There is a saying in China with regard to their training in Wushu. One's exercise in Chinese boxing without the practise on basic skills will all be in vain with age; one's practise on basic skills without the exercise in boxing is exactly like a boat without sculls.
The Chinese boxing here means all its techniques, stances and gestures; while the basic skills imply practice and training.
The saying means that neglecting your basic training, indulging in yourself in the pursuit of new or unique positions, can result in the failure of the mastery of better stances. On the other hand if you lay stress on the basic training of the body with negligence of technique you cannot give play to inherent effort; just as a boat without sculls, however good it is it fails to go ahead.
In addition to this meaning, the boxing can be taken for the training in techniques, while basic skills can be taken for the exercise of mind, that is to say, equal stress must be laid on the training both in actual skills and self cultivation.
For example, the training in foot movements is a basic skills to master. The stances used for this seems easy, but if you don't practice each stance really well and do not keep the leg-stances as long as possible, so as to further exercise yourself in the changes of stances, it is impossible to learn any good stances and you will attain the result of similarity in form at most.
The wise will never be satisfied with flourishes and neglect the basic skills. Without a good grasp of the basics you are unlikely to attain perfection!
It is important to realize that anything that is too rigid will break. Rigidity and flexibility must be combined with each other and breathing must be co-ordinated. Although it is easy talking about natural breathing you will encounter the problem as how to use it in learning a new posture. The following are the essentials of proper breathing.
First of all, remember to relax the whole body and grasp proper gestures; then without any exertion, concentrate the mind on every fine part of a technique and on the grasping of the correct stance. After you become accustomed to this, gently and evenly breathe in and out and direct the strength in your body when using and practicing the stance. When practicing stances in succession, it is even more important to breathe smoothly and correctly.
To put it in a nutshell, relaxing the body, exerting gentle forces and breathing smoothly while practicing gestures and stances repeatedly, will lead to the integration of strength, forces, techniques and stances.
When using stances and techniques, it is also important maintaining a natural and harmonious expression. To achieve this expression, the shoulders must sink with the force reduced and the eyes may not be twinkled nervously when concentrating your force to complete a posture of attack and defense. Only so can the martial arts and the environment as well as the thought and the practice be mutually co-ordinated.