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Realise that it is not about you. Nothing others do is because of you.

Hi Tribe.

This is not a short, read it on the toilet type of posting, this is a mid-length essay, dedicate about 20 minutes, if you make this investment it WILL save you years, so make a coffee, kick out the cat, put your feet up and clear your mind. Or don’t, your call.

SETTLE IN, SETTLE DOWN, BE HERE NOW.

From the outset we must realise that there is no way to talk about the Warrior Mindset, all we can hope for is a way to talk about approaching the Warrior Mindset. We do not seek it out and find it, the Warrior Mindset finds us as a result of our work.

The Warrior Mindset is open to two very different interpretations, a Martial Warrior is a soldier that fights other soldiers, and a Spiritual Warrior is a man that fights the baser elements of himself. Martial Arts conflate these two ideas with very mixed results, mainly due to unrealistic expectations of progress through mystical osmosis.

Martial Arts are the messenger and not the message, but they do provide the tools to translate the message.

Wether we are a Martial Warrior fighting for our lives, or a Spiritual Warriors fighting self ignorance it all hinges on being in the present, the Here and Now, at all times.

Martial Arts provide this by giving us a ritualistic training method, a way of developing singular focus by working hard at performing all of the movements flawlessly, by focusing on what we are doing to the exclusion of all other distractions. It is simpler than it sounds, it could be any movement, any shape done in any way but as human beings repetition and ritual are very powerful aids to success, this is the genesis of all Martial Arts Forms.

There is a great deal of wisdom available to us from such diverse sources as the Toltec Shaman of Mexico, the Buddhism of Tibet, the Egyptian Book of the Dead and of course all of the Martial Art Classics, but there is also new knowledge from more recent travellers on this road from both the military aspect such as Lt. Col. Dave Grossman to the more cerebral approach of Dr. Gavin Becker.

We would profit greatly from visiting more than one library. This essay is intended as an entrée to encourage and entice you to seek out the Grand Buffet.

SETTLE IN, SETTLE DOWN.

Everything begins with Intention, we must know what it is we wish to do, what we hope to find, if we do not know beforehand what we are looking for we will walk right past it when it turns up, as Winston Churchill observed “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”

CENTRING.

Are we centring our body awareness? Are we centring our mental awareness? Or are we centring our spiritual awareness? Do we even know if there is any difference?

What we seek is what T.S.Elliot referred to as the Still Point of a Moving World.

At the still point of the moving world, there the dance is ………  except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance.   {Burnt Norton 1935}

BE HERE NOW,

Your breath is always in the here and now, you can’t pay attention to a past breath, and we have no thought of future breath, so if you are paying attention to your breath, you must be in the present.

Breathe in through the nose, a full breathe, hold for a second or three and breathe out through the mouth, breath it all out hold and repeat, and repeat and repeat.

Do not attach importance to the actual breathing, no Wim Hof Method or Pranayama, as wonderful and powerful as these methods are they are intended for different outcomes and could end up both distractive and destructive.

While you breathe observe your breath, feel it, hear it, watch it as it moves through your body like a living thing. What effect does your breath have on different parts of your body, do your shoulders move as you breath? Do they tense? Do they relax?  Do they behave the same on Inhalation and exhalation?

Get to know your breath and how every part of your body reacts when you breathe, even down to your toes. Your body is a bellows, feel your chest widen sideways as you inhale and recognise the muscles that do this, then feel it naturally contract as you exhale.

This is not centring, this is just us settling in and settling down, preparing the body and mind for centring.

Centring is a meditation.

The 5 Sounds.

Breathe, settle in and settle down, keep breathing.

Locate and identify a sound that is near you, for instance the sound of your own breathing, listen to it for a short while.

Find a second sound slightly farther away, perhaps a bird, a creaking branch, identify it and place its position in space and notice its relationship to you [orient], is it in front, behind, higher, lower, left, right that kind of thing, listen for a while. Find a third sound even farther out, identify, place, orient, listen patiently. Find a fourth sound even farther out still, identify, place, orient.

For the fifth sound listen right out at the edge of your hearing, it may be just a distant rumbling, listen to it and let it fill the air. Breathe.

Reverse the order of discovery until you are once again at the centre of your personal universe listening to your breathing.

The 5 Feelings.

Breathe, settle in and settle down, keep breathing.

