WHAT IS WING CHUN.
Wing Chun is different things to different people, sometimes very different things, I have close friends that I trained alongside for 17 years, we heard the same information at the same time from the same Master, yet our opinions, approaches and methodologies are so different that we almost do different styles.
More confusing still is that we are all correct in our own thinking and we all do and teach very accomplished Wing Chun.
Being different things to different people is both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because it allows the freedom and creativity needed to adapt the base idea in such a way as to be a perfect and completely individual fit for each and every one of us.
A curse because until we do find what our own way is it is more or less pot luck, using other people ideas, other people’s approaches in a vain hope that they will somehow work.
They never do, we can only ever learn and use our own Wing Chun.
But we all need to start somewhere and following a celebrated master is as good a place to start as any, it is after all what I did myself.
The good news is that Wing Chun works brilliantly if you trust it enough to use it, happily it is easy to trust when you invest the time to understand it on a personal level, and by personal I mean physical.
It makes little difference how you approach the work, if you are part of the Wing Chun community that believe doing certain movements in a certain way can develop some kind of Chi Power, the fabled Monkey Magic from the Chinese classic “Journey to the West”.
Or if you are from the opposite side of the Wing Chun community that thinks any Internal Power is nothing more than a faerie tale, Chinese Mumbo Jumbo, there is no argument about the value of the base information.
The IDEA that Wing Chun originates from, the physical alignments and the approach to managing force act in accordance with basic physics, kinesiology, bio – mechanics, and modern sports science, in short the laws that govern our Universe.
Wing Chun is based on normal human body movements, if you are a normal human being and you move the chances are you are already using Wing Chun you just did not realise it.
When that dreadful day arrives and we find ourselves in a violent situation no matter if we win or lose it will be down to us and no body else, no favourite YouTube channel, no long gone Sigung’s or Guru’s, ultimately we and we alone will be totally responsible for the outcome.
Choose wisely.
Be responsible in training, be honest with yourself as to whether or not what you’re doing, what you are learning, would be of any use outside of this situation in this training hall, take no ones word for anything until you have tested it, and above all keep an open mind.
