Sil Lim Tao

Introduction

The first form of Wing Chun is called Sui Lim Tao and roughly translated as "Little Idea." The Little Idea concept, being that small ideas can grow, or be nurtured in to something really quite magnificent.

Sil Lim Tau contains approximately 90% of the hand movements of the Wing Chun System.

Sil Lim Tau teaches the student basic hand/arm movements, positions, energies and techniques. It shows how the Wing Chun hand tools can be used with either hand/arm and how they are used with regards to the Centre Line. Sil Lim Tau shows how to move from the Inner Gate to the Outer Gate and the outer gate to the inner gate

Sil Lim Tau is performed in a fixed body position, which means that there is no physical footwork involved, although the feet are in the middle position of what the next form Chum Kiu turns through, so in effect you are learning how to maintain a good balance whilst turning. The stance in Sil Lim Tao has emphasis on the structure which helps the student to root themselves to the ground, the form also develops power and control from the hips.

Sil Lim Tao introduces 4 angles which are forwards backwards, left and right in which to defend and or attack.

Throughout Sil Lim Tau there is also a great emphasis on the positioning of your elbow, which is used for maintaining control of you own centre line and also to controlling an opponent

Understanding Sil Lim Tao

First Section

The first part of Sil Lim Tau is opening of your stance; this is the basis of your structure. In this stance throughout the form you are stood with the knees slightly bent and the feet pigeon toed. This forms a triangle and distributes the student’s weight evenly over each of the feet.

The first section of Sil Lim Tau should be done slow, with the emphasis on the positions and energies of your elbow and forearm. It shows that the energies should come from the elbow and not from the whole arm.

This section develops the student’s strength in the arms & wrists as the tension comes from the elbow and the triceps should be tense when pushing forward in the Tan Sau and Fook Sau positions and the bicep should be tense when pulling the arm back in the Wu Sau position.

There is emphasis on the stance and the hip position. Whilst pushing forward in the Tan Sau and Fook Sau positions, the hips should be pushed forward with the your weight adjusted very slightly to the balls of your feet. Whilst pulling back with Wu Sau the hips should be tucked back with the weight on the heels of your feet. This is to teach the student how to root to the floor and absorb an oncoming force and redirect it by using just the hips and stance.

The Pak Sau at the end of this section is at 45˚ across the body brought back to centre and then a vertical palm strike. Pay close attention the position of the elbow as it should point out to the side. This technique is applied when attacking from the inner gate. Your elbow protects you against an opponent’s arm coming over the top of your own arm and striking you.

Second Section

The second Section of Sil Lim Tau should be performed at a comfortable pace and the movements should be sharp with the emphasis on the positioning and energies. Everything in this section is done with both arms simultaneously; these movements are not double handed blocks, but show the student that each of the movements can be done with either arm and on inner or outer gate.

This section also shows how efficiently you can move your arm from one position to another, which also emphasises how closely, linked the hand movements are.

During this section you develop short range power, speed, and fluidity; therefore the student needs to remain relaxed throughout this section to ensure that the movements remain sharp and fluid.

Third Section

The third Section of Sil Lim Tau has great emphasis on the fact that everything moves forward and down your centreline towards your opponent.

The section opens with a Pak Sau and a palm strike with the hand at 45˚. Pay close attention the position of the elbow as it should point down to the floor. This technique is applied when attacking from the outer gate. The elbow is to pin/cut across an opponent’s arm therefore leaving you free to strike. We then move on to multiple hand positions which are performed at different heights. This refers to the fact that you can defend yourself both high and low with the same arm against multiple strikes thus keeping it simple, it also emphasises that you may have to alter your positioning of your arms depending on the opponent or oncoming strike(s) The next part of this section shows how to move from inner to outer gate using Bong Sau & Tan Sau. It also shows that you can block multiple strikes with the same arm by linking different blocks together this section emphasises the importance of the elbow positioning.

The end of the section shows how to escape from a wrist grab, it is shown in such a way that an inexperienced Wing Chun practitioner or newer student may see this as that you are strike the opponents grabbing hand and try and remove the grab, however Wing Chun philosophy tells us to strike when you hand is free, thus this part of the form shows us that if one hand becomes trapped then to strike with the free hand.

This completes Sil Lim Tau

The second form is Chum Kiu, amongst other things this introduces the student to foot work.