In a purely physical sense feel something affecting your body, it could be the wind on your skin, the sun on your head, your feet pressing the floor, if you are sitting or lying down there are many other possibilities, your shirt collar on your neck in short anything, firstly feel everything separately one at a time, just like the previous exercise feel it, identify its position is space, listen to it.

Feel 5 separate things and then finally feel all 5 things simultaneously.

The 5 Expansions.

Breathe, settle in and settle down, keep breathing.

#1. Close your eyes and see yourself as if from above, see the immediate space around you on all sides, this is well suited to doing indoors sitting down, see the room, see the furniture, breathe easily as you observe the surroundings. Realise that even from here you can still see yourself.

#2. Inhale and expand to a height were you can only see the house that has the room you are sitting in, see the space around the house, trees, cars, neighbours, breathe easily as you observe the surroundings. Realise that even from here you can still see yourself.

#3. Inhale and expand to a height were you can only see the Town/City where your house is, breathe easily as you observe the surroundings. Realise that even from here you can still see yourself.

#4. Inhale and expand to a height were you can only see the country you live in, breathe easily as you observe your surroundings. Realise that even from here you can still see yourself.

#5. Inhale and expand to a height were you can only see the planet Earth from space, breathe easily as you observe your surroundings. Realise that even from here you can still see yourself. At the centre of it all.

The 5 Positions of a Warrior Mindset to apply to the ‘Waking World’.

#1. Measure every decision, every action against the undeniable fact that you are going to die.  Maybe not right now, but quite possibly later on today.  When measured against our ultimate demise all problems are seen for what they really are and shrink into insignificance.

#2. Do your best. Your best is going to change from minute to minute; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to when you are sick.  Whatever you are doing, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, and the negativity that goes with it.

#3. Realise that it is not about you. Nothing others do is because of you.  What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own story.  When the actions of others have no importance there is no self doubt.  Even in a antagonistic situation it is not about you, a soldier just kills another soldier, not a singular individual person.

#4. Understand the power and greatness of not knowing. All of our problems arise from known things, all of the great answers are as of yet unknown, the things we think we know are the cages that we bind ourselves with. Not knowing is not just a state to be endured; it’s a state of possibility and, a state of power. Creativity is a consequence of not knowing.

#5. Be impeccable. This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 78–82.    

Warriors have an ulterior purpose for their acts which has nothing to do with personal gain. The average man acts only if there is a chance for profit.   Warriors act not for profit, but for the spirit.

 

Using our training to do the work.

Opening up the way to translate the message, how to do the work that will hopefully lead to the Warrior Mindset manifesting.

As I have already mentioned first of all comes INTENTION.

Do we intend to be Martial Warriors or Spiritual Warriors?

The training is the same, so right here right now we do not need to choose, but be assured the final set of stairs are very different.

Let’s make a start, although it is in no way a prerequisite most of the people that will even attempt this work usually have a decent level of basic training, some knowledge of Forms or Kata and a level of understanding about the effort and commitment needed to be competent in the Martial Arts.

 

Q.  Why are we training?

A.  Hopefully to develop a Warrior Mindset.

Q.  What is training?     

A.Training is way to become better, not a chance to prove how good we are.

 Think a while on that last statement,   “Training is way to become better, not a chance to prove how good we are”.

For a student that has been training for 12 months to a master that has been training for 60 years this statement holds true.

The main aim is to take ourselves out of the equation, to become a witness to the unfolding event and not a participant, only in this way can we respond as opposed to reacting.

This is a life skill, not just a martial skill.

We train Wing Chun so I will use Wing Chun references but it is just a method and could of course be used with any style, any system.

Pick a movement from any of the Wing Chun Forms, just one movement, develop as much knowledge and understanding that you can about this particular movement, get it straight in your head before you attempt to force it on your body.

As Human Beings everything we do is a complete body action, if your Form of choice is the First Form, the S.L.T.Where the only moving parts are your arms, do not make the error of not seeing this as a complete body action.

Stillness and movement are part of a singular continuum, just like sound and silence, hot and cold, they both describe each other, no matter how still my body is my blood and spirit still move.

Let us use the most basic and well known movement, Taan Sau.

As we perform Taan Sau what is the top of our head doing? What is the arch of our foot doing? What is our spine doing?  If we happen to be a person who agrees with the idea of circulating energy, what is our Chi doing?

So much to think about, so many body parts to track, so much to be aware of and yet we have not even mentioned the shoulder or the elbow or any other part or aspect of the arm, still we are without doubt talking about Tarn Sau.

