There are two schools of thought about how to learn to swim. The first is very direct: throw the student into deep water. They either figure out how to swim, or they drown. The second approach involves a sequential learning of basic skills. The second approach takes longer, but has a much higher survivability rate. The first skill you learn in swimming is how to float. Before you can do any paddling or kicking or other cool stuff, you have to condition your body to relax in the water and learn to use your natural buoyancy.
Poon Sau is learning to float.
There are no “seed ideas” or grand concepts in this lesson. Here you’re going to learn about the anatomy of the shoulder, learn how to move the shoulder joint freely without strain, and learn the four hand configurations used in Chi Sau. As with learning to float, the most important skill is learning relax, and pay attention to some subtle, natural motions that most of us ignore.
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