My Way of Wing Chun

The Learning Curve

Choose Your School Wisely

1 Comment Posted by on October 26, 2012

In this post I am not going to tell you what are the good things you should look for when choosing a school/Sifu. Instead, I want to tell you about potential “smells” that you should be aware of when signing up. One of the reasons why I decided to write this post, is the fact that in this day and age, the world of Wing Chun (in fact, the world of any other sport) is a very commercial environment. Some Wing Chun schools can really go the distance in their efforts to milk extra $$$ from students.

I have visited quite a number of Wing Chun schools and did a lot of digging and reading around. This process can be daunting and time consuming sometimes. For a young Wing Chun practitioner, it can be hard to see the bigger picture immediately without doing preliminary research,  I hope the current post can save you a little bit of time by shedding some light on how some Wing Chun schools operate today.

The “smells” that I mentioned earlier (or the warning signs in other words), might help you to identify whether the school you chose is a money trap. Please keep in mind, that the following is my personal and subjective opinion and you do not have to agree with me.

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Personal Thoughts , , , , , ,

What It Really Takes to Become Good In Wing Chun?

1 Comment Posted by on June 25, 2012

Lets not worry for the moment what “good” actually means…

The short answer is – practice. Yep that’s right. Good old practice and many many repetitions. I think, many people these days obsessed a little bit too much in their search for the most experienced and the most credible Sifu. Sifu that can prove the purity of his lineage, tracing back directly to Yip Man.

IMHO, no Sifu, not even Yip Man him self can help you if you do not practice. This applies to everyone without exclusions. There is no magic wand, shortcuts or secret behind door techniques – just practice, practice and again practice. Yip Man himself can be teaching you but, if you do not practice diligently, then the time spent will not yield any results.

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Foundation and Basics, Personal Thoughts , , , , , ,

Moving Away from “Traditional” Wing Chun

2 Comments Posted by on April 11, 2012

In About page I have mentioned that I have spent several months (six to be more accurate) in one of the Australian Wing Chun schools, that follows W. Cheung (WC hereafter) lineage, and teaches the so-called Traditional Wing Chun (TWC). After the six months of training, when my subscription at the school has ended, I decided to move on. In the following text, I explain my reason for the departure from WC’s school.

The main reason for my move were the high fees. When I decided to undertake Wing Chun training, I chose the school of WC because I got influenced by the marketing – direct disciple of Ip Man and the man who trained Bruce Lee. I thought: I cant really go wrong with this, so long story short – I signed up. I remember my first time when I met WC and shook his hand I thought: “Ooh wow, I actually met the world known grandmaster, direct disciple of Ip Man”.

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Personal Thoughts , ,

My Take on Wing Chun Controversy

7 Comments Posted by on April 9, 2012

In About page I have mentioned that I have spent six months (before moving away) in one of the Australian Wing Chun schools, that follows W. Cheung (WC hereafter) lineage, and teaches the so-called Traditional Wing Chun (TWC). The school  is actually WC’s head quarters (HQ hereafter).

The main reason why WC started to become a controversial figure in the 80′s through the 90′s, is certain claims that he made in the Western world. Claims like that he is the only and true successor of Ip Man‘s secret traditional Wing Chun system, and hence the only and true Grandmaster. Claims like that he is the one who trained Bruce Lee and Lee’s success should be attributed mainly to him.

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Personal Thoughts , , , , ,

How and Why I Decided to Study Wing Chun

Leave a Comment Posted by on December 19, 2010

I was longing to study Chinese Martial Arts since I was a kid. Originally, I come from Eastern Europe, and we as kids, were greatly influenced by old Chinese martial arts movies about Shaolin temple and of course Bruce Lee.

Is it enough wanting to study martial arts because of some movies? I guess not. But during that time as a kid, I knew only one thing – it looks cool, it is highly efficient and I want to do it.

As I grew older, I learned to respect not only the fact that its “looks cool”, but I also started to see the philosophical side of things. The importance of body and mind connection. It was not just about looking cool anymore, I started to recognize the efforts needed to master a style or at least to become comfortable enough in it and concepts one learns along the learning way. Some of the things that impressed me is the amazing control over the body one has, the discipline and the dedication.

