DEVELOPING
SILENT TALK
The Fighters Edge
by Ron Heimberger
"We must be able to hear what is not spoken and see what is unseen" -
Sifu
The physical limitations of the ocular sense
make information received by the eyes concerning the intentions of an enemy
difficult to decipher and often misleading. Studying almost any fight in detail
will reveal martial arts practitioners struggling to apply every skill they have
at their disposal, but losing simply because they could not anticipate the
enemy's intentions. But then again, it is impossible to read an opponent's
intentions ... or is it?
During any kind of activity, reports from motor and nerve sensors in the skin,
joints, and tendons provide information to the practitioner in the body's own
language. This is a language to which the muscles that govern the body respond.
These reports come from pressure and movements that are placed on our motor and
nerve sensors. This language or inner-body communication called "silent
talk" is the key to finding the correct solution in any fighting situation.
Silent Talk, like any foreign language, is developed through listening,
interpreting, and responding, and is built on a foundation of sensitivity.
Silent Talk allows the practitioner to perceive his opponent's position as well
as monitor the practitioner's own position. Unlike the visual sense, this
process of receiving impressions is unfalteringly correct and difficult to
confound.
To build Sensitivity the practitioner needs exercises designed specifically for
this purpose. These exercises are known by many names, including Tai Chi Chuan's
"push hands' and Wing Chun's "chi sau" or "sticky hand"
training. No matter what name is given to these exercises it must be remembered
that without understanding Silent Talk, sensitivity training is incomplete. The
following three steps and their associated principles will enhance sensitivity
and allow the martial arts practitioner to experience Silent Talk.
Step One--Listening:
When practiced correctly and frequently, the sensitivity exercise of Chi Dan Sau
(single stick hand training) develops the practitioner's ability to hear the
information that comes from the body's sensors. There are three types of
sensors: muscle sensors, joint and skin sensors, and equilibrium sensors. Each
of these sensor groups are capable of Silent Talk. This communication allows the
body to hear the messages of cold, hot, thick, thin, coarse, smooth, direction,
weight, power, and all other messages that are felt rather than seen or heard.
Even when blindfolded, the practitioner who has mastered step one will be able
to tell the difference between these messages, because the body recognizes those
differences. (The Body in Question by Jonathan Miller, Random House, Inc. 1978)
Since the physical pressures of fighting upon the sensors of a beginning student
create a demand on the whole body's economy. Chi Dan Sau leads to efficient
expenditure of the body's resources. Because it monitors and refashions the
practitioners muscular tension levels from one moment to the next, constant Chi
Dan Sau lessens the demand on any one part of the body making the body more
efficient over all. It also tells the practitioner what he is doing and what is
happening to him as a result of what he is doing; whether movements are going
according to plan, or whether they are being obstructed.
This increase in the efficient use of energy is accomplished through correct and
consistent practice with as many training partners as possible. Practice
sessions create a variety of signals which the body can hear. If listened-to
this process will allow the practitioner of the exercises to become highly
proficient. The practitioner must develop the ability to listen to these
signals, it is not enough to simply hear them.
There is a vast difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is simply
recognizing the signals. Listening will allow a practitioner to understand the
significance of every message created through the pressure and force of the
enemy's movements. Listening allows the practitioner to interpret and anticipate
the enemy's intentions. Listening can only be accomplished if the practitioner
learns to hear not only sounds, but also the Silent Talk going on within
himself.
Step Two--Interpreting:
After the practitioner can listen to Silent Talk, he must take advantage of the
opportunity to interact with the energy applied by an opponent. This is
accomplished through the Double Stick Hand drills of Chi Seung Sau. This
exercise sharpens the state of nerve sensors in the skin, enhancing one's
ability to sort the useful information from the non-useful whenever contact is
made with the enemy, As the name 'stick hand" denotes, the Wing Chun
practitioner's contact with an enemy creates a vital communication link, and
like telephones connected with a wire, communication is lost once the contact is
broken.
This step is very important to the development of Chi Sau, simply because ocular
communication is too slow, and as many fighters find to their dismay, it is not
always reliable. Anyone who has enjoyed a magician has witnessed how easily the
ocular sense can be deceived. Since an enemy's actions are essentially a foreign
language, the practitioner must learn to interpret them before an effective
response can be made.