It can be any movement from any Form, it is always our whole and complete body, no gaps, no omissions, this in turn creates a condition of singular and concentrated focus that removes us from the world of not doing Wing Chun and drops us squarely into the world of doing Wing Chun.

We are removed from the world of NOT NOW and manifest in the world of ONLY NOW.

Being in the NOW allows us to witness what is happening and make a suitable response instead of just a hopeful reaction.

 I will finish with two of my favourite quotes/parables.

Firstly the Taoist Scholar Chuang Tzu.   This is a reworking of the Empty Boat Parable, I do not remember where it came from but I really get it.

A man is crossing a river in his skiff in a storm when suddenly another skiff collides with him.  He becomes angry and begins to shout until he notices that the skiff is empty, that it has broken its moorings and is loose on the tide.  Noticing that the skiff is empty and loose on the tide he stops shouting because there is no one to shout at, suddenly he realises that we are all skiffs in a storm, loose on the tide, and that there is no one to shout.

The second is from the great composer Igor Stravinsky, or quite possibly an Urban myth.

When rehearsing for the upcoming debut of the Firebird Suite, the first violin came to Stravinsky and told him that he was quitting the orchestra because the violin solo was just far too difficult for him to play, Stravinsky laughed and said “of course it is, what I really want is to hear someone of your skill level trying to play it”.

 

If one moves they all move if one stops they all stop.

The most famous maxim in Real Estate is “Location, Location, Location”, the implication being that substance can be developed or improved later, in fact things can be demolished and rebuilt if the “Ground” we chose was fit for purpose.

In every style of Martial Arts this “Ground”, is the fundamentals of Self-control, the “Basics” of Human movement…

Balance, Stability and co-ordination.

Once developed this understanding is reinforced by an individual styles structure and philosophy.

It is one of life’s most curious enigmas that the people that would benefit the most from studying these basics tend to rush past them in pursuit of the so called advanced methods, ignoring older information for something newer without first reading the older information that they so obviously birthed from.

The stats for this blog tell me that very few visitors use the menu bar to explore what ,as the author of this blog, I think are the “Jewels in the Crown”.

Here is one of the posts that live in the Structure/Frame dropdown menu, this information is so central to everything else we do it could be used instead of standard training.

Balance and Stability:

Keeping it simple Balance is maintaining equilibrium when motionless against nothing but the Force of Gravity.

Balance is motionless, if we are moving it is more accurate to talk about Stability.

Stability is maintaining or regaining Balance against outside forces, including forces created by ourselves, as in our own movement.

Balance is motionless and Stability is maintaining or regaining Balance, therefore Stability is about remaining or becoming still.

Some confusion arises because frequently Stability is referred to as either Static Balance or Dynamic Balance, especially if we include coordination, in this context :

Static Balance refers to the ability to maintain the body’s centre of mass within its base of support, as in standing still.

Dynamic Balance refers to the ability to move the centre of mass outside the body’s base of support, while maintaining postural control as in moving.

Balance and Coordination.

 Dynamic Balance is the ability to stay upright or maintain control of body movement, and Coordination is the ability to move two or more body parts under this control, smoothly and efficiently.

As always the best approach is to do your own research and form your own opinion.

Three important principals of Balance / Stability.

1. A broader base of support {wider feet} increases stability.
2. Keeping the line of gravity central inside the support base increases stability.
3. A lower centre of gravity increases stability.

From a Wing Chun perspective, the lower stances / positions of the Chum Kiu and Baat Cham do are more Stable than the higher stance / position of the First Form {S.L.T}.

Getting back to the previous statement that “Balance is motionless and Stability is maintaining or regaining Balance”, it is more useful to think that Stability is about remaining or becoming still, we can see that the movements activated through the various Wing Chun Forms are not so much about moving to or from an opponent but rather moving from one position of equilibrium to another, moving to a new position of Stability, they are about stopping.

This is an important factor in power production and in keeping with the Conservation of Momentum Theory.

If we use the Chum Kiu Form as our testing ground the cycle of movements should go from being still {Static Balance} through the sequence or movement of choice, for instance the lateral shifting with Dai Sau and Bong sau {Dynamic Balance} culminating in stillness at the completion of the sequence or movement {back to Static Balance}.

The movement of the arms adds extra complexity to maintaining Balance by introducing new vectors but the main take away for the arms is in developing coordination of the upper and lower body, the action should fill the same time period, both stopping and starting,  as the movement of the legs and waist. 