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Personal Thoughts , ,

Footwork

Comments Off Posted by on December 11, 2003

Many people today practice Wing Chun, Chi Sau (sticking hands). However, they only stand in the same position and they do not move their feet. In this way it is very easy to lose a lot of energy, because when your opponent is very strong and they are attacking you, you cannot move to avoid their power.

The most common way we do to avoid an opponent’s power is to change your technique such as changing from the Bong Sau to Tan Sau or the other way round. Of course, there are other techniques you can use by yourselves but because you do not move your stance, you have to use more strength. Therefore we see many people, who do Chi Sau just like they are fighting. With this kind of skill, only the stronger and bigger guy will win easily. Even if you beat up your opponent, you can also suffer injury, so this is not the best way for Chi Sau.

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Foundation and Basics , , ,

Siu Lim Tao – Stillness

Comments Off Posted by on June 11, 2003

Laozi’s Dao De Jing mentions how the world was created and also how things work. Wing Chun Kuen was created from nothing and from Wing Chun Kuen many Wing Chun skills have been created. Then these Wing Chun skills will go back to nothing. This is how nature works you were born from nothing, then you do a lot of things in this world, finally you die and go back to nothing.

“Everything is created from nothing and also created by something.” – Dao De Jing

When you study Wing Chun Kuen, the first thing you have to learn is the form “Siu Lim Tao”. The first part of the form you have to do very slowly. Many people wonder why this is. Some will think that Wing Chun is a martial art, which is supposed to be quick and powerful. There are other people who will think the opposite, that this is Qigong training that will help to make you powerful, particularly your one-inch punch.

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Forms, Foundation and Basics ,

Wong Shun Leung – The Logic Behind Wing Chun

4 Comments Posted by on August 8, 2002

One of the top Wing Chun fighters at Yip Man‘s hong kong school, Sifu Leung taught Bruce Lee privately for one-and-a half-years and recalled “his Kung-Fu was not very good he couldn’t fight.” Leung’s own introduction to the Wing Chun system was less than stellar he challenged Yip Man to a trial by combat, convinced he could defeat him. When m a n easily won, Leung became a lifelong believer and disciple of the system that Bruce Lee would eventually turn into the most popular Kung-Fu style ever taught. Yip Man, seeing more in Lee than others, predicted to the incredulous Leung that, “this little kid will make Wing Chun famous.”

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Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, Wong Shun Leung

The Spread of Wing Chun

Comments Off Posted by on August 11, 2001

In this article, Grandmaster Ip Chun refers to certain controversial individuals in Wing Chun, ex-students of Grandmaster Ip Man, that after leaving Hing Kong, have said some things over the time that were not true regarding their learning experience under Grandmaster Ip Man in order to make a better living. (Path Seeker)

Ip Man starting teaching Wing Chun in the 1950s in Hong Hong and he died in 1972. In just over twenty years of teaching he made Wing Chun very popular and it spread throughout the world.

Whether they are just beginners or more experienced people, I would estimate that there are about 1 million people practising Wing Chun. In the 20 years that my father taught, he relied on his own resources and received no outside support. So the fact that Wing Chun became so popular is quite remarkable. In fact, there are actually some Wing Chun practitioners who are investigating why Wing Chun is so popular. In this article, I will express my ideas of why this is so and why it is still spreading.

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Ip Chun, Ip Man ,

Notes on Hard/Soft Hawkins Cheung Wing Chun

1 Comment Posted by on May 25, 2001

I am a student of Hawkins Cheung, and as this is a forum on my sifu’s site. I have some thoughts on his teachings that may be of interest to some of you. I have been with Sifu for 14 years, and he has been a great influence on me. I enjoy sharing dialogue with others that are on a true path. Here are some thoughts on the “hard way” and the “soft way” in Sifu Hawkins Cheung’s system:To consider the whole of Wing Chun, beyond the various techniques, we must look at the two sides of the W.C. character; the “hard” and the “soft”. The yin-yang, the black-white, sun-moon, etc. . . characters of the system.

From the waist up, most W.C. practitioners are relatively the same. The elbows are in more with one system than another, or leg positioning changes slightly, but basically the tan sao is the tan sao, the lop is the lop, and the bong is the bong. However, how we apply them is important to understand. Why? Because if we are not trying to understand how to apply our art more and more, we are just spinning our wheels.

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Foundation and Basics, Hawkins Cheung , , , , , ,

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