Well, you pretty much covered everything....
I would just like to add a little.
SLT practice means different things to different people, and the concepts & comprehension are formed in how you practice.
One of the people in wing chun I admire the most is grandmaster Yip Man. Here's a man that stood barely 5'3, weighing no more than 120lbs dripping wet! Yet even during his 60s, many of his younger, fitter and stronger students couldn't force him back a single step in training, and by all accounts from the people who was there, he didn't try to hit you at all during gwoh-sau -- he would simply control you by manipulating your balance & pre-emting your moves even before you could start it!
I was intrigued by this skill level, from this tiny old man, so I read everything I could find about him. Somewhere, I'd read that Yip Man used to train his SLT for over an hour. He would place a wet towel around his neck at the start, and by the time he'd finished the form, the towel would be completely dry.
Thinking that this was the way to unlocking the secret of his skill level, I decided to emulate his training. I would train my SLT for over an hour every other day. When I'd first started, I could only do it for 15-minutes or so, but graduly, it got longer and longer until it was possible for me to complete 1-hour. Unlike most people, I would not cheat myself, and I would try to get every aspect of the form right. My fist would be placed besides my ribs at chest\nipple level, and I would sit low in my horse. Altough I could perform the SLT for over an hour, the pain from holding the positions would be almost unbearable. Some times the pain was so bad in my knees after standing there so long, that after the hour was up, I wouldn't be able to walk. I got wise after a while, so I started doing the form next to my bed, so that should I not be able to stand \ walk properly after the hour, I could just fall onto my bed! However, no matter how bad the pain was, the 'mind numbing' boredome from staying at this position without much movement was driving me to the point of madness (some say I've already gone overboard).
It was during one of those 'tears in your eyes' boring sessions that my mind started to wonder. Instead of just 'going through the motions', I would imagine how the 'tools' of the system could be applied. I would think in my mind's eye, as I was going trhough the form, how I could flow from tool to tool. By concentrating on my body, I could feel how each shape could be a part of me, and how the 'structure' of each shape could be formed for maximum alignment in relationship to my body, so that I could best absorb my opponent's energy at the point of contact into the ground. I understood what my first teacher said about um-lik, and what it feels like to be 'as one'.
Off course, for the practitioners that's already surpassed this level, what I'd discovered for myself is the 'essence' of the form, which is the power of one's imagination, and the ability to cultivate my 'ni lik' -- or mind\intent power.
So, to me, SLT is about the development of one's mind, and the ability to cultivate this nim lik. Of course there are other aspects of this wonderful form, but I personally feel that the mind aspect is the most important.
Next time, when sweat is pouring down your face, and your knees are trembling like jelly, just think you are not quite there yet.....until the imagination starts to flow from your mind.
happy training