If one moves they all move if one stops they all stop.

The Wing Chun Forms are subtle and use minimal movement deliberately, because of this it can be difficult to observe the movements in detail, it is often easier and more effective to have stand alone exercises to study this, once we are familiar with the connections between Balance, Stability, Coordination and Movement the understanding can be transposed onto the various Forms.

BALANCE / STABILITY OVERVIEW.

BALANCE

POSTURE.

CORE ACTIVATION.

 In this Saturday morning’s training I felt that we had in some way finished a rotation and we were once again setting our first steps on the journey that is understanding Wing Chun, but this time with the benefit of the knowledge we accumulated from previous rotations.

Borrowed maps from fellow travellers.

Over the coming week, I am going to re-run a number of posts that are in sync with this IDEA.

There is more to a Bus Journey than a Driver and a Bus, there needs to be interaction, our Ego makes us think that we bring about that interaction, we think the act of driving is us creating the interaction, but Driving is an inherent part of being a Driver, just as much as breathing or eating. 

Interaction is not done, it just happens.

The magic in all of this is that the Bus does not know the Driver exists, and the Driver does not realise that he is part of the Bus.

When we think of Layers we tend to envision them as physical things like layers of an Onion, without realising it we think we have some control over them, that we can separate them manually, move from one to another simply by choosing to, this is rarely the case, we would do better to see Layers as something like a state change or dimension shift, something that happens around us, something we have little control over like the dawning of a new day, one moment it is pitch black, then a sliver of light breaks in and then just like magic it is all daylight.

When we first do the Form we place our awareness into a single Arm and we keep it there as we make the different movements, for a long time that’s all there is, an Arm moving somewhere, we become amazed, and slightly obsessed. 

As we become familiar and comfortable with this way of being we start to sense that there is something else here, without noticing the transition our awareness is now consumed by the rotation of the Shoulder, the hinging of the Elbow, the flexing of the Wrist and the extension of the Fingers, in everything we do this is the new reality of moving, and again we become amazed, and slightly obsessed.

With repetition comes familiarity, increased knowledge begins another transition, now our awareness is consumed by the Bridge alone {the lower Arm from the Elbow to the Finger tips}, externally the moves are the same, everything that was happening before is still happening, including the amazement and obsession.

Time, repetition, familiarity, transition, the pattern repeats but now there is just one tiny spot on the Bridge, it could be anywhere, a Finger Tip, an Elbow, a Wrist, as if someone had just marked us with a Felt Tipped Board Marker, a little Green Dot.

Every move every action is just this little Green Dot going about its business, following our intention. Time, repetition, familiarity, transition, we realise that our whole Body is made up of millions of little Green Dots, connected, and unified, when one Green Dot moves they all move, so we only ever need to move one Green Dot.

Any green dot we choose, it could be on our wrist if we are thinking Sil Lim Tao, on our Waist if we are thinking Chum Kiu, on a Shoulder if we are thinking Biu Gee, it is just a thought, just an IDEA.

When any single part of us moves all of us moves.

There is a perception that deeper levels or layers bring greater more complex IDEAS, this is as far from the truth as we can get, every layer underneath is smaller, simpler and closer to the core.

The easiest place to experience these transitions, these layers, these dimension shifts or state changes is of course the First Form, not because it is in any way superior to the other Forms but because there is a lot less going on,

This is why so many people spend so much time on this Form, but there is a danger in this practice, if we cannot, or do not make the connections between all the Forms, if we cannot or do not create one unified method, one unified IDEA we may end up with a deep understanding of the First Form but a shallow understanding of Chum Kiu and Bill Gee.

When we consider that in ‘application’ we only ever use aspects of Chum Kiu and Bil Gee this could become a problem.

There is no special trick or skill to unifying the Forms, we just spend an equal amount of time on each one, if we can find one move, one feeling, that is exactly the same in all the Forms and work outwards from that point, interaction will just happen.

The Driver boards the Bus and takes his seat, the Bus kicks into life and the Journey begins.

Today is a different journey than yesterday, even if we take the same route.

The journey from ‘not knowing’ to ‘knowing’ is very much like travelling along a dark road, when knowledge arrives it does not come as a bolt of lightning that brings instant illumination and clarity, it is much more like falling into a hole in the road that was always there, we just could not see it in the dark.

