DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TECHNIQUES, SKILLS AND RESUTLS
Shaolin Kungfu
Question
Sifu, can you please explain the difference between techniques, skills and results?
-- Sifu Roland Mastel, Switzerland
Answer
Literally thousands of thousands of people, not just in kungfu and chi kung but in all walks of life, have wasted years and also harmed themselves because they do not understand or appreciate the difference between techniques, skills and results.
They have wasted a lot of time because they wrongly think that once they know the techniques, they will get the results the techniques are said to bring. They have harmed themselves because they have practiced the techniques wrongly bringing them adverse effects, but they are unaware of it. The main reason in both cases concern skills.
Techniques are particular ways of doing things. "Lifting the Sky", for example, is a technique. Techniques are visible, i.e. others can see what the practitioner is doing. Most practitioners have the right techniques, but they do not have the required skills.
Skills are how well he performs the techniques to obtain the desired results. The main reason why many people do not have the desired results of "Lifting the Sky" is because they do not have the skills. Here the most important skill is to be focused and relaxed at the same time.
Results are the benefits he gets from performing the technique with the appropriate skills. But if he perform the technique wrongly he may have adverse effects. The main benefit of Lifting the Sky, and in fact of all chi kung exercises, is generating an energy flow, which in turn will bring good health, vitality and longevity.
Many people do not get these wonderful results even when they have the right technique because they do not have the chi kung skill of generating an energy flow. They perform the technique as gentle physical exercise, thus getting only benefits of gentle physical exe rise like loosening their muscles and joints.
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