle, palm, wrist and shoulder joints. In practicing Xiao Nian Tou, these five kinds of one's joints would be divided clearly being responsible respectively to all the movements the player is having whenever they should keep Dong Jing You Xu (to keep moving and resting all in order). Don Jing You Xu is normally incarnated of or embodied by one's fingers and wrists moving palms and wrists moving plus his elbows and shoulders resting, or, his elbows and shoulders moving plus his fingers, palms and wrists resting. The purpose of Dong Jing Fen Ming (clearly demarcated) presents the character of Wing Chun Quan making all the Quan players understand Hu Kou Jill (the force of the place between one's thumb and forefinger), Xiu Di Jill (the force of the bottom of one's sleeve) and Zhou Di Jin (the power of the bottom of one's elbow). Those Jins are all softly sinking down, shrunk inside and owned by the players being the preparation for storing their Om Jin (very short force sent out in an inch distance) to be burst with their attacking in a possible future fighting.
The names of postures of Xiao Nian Tou (thirty seven postures, the repeated would not be mentioned)
Chui Jian Zhang (palm with one's shoulders drooping down), Jiang Tai Yang Zhang (palm upward on a general's stage), Tie Zhi Cha Sha Zhang (palm with his iron fingers inserting sand), Gong Bei Jiang Tai 7hang (palm moving like the back of a bow on a general's stage), Ri Zi Chong Quan (rushing one's fist into a Chinese character Ri meaning the sun), Shi Zi Bai Zhi (swaying one's fingers like drawing a cross), Quan Shou (circling hands), Tan Zhang (laying one's palm), Dan Bai Zhang (palm with single obeisance), Xia Zhang (moving one's palm downward), Dan Yang Zhang (single palm faced upward), Qian An Zhang (pressing one's palm forward), Hou An Zhang (pressing one's palm backward), Zuo You Na Zhang (pressing one's palms down either leftward or rightward), Huai Zhong Bao Yue Zhang (palm in holding the moon in one's bosom), Shuang Lv Zhang (palm collected in double displays), Chang Li Zhang (sharp palm in a long term), Fu Dang Lv Zhang (complicated swaying palm in collecting), Shuang An Zhang (double pressing palm), Mo Tian Zhang (palm in robbing the sky), Shuang Nie An 7hang (double nipping and pressing palm), Cheng Long Gong Bei Zhang (fallen dragon palm with one's back arched), Fen Qiao Shuang Zi Zhang (divided bridge double fingers palm), Tui Zhang (pushing palm), Qi Long Bai Xia Zhang (palm like riding a dragon doing obeisance to the gorge), Gui Xin Bang (arm
returning to heart), Gong Bei Liu Zhong Zhang (palm kept middle with his back arched), Mo Er Zhang (palm rubbing the ears), Gong Bei Jiang Tai Die Zhang (enfolded palm with the back arched on the general stage), Jiang Tai Ri Shou Zhang (palm in defending the sun on the general stage) and An Zhang Shou Ma (pressing palm to stop).
