My Wing Chun Experience Part II

What still keeps me practicing Wing Chun is that I still have great interest in the deeper aspects of the style by understanding a practical way to use the energies given via chi sao, sensitivity, understanding the 12 Sup Yee Faat to control an opponent. Once you have control over an opponent and he’s lost control over you the fight is already over. I already know that martial arts is something I plan on doing until I’m dead but if I reach the age of an older man physically I will not be able to rely on physical condition, strength, and stamina. As we age our body deteriorates therefore the youthful martial artist of today that relies only on physical strength and conditioning will have nothing tomorrow when he reaches elderly age. This is clearly evident in sports martial arts like boxing where the fighter can no longer perform as well once they reach their 30s. The literal meaning of gung fu is “skill achieved through hard work”. Such skills should be able to continue to grow regardless of the person’s size, age, etc. The soft skills of controlling, sensing, energies etc are such that don’t wear with age and continue to develop so long as it’s trained through much hours of practice. Although I am still a junior in the Yuen Kay San Wing Chun style and still have little knowledge of how to develop this aspect it is definitely something I am aware does exists in the system which keeps me practicing so that later down the line I will eventually reach that point of understanding.

What changed my mind to commit to going to this school to train Wing Chun was that it seemed to have the bare bone basics that most good martial arts seem to have but many and most Wing Chun schools seem to be sadly lacking. Simple basics that are essential to the development of any style. These simple basics include how to connect a proper punch. For example most Wing Chun Schools emphasize chain punching thousands of times but if it takes 1000 punches to end a fight then you clearly have no idea how to even connect a single solid strike. It should only take 1 landed punch to end a fight. Chain blasters that rush in and hope to hit don’t understand that the pattern in chain blasting is easily recognizable and can be disrupted or moved around with little effort. I learned this the hard way around the time I joined the class I was over confident that what I knew before was the best of the best thinking that I was invincible I was paired to do some sparring with Sihing Paul. During the sparring match I too chain blasted 1000 times with stiff postures and Paul was able to move around me easily and smack me around almost every time because I was so rigid and stiff and he was loose and relaxed. It was then where I learned the importance of being loose and alive compared to being stiff frozen and dead as well as the importance of landing a single strike. Most recently I’ve been discovering that the Jin Choi or arrow step punch (Derived from the Sup Yee San Sik) is such a tool that can teach the user to deliver significant power in a single strike and although it may appear too big of a movement, it can become smaller and condensed to fit the appropriate range and space needed given its mechanics.

I used to also look at other styles such as Thai Boxers and wonder why Wing Chun doesn’t utilize knee strikes why doesn’t Wing Chun use roundhouse kicks or sweeps. I’ve seen karate styles that use knee strikes, roundhouse kicks, and sweeps I’ve seen it in other styles except in Wing Chun. So because of that I used to come to the conclusion that those tools do not exist in Wing Chun and that doing so goes against the laws of Wing Chun. Since coming here(Tom Wong school) I’ve learned Wing Chun does have roundhouse kicks, sweeps and high knees all three can be found in fact in the White Crane Seizes Fox motion found the Sup Yee San Sik. The only difference is the sweeping, roundhouse striking and knee striking are all formatted to fit within the concepts and ideas of Wing Chun, for example we don’t roundhouse to the head like some karate styles because our belief in Wing Chun is any kick above the waist is a threat to our stability and balance. The fact is I could go on forever but just the above examples are some of many reasons alone why I chose to drop my old Wing Chun style and commit all of my Wing Chun training to the Yuen Kay San system.