Step Three--Responding:
Quo Sau and Nuk Sau are the final exercises necessary in training Silent Talk
and can only be achieved after the first two steps are mastered. It allows the
practitioner to respond, knowing exactly how to advance or dissipate and how to
attack or neutralize intelligently. Also since pressure and power can only be
felt not seen, the practitioner will know when an opponent shifts--even
slightly. This skill will allow the body's posture and technique to reposition
itself in relation to an opponent during combat. Training in this fashion will
make it possible to take information from the sensor nerves directly to the
spine and back to the motor nerves, bypassing the conscious thought and the need
to analyze the input to the sensors.
The Wing Chun practitioner does not take this marvelous system for granted, but
actively contemplates through all three steps how the body constantly
communicates and copes with the sensory stimuli of fighting. This communication
allows the invisible forces of nature to be used to their best advantage, as
long as the three steps of Silent Talk are respected by the practitioner.
When a good foundation of listening and interpreting is laid, it will be easier
to reach the advanced stage of responding. It is necessary to observe the
principle of gradual progression. Wang Yang Ming (1472-1528) a Chinese
philosopher and military General wrote, "One should work from the
starting-point forward, and advance by gradually completing each branch of
study. The immortals have a good smile when speaking of small children: The
child in its mother's womb consists only of pure chi (vital energy). What
knowledge can it have? After birth it is first able to cry; a little later, to
laugh; still later, to recognize its parents and brothers; and after that it is
able to stand, walk, grasp, and carry." (The Philosophy of Wang Yan Min
translated by Frederick Goodrich Henke, Open Court Publishing Company, 1916).
From beginning to end Chi Sau concepts should be practiced naturally and
diligently, through the single and double exercises which include structuring of
the techniques, Quo Sau, Nuk Sau and the three fighting principles: Flexibility,
the power of resistance to traps or damage; Path, the course of action; Timing,
the ability to move as one with an opponent, not too fast, not too slow.
Practitioners learn how moves are put together, and after the first two steps
have been mastered, they may then try to find the opponent's lines, balance,
force and energy.
Responding is the easiest step but it will not work if the first two steps are
overlooked. Once the practitioner knows and understands the first two
principles, the third principle of response may then be developed more
naturally. Different situations with different partners and frequent practice of
varied positions and pressures upon the nerves of the arms and feet during
sensitivity exercises will produce a cumulative learning effect. The net result
is the body talking to itself in its own language. The practitioner then becomes
more fluent in the language of Silent Talk which is the fastest way to
communicate to the body the perfect position or angle it must make for attack
and defense. Once the practitioner actually hears the body talking and knows
what it is saying, he can then respond appropriately. This process is so fast,
it will seem as if a supernatural ability has been developed.
Chi Sau unlocks the body's ability to use energy in the most effective way
possible, and increases your fighting endurance. Chi Sau increases the
sensitivity of the nerves in your arms so that they are as sensitive as your
fingertips (where there is a greater concentration of nerves than anywhere else
on the body). These skin sensors are not only very quick in sensing the motions
of the opponent, but they are also very quick in directing the muscle motor
nerves without analysis. With the slightest shifting movement, the practitioner
will be able to avoid the attack. This is how the Wing Chun practitioner uses
the principle of "avoiding the strong and attacking the weak" to his
advantage.
Reading your enemy like a book is a Wing Chun principle that concurs with a
famous Chinese general who said, "Knowing oneself and also one’s opponent
will make one a hundred times victorious in a hundred battles." The basis
for knowing your enemy is the development of silent talk through sensitivity
exercises. Thus, the fundamental theory behind chi sau or push hands is simply
knowing your enemy, as well as yourself.
Once the umbilical cord of touch is developed, the practitioner can properly
interpret the constant communication; the constant silent talk intimately going
on within. The first time you hear this talk you will experience a feeling of
surprise and astonishment. Is it possible to read an opponent’s intentions
after all? Only if you can place yourself beyond human prejudices. By
transcending the limits of communication set for normal fighters, anything is
possible. You now have the keys of mastery. But, even when laid out in front of
many, only a few will understand.
