Wing Chun put-downs

I'm fairly certain that most of you have had the experience of others in the martial arts putting down your art or others. I really hate to see that! It is one of my pet peeves! Sifu Dan always talks about this indicating that "all arts have value" and I certainly agree with the statement. I have noticed a few of the people that do this and it really disturbs me. One of the persons who does put down Wing Chun has a blog that is associated with a fairly large organization. I suspect that this person is worried that others will pick Wing Chun over his art. I think that people end up in the art that they find themselves and like. It took me a number years to "find" Wing Chun and I found it somewhat by accident I was just reading "Bruce Lee's Fighting Arts" and he recommended learning Wing Chun before delving into his art of Jeet Kune Do. I felt that it was worth looking into and I did. Boy, am I glad I did! Another person who puts down Wing Chun is very famous and writes an article so has much power in that sense. This person compares his/her art with Wing Chun in a netative way. I certainly do not read this persons works anymore and I am positive that many others also do not read them. I took Karate for many years and learned a great deal in these studies. I became a 2nd level Black Belt in the art so was quite good at it. I do, however, understand that it is different from Wing Chun. One is not necessarily better than the other. All arts are good and the Karate I took helped me a great deal. I still use some of the techniques I learned and would never put that art down. Please post and give some of your own examples.

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!

Another relaxation method

A relaxation method I like to use goes something like this: You can sit in a comfortable chair (one that you like or a favorite chair/couch), close your eyes, start with your toes and imagine the outside of the area from toes on up "filling up" on the outside...then after your whole body is filled (of the outside skin) from toe to head, imagine that it is filling up from toes to head but on the inside of toe, foot, leg, etc....all the way to top of head. By then, you should be fairly relaxed. Then, I like to imagine that I am entering a corridor that travels slightly downward. It is only me there so no distractions. I imagine I am floating down and as I float down I am relaxing even more. I arrive at five deep steps and imagine going from step five on down relaxing at each step on the way down. When I get to step one, I am very, very relaxed (almost hypnotized) but then, I get to an "airlock" which I open and, when inside, get relaxed even more. When I open the airlock I am at "relaxation station" where I am so relaxed it is almost a shame. This part is personal to me and you; I go through "my" door and enter "my" room where I (as my own fantasy) have a relaxation reclyner. I sit in it and recline and am looking out a large, thick glass window where the oceon is there and small waves or rolling in. It is the only sound I can hear and nobody else can get in my room. I listen and watch the waves for about five to ten minutes. When leaving, I sort of go through the steps backward. When I am out of my cooridor and into the sunshine, I rub my head, eyes and face and get back to normal.

Relax!

One tremendous thing that Sifu Dan has taught me over the years is basically to relax! Many times while doing drills or Chi Sao, Dan always noticed how tense I was being and would just say "relax"...That has always been a fairly difficult thing for me to do, but with his help, and the fact that it was said or told to me so many times (probably hundreds), everytime I get tense about anything, I try to recall his voice and expression while saying the word. It always works because I get into a relaxed state each time. Not that I would ever be attacked, but you never know? If it did happen, I am sure that this word would be the first thing I would think about. It has to help! Of course there are other ways to handle a realistic opponent, i.e., attacker. One way that I have come across comes from "Attack Proof" and is something like this; You are standing alone with your eyes closed, when you open your eyes, attackers are in front of you with broken bottles and knives. You close your eyes again (because it is imaginary) and imagine the most vile thing you can think of in front of you and that this vile giant (or whatever) is trying to take your child! You open your eyes and scream the loudest scream you have ever used and with both palms open attack the vile thing until it/he is in shreads. There are other methods and I will discuss a few of those in coming posts.

Change of Blog (but Good change)

I have been thinking somewhat about changing (slightly) the nature of the blog! By far, the nature of it will remain the journey, however, I have decided to tweek it a bit and start adding bits and pieces regarding what I have learned about Wing Chun (and perhaps a few other arts). Some of this information and maybe opinion will come from many books that I have and some other information may come from actual experience in Lafayette and New Iberia with Sifu Dan Terrell (and occasionally Sifu Fong). I realize that you generally cannot learn Wing Chun from books, but you can learn ABOUT Wing Chun from books and DVD's. There is certainly nothing wrong with learning about the art. Much of the discussion (and I hope we have some) will center on actual learning and principles of Wing Chun. Certainly, if I am wrong about some of this information, my Sifu will join in and correct it, but hope I don't add any disinformation. As mentioned, sometimes I hope to add information and discussion of some other arts. I know perhaps only a limited amount about some of them so others may want to put their 2 cents in from time to time. I hope so! We may talk about Pekiti Tersia, Muay Thai, BJJ, and may some Karate (from my past experience with it). I am also an 8th level in Preying Mantis Kung Fu, so we may talk about that and maybe Sifu Chuck Perry in Alexandria will join us. I also may bring up some discussion of "Attack Proof" which I have been learning recently. All of this will start next time, so stay tooned!