I was intrigued by a story on the radio recently of a western freediver who went to learn from Japanese pearl divers – whose only advice was ” get in the water and dive”
It reminded me of the only advice I got while in the Chen village ” relax and sink, practice the form”
While it does not appear that simple from our western deconstructionist viewpoint – it actually is – as I am finding yet again with my golf. In a lesson today with my coach I found that I need to relax and sink my right hip and my right shoulder. So there is an element of learning which bits need to relax and sink – but only because they are the tense bits in the first place – if you just relax and sink everything then you can move naturally.
There comes a point where you have to make it your own – as my Karate teacher Vince Morris used to say “wear your Karate like your own suit of clothes”.
I more and more appreciate Chen Wangting’s nickname of Chen the Tablet – so named for his upright and no doubt relaxed and sinking posture.
