In our daily lives it is vital that we adequately recover our energy to avoid burn-out. Although easier said than practiced, all tasks in life should be approached with a positive attitude which requires a sufficient energy source. Pushing oneself without time to recover will lead to both mental and physical sickness.
While attending the 1997 Wing Chun (Ving Tsun) Kung Fu workshop in Ohio USA, I recall a seminar by Mickey Chan, a respected sifu and senior student of Moy Yat, a student and disciple of Yip Man. In the context of the Kung Fu, Sifu Mickey stressed the importance of recovery. Once one finishes a “technique” one should recover the energy before proceeding with the next technique, rather than combining them in a continuous motion. This can be only a matter of milliseconds but still enough time to recover the energy.
Without going into too much detail, I would like to dedicate two lines of text and speak directly to those who study the Wing Chun Kung Fu. Recovery is particularly evident in the sticky hands exercise referred to as chi-sau. Once a technique is executed in the chi sau, a split second is required before following up with another technique(s).
In today’s world most everyone is in a constant state of rushing. With your mind properly focussed and your body relaxed, imagine in our daily lives what ten minutes of “recovery” could do? Imagine what an hour could do?