1. Learn the Movements and Memorize the Form

Martial art skill development begins here, as you cannot learn anything new, develop any of the style’s concepts, nor work on the finer points of practice while you are preoccupied with trying to remember the next movement.

The first step can be broken down further as follows:
 

• Learn the individual movements.

• Link these movements into a series of techniques.

• Connect the whole form.

Begin by learning the individual movements of a form in order. Pay attention to your stances and the gross body positions for each individual movement.  Often, when starting out, you may feel uncoordinated, off balance, stilted, or as though you are stumbling through the form. Therefore, during this initial phase of training, speed is not as important.  Do each technique deliberately, pausing between movements so you can remember them and to correct any posture mistakes before moving onto the next.  Use mirrors or a partner to check that the base fundamentals of the style are being followed.  

Practice every day until you memorize the whole set. Walking lightly through the form first thing each morning will help your memorization.  Learning the names of the moves may be helpful as well.   Should you become stuck on a particular sequence, practice it several times in isolation then repeat the whole form.

Once the individual movements become clear, execute moves together in sequences while directing your focus on proper transitions and the flow of your movements. Ensure you are completing each movement properly as you transition from one movement to the next. During this phase, the deliberate pace of your movements should give way to the appropriate quickness and intensity for your style, so that your muscle memory forms properly.  

Over time, the sequences will naturally link together and you will be able to perform the whole form continuously. Concentrate on shortening the gaps between movements and on stability such that you can transition between movements without losing balance or control.

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2.  Understand the Basic Applications

Learning the applications of a form’s movements serves several purposes.  To begin your training, knowledge of even the most straightforward applications provides an intention to guide your movements, creating a framework for you to develop the correct posture, timing, and coordination of the form’s movements.  Without intention there is no kung fu.

Beyond this, every move and sequence within a form also serves two additional purposes.  The first and most visible one is to demonstrate a fighting technique.  Even within this more obvious purpose, however, there exists a hidden depth, as each move in a form often contains multiple techniques, with at least one strike, one defense, one lock, and one throw.  

This ties heavily into the second purpose, which is that every movement in a form teaches and develops certain types of body structures and energies, all based on the fundamental concepts that form the foundation of the martial art style.  These energies can then be applied in many ways to generate limitless applications and techniques.

When you begin training, it is difficult to directly learn and grasp these concepts, structures, and energies.  Here again learning and knowing the basic applications of a form gives you a framework with which to explore and develop the fundamental martial arts skills.  Use the applications to focus your attention and to provide an end point that you can aim and test for (refer to Step 5, below).  As you progress and discover additional applications, they will in turn further guide your training towards exploring both additional concepts as well as deepening your understanding of the concepts you have practiced already.

It is worth highlighting this duality of the prime reasons for forms training.  The intent is not solely to teach fighting applications, and it is not to build a perfect relational database of moves and counter moves.  Rather, use the forms to develop your fundamental martial arts skills of balance, power, and speed, for without those any technique will be ineffective.  Learn and play with techniques within the form to develop both your martial side as well as the art side of your practice.  
 

3.  Understand the Movement Requirements

Unlike the first two steps, the next three are not individual in their nature and are not ones that are moved beyond.  Instead, they form a sequence that is ongoingly repeated.  It is here where the development of your martial arts skill happens.  Every martial arts style is founded on certain concepts, which may also be named as principles, precepts, or requirements.  Cultivating these concepts within you is how you grow your fundamental martial skills of balance, power, and speed.  

Exploring and developing a concept begins with contemplating and researching what the concept is about and, more importantly, how it might be expressed in your body.  Often, concepts may be written poetically or metaphorically, and thus open to many interpretations, each of which may open a new avenue of possibility for exploration.  Use the movements of a form as your framework and consider how the concepts might be employed and expressed to complete the movement and its applications.  

How you interpret and comprehend the concept can then be brought into practice in the next step.

