Basics 2--Chi Sao

It has been said that "without Chi Sao, there is no Wing Chun" and I believe this to be true. Chi Sao, or "sticky hands" is unique to Wing Chun. Other arts have some sort of hand play but none (as far as I know), have the interactive two hand play that Wing Chun has. Wing Chun uses both hands working simultaneously. Usually, a student starts learning Single Chi Sao, which is sticking with one hand and progresses to full Chi Sao. I will get more into single later. Chi Sao normally teaches a student to be sensitive to very small movements of the opponent. He can react to exactly what is going on at the time. Some Wing Chun people call Chi Sao "contact reflexes", which is actually a very good name for it. Basically, what happens in Chi Sao is "the forearms, hands, and fingers are very sensitive to movement and can be taught control in a very subtle way." The purpose then is to show a learning link between forms and fighting and this is easily accomplished after learning the basics of rolling hands and hand changes (two types of changing the hands in rolling hands).
After the basic skills of Poon Sao (rolling arms) has been learned and mastered, the student can progress to the basic shapes of Chi Sao, i.e, Bong, Tan, and Fuk Sao. Then the student can progress into full Chi Sao. The student should learn the basic push hand changes and then free hands. The idea is that when a hand is pushed off the center, it has to return to the center as smoothly and fast as possible. These techniques can be taught from rolling arms on individual hands at first but should be brought together as soon as he/she is familiar with rolling arms. All of this will be discussed later in detail. These are just the basics. Please feel free to post if you want to add to or discuss in any way (even to disagree)!

Wing Chun Basics

Well, here we are! It's about time I started talking about Wing Chun itself and concepts! Of course, the blog IS about the journey, mostly, but as mentioned before, we are doing some branching out. Since I know more about Wing Chun, we will start with it. Later, we will also discuss some concepts of "Attack Proof" and others. Basically, Wing Chun is a "close-in" fighting art that has been with us via China for about 300 years. It is a survivor A few names associated with Wing Chun are Bruce Lee, Yip Man (Lee's teacher), and perhaps you have heard of Robert Downey, Jr.? Bruce Lee is probably the most famous. Lee worked his way through 2 of the Wing Chun hand forms and at least part of the 108 Wooden Dummy form (Yip Man changed it to 116 movements). This is really where and how Lee "learned" to fight!
Generally, Wing Chun has 6 forms and hundreds of drills. These drills are extremely important. The forms are: Sil Lim Tao, which is the basic and, some say, the advanced form. Chum Kiu is the second hand form and is generally akin to Searching or Seeking the Bridge (which can be considered the forearm). It also introduces many kicks within the system. Next in line is the Muk Chong (Jong) or Wooden Dummy form. It teaches Structure and Positioning within the Wing Chun system and also doubles as a partner when a student has none. The Dummy also is widely associated with many aspects of the Chum Kiu form. An advanced form, Biu Tze (spelling varies due to association of 2 countries-Mainland China and Hong Kong) is next. I am learning Biu Tze now and having a blast learning and trying to understand it! Two weapons forms are: Luk Dim Boon Quan, which is the 6.5 point pole which was added to Wing Chun during the "Red Boat Opera" days in the 1800's AND the Bart Cham Dao, which is the double sword or knife form of Wing Chun. Some schools of Wing Chun have other or different requirements. My school has a "matrix" which is vast and basically took me 4 years (every other Sunday) to learn. At the time, I did not like it very much but now that I understand and practice it, it is a tremendous addition to the "traditional" Wing Chun skills learned. We also have another Dummy form which is called Sil Lim Tao on the Dummy. This basic description of Wing Chun is just that, basic. A student could study it all his life and still not know all of the ins and outs of the system. Next blog will begin to break some of the concepts down, both from the forms and from drills. I look forward to it!

Relaxation Station

The reason I call this post "relaxation station" is that I can't think of anything else to call it! Actually, what I want to do is break down the relaxation response in order to use a bit of the whole relaxation "method" and to shorten it so it can be useful for our purpose which is to stay alive in a conflict or attack. Since I have never been in that situation I must imagine it. I must come up with many different senarios of attack (or of being attacked) and devise a way to relax in the moment. I'm sure you have heard this many times but...if someone who is intoxicated is in an automobile accident (is it an accident?), that person has a much better chance of fewer injuries due to them being "drunk relaxed" which may also help them live through it. Of course I am not suggesting that anyone drinks before or while driving. It could also "cause" an accident an it usually does that. What I am suggesting is that we practice our method of relaxation every day so that we know it very well. It would then be necessary to "shorten" the method because, obviously, we don't have lots of time in an altercation. I fight is usually very quick (not like the movies). What I like to do to shorten the method is practice imagining different aspects of the total relaxation response. I then attempt to pick it apart to determine which parts can be shortened without harming the total response. For instance, I might use my five stairs to shorten the method. I would think of how I feel in the relaxation station, then go directly to my "stairs" and use the five stairs to quickly relax. I could even shorten that to, say, three stairs. Or, if I want something even quicker, I might go directly to my relaxation room after a brief relaxation of body "short method" which I must practice. Practice can be achieved by using something in my life that may make me somewhat tense (maybe a boss yells at me :) or whatever you want to use to achieve this relaxation within a tense period. There are many other methods to practice, maybe you can come up with some if you want to come up with a post? Hope you do!