Relax!

WT is all about maintaining relaxation – it’s one of the primary solutions to the many situations that arise. Of course, here’s where I insert the disclaimer that “relaxation” does not mean to be weak, but simply (in my opinion) to not give the opponent any of your strength or rigidness to work off of. Phyically, this entails that the WT student keeps shoulders low, elbows sink, qi is not stored in the chest but in the dan tien, etc.

Reality is, for many of us however, that being tense during a confrontation is so normal of a tendency (and such a natural response) that should it be ignored? Could it be ignored? Can we really “relax” when buddy is throwing a punch at us?

My answer is No. You cannot be relaxed as you want or think you should be. But you CAN be more relaxed relative to the attacker. In class, we are surrounded by other WT students who have also been taught to be relaxed, to attack, etc. So what does that mean? It means that we are constantly reminded of our inability to relax every week. What we sometimes forget is that the attacker that we may face one day is very unlikely to be another WT/WC stylist…what may seem “stiff” to you may be seem as incredibly “relaxed” to him.

Does this mean we should strive for mediocre relaxation? Of course not. This is just one way of looking at things. Gotta keep up the practice. It’s kind of like giving presentations in front of a huge audience. First time, tenseness creeps up and is visible to the audience. As you keep doing it – trying to relax but keep putting yourself in stressful situations, eventually, inside, you may feel that you were tense but the audience can’t see it. And finally, after more practice, you are able to perform your presentation without the slightest of hesitation. Yea, you might be nervous before you get on stage, but once you’ve started, you’re calm and collected and was able to focus that nervous energy into a quality-delivered presentation. Same goes for WT.

Until then.