SIMPLICITY

 by Yang Shuangxing

An important part of being a highly-skilled martial arts practitioner is the ability to see past what appear to be complicated movements and turn them into very simple ones. And one of the marks of a skilled instructor lies in his/her ability to explain and demonstrate a complicated movement or concept in a simple way, so that students can understand it more fully.

I can, and have, easily spend four hours or more teaching students how to execute a proper reverse punch. There's a LOT more to it than meets the eye and once a student has acquired a good deal of experience imitating the outer movement(s), she's ready to learn the less obvious but critical principles involved. When it's all put together, it seems rather complicated. And it is. But with enough practice, the rough edges are smoothed and polished and it becomes quite simple to do. This can't be accomplished in a week or a month, or even a year. Don't be concerned with how long it'll take; just practice. You'll get there eventually. And in time, you'll refer to it as a very “simple” technique.

The fundamental, “signature” exercise of baguazhang, walking the circle, looks and sounds like it's pretty simple. Beginners learn very quickly that it isn't... what LOOKS simple is a galaxy beyond what they expect. Eventually, if the instructor is worth his salt, it becomes very simple and feels “natural.”

“Simple” is a subjective term. What is simple for one person may be very complicated for another. Progress is made by learning step-by-step until that which seems complicated becomes simple. The key is repetition. After 10,000 repetitions, a movement becomes very simple. If you do that movement (say, a reverse punch) 100 times every day for a year it'll take about 3 years or so. That's also the average time it takes to reach the level of shodan (yiduan in Chinese).