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4.  Build the Requirements Into Your Movement

If the previous step was the mental exercise that can be separate from practice, it is here where you incorporate what you’ve gleaned into your practice and your movements.  Apply your understanding of a concept as you work through each movement of the form.  Remain present and sensitive to how your body feels and responds.  

It is unlikely that you will translate your mental understanding directly into your body on the first go – much like learning how to ride a bike, no matter how detailed the instructions you receive, or even how much of the physics behind it you may understand, when you first get on the bike you will likely wobble and fall off.  Only through practice can you develop the type of balance that will allow you to keep upright.  

The same is true in martial arts training. Knowing and understanding a concept is important, primarily as a means for you to apply it to your training and to your movements until you can generate and sense it in your body, and until you can re-create it at will.  Continue to explore and play with the concept in order to fine tune your understanding of it and to allow your body to learn how to better embody it and thus employ it in application.

 
5.  Test your Postures, Steps, and Techniques  

The martial arts are a physical affair. To that end, physical feedback is crucial to ensure you are performing properly and correctly embodying the style’s concepts.  Equally important, feedback develops your body sensitivity and awareness such that it begins to instinctually know when it is in good form or when it is not.  When concepts become properly instinctual in the body, then your skill grows.  

Testing provides that required feedback.  After you have completed a movement or technique, have a partner press and apply force against the technique (such as on the fist of a strike or the forearm of a parry) by contacting the surface lightly and pushing back into it with gradually increasing pressure.  Actively apply the style’s concepts and fundamentals to your movement as it is tested. If a position or technique feels weak or requires a great amount of effort to hold, do not struggle and simply load on more and more muscle; this teaches you nothing. Mentally check that you are applying all the concepts correctly and make adjustments of your body structure – including your limbs, stance, position, tension, intention, and more – until you can generate the maximum amount of stability and resistance to the pressure while using the least amount of tension and effort.  Test this way several times until your body can remember the optimal position. The partners should then switch roles.

After you have spent time testing the movement for strength in direct opposition to the technique, begin to test the movement in additional directions: up, down, left, right, in, and out.  It is important to remember that the intention of testing is not to be completely immovable against the pressure, whether directly or from an off-axis.  Avoid struggling and focus on what delivers the greatest balance and power you can currently achieve while using the least amount of tension and effort.  Every time you test, your understanding will deepen, and your form will equally become stronger.  

Once you have tested a number of movements to develop your understanding of a concept, practice to bring that understanding to your entire form.  Then, begin the cycle anew by returning to step 3 and investigating another concept.  By continually working on individual concepts (including revisiting them as your understanding grows), over time they will become natural to you and will automatically be present in all of your movements.

 
6.  Practice Jing, Qi, and Shen Cultivation

Beyond forms training are exercises that cultivate the greater aspects and energies of your mind-body being:  your Jing, Qi, and Shen.  Considered the Three Treasures (Sanbao 三寶) of traditional Chinese medicine, the definitions and discussions of these elements could fill a library.  In brief:
 

• Jing is your human essence, tied to your body

• Qi is your natural energy or life force, tied to your breath

• Shen is your spirit and psyche, tied to your mind and “soul"

There are many meditations and exercises for cultivation and harmonization of your Jing-Qi-Shen.  Doing so not only brings you greater vitality and peace of mind but also creates a greater reservoir for your training and martial development.  Put poetically, you are building a hotter fire under a larger vessel of water, creating more steam at a higher pressure, ready to be tapped to power your martial arts.  

Jing, Qi, and Shen powerfully intertwine when you reach the highest level in a particular discipline or activity.  A common Chinese saying is “That (artwork) has Jing, Qi, Shen, ”  meaning that the art is a masterpiece and shows that its creator has the highest skill.  Likewise, while various exercises and meditations will cultivate the three treasures in differing degrees, uniting your Jing, Qi, and Shen together is your goal as you practice and develop your martial art skills.


Final Words

As you follow this entire training method, remember that everything is connected, remember to be present, and remember that there is no destination.  The path moves forever on and there is always room for growth.  Embrace the current moment, strive forward with a growth mindset, cultivate harmony, and enjoy yourself.