 

 

 

There is more to a Bus Journey than a Driver and a Bus, there needs to be interaction, our Ego makes us think that we bring about that interaction, we think the act of driving is us creating the interaction, but Driving is an inherent part of being a Driver, just as much as breathing or eating. 

Interaction is not done, it just happens.

The magic in all of this is that the Bus does not know the Driver exists, and the Driver does not realise that he is part of the Bus.

When we think of Layers we tend to envision them as physical things like layers of an Onion, without realising it we think we have some control over them, that we can separate them manually, move from one to another simply by choosing to, this is rarely the case, we would do better to see Layers as something like a state change or dimension shift, something that happens around us, something we have little control over like the dawning of a new day, one moment it is pitch black, then a sliver of light breaks in and then just like magic it is all daylight.

When we first do the Form we place our awareness into a single Arm and we keep it there as we make the different movements, for a long time that’s all there is, an Arm moving somewhere, we become amazed, and slightly obsessed. 

As we become familiar and comfortable with this way of being we start to sense that there is something else here, without noticing the transition our awareness is now consumed by the rotation of the Shoulder, the hinging of the Elbow, the flexing of the Wrist and the extension of the Fingers, in everything we do this is the new reality of moving, and again we become amazed, and slightly obsessed.

With repetition comes familiarity, increased knowledge begins another transition, now our awareness is consumed by the Bridge alone {the lower Arm from the Elbow to the Finger tips}, externally the moves are the same, everything that was happening before is still happening, including the amazement and obsession.

Time, repetition, familiarity, transition, the pattern repeats but now there is just one tiny spot on the Bridge, it could be anywhere, a Finger Tip, an Elbow, a Wrist, as if someone had just marked us with a Felt Tipped Board Marker, a little Green Dot.

Every move every action is just this little Green Dot going about its business, following our intention. Time, repetition, familiarity, transition, we realise that our whole Body is made up of millions of little Green Dots, connected, unified, when one Green Dot moves they all move, so we only ever need to move one Green Dot.

Any one we choose, it could be on our wrist if we are thinking Sil Lim Tao, on our Waist if we are thinking Chum Kiu, on a Shoulder if we are thinking Biu Gee, it is just a thought, just an IDEA.

When any single part of us moves all of us moves.

There is a perception that deeper levels or layers bring greater more complex IDEAS, this is as far from the truth as we can get, just like an Onion every layer underneath is smaller, simpler and closer to the core.

The easiest place to experience these transitions, these layers, these dimension shifts or state changes is of the course the First Form, not because it is any way superior to the other Forms but because there is a lot less going on, this is why so many people spend so much time on this Form, but there is a danger here, if we cannot, or do not make the connections between all the Forms, if we cannot or do not create one unified method, one unified IDEA we may end up with a deep understanding of the First Form but a shallow understanding of Chum Kiu and Bill Gee.

When we consider that in application we only ever use aspects of Chum Kiu and Bil Gee this could be a problem.

There is no special trick or skill to unifying the Forms, we just spend an equal amount of time on each one, if we can find one move, one feeling, that is exactly the same in all the Forms and work outwards from that point, interaction will just happen.

The Driver boards the Bus and takes his seat, the Bus kicks into life and the Journey begins.

The journey from not knowing to knowing is very much like traveling along a dark road, when knowledge arrives it does not come as a bolt of lightning that brings instant illumination and clarity, it is much more like falling into an information filled hole in the road that was always there, we just could not see it in the dark.

 

The most difficult thing to accept and the steepest learning curve is to ‘NOT’ try to prevent someone from hitting us.

We develop the use and understanding of the Shield Arm, like so many other aspects of Wing Chun through Chi Sau.

Or to be more precise and  correct through the thoughtful engagement with an opponent in Chi Sau while operating with the knowledge that Chi Sau itself is a practice from Chum Kiu.

As seductive as the idea of osmosis is we should not place any faith in it, a reality in every walk of life is that ‘People without questions rarely find answers’, just playing Chi Sau will not deliver an understanding of the Shield Arm unless we are actively looking to understand the Shield Arm and using Chi Sau as the means to that end, unless we can manifest the IDEA of the Shield no amount of Chum Kiu will teach us how to move it.

The most difficult thing to accept and the steepest learning curve is to ‘NOT’ try to prevent someone from hitting us.

That is Defending.

Wing Chun Counter Attacks.

The Shield is there to stop the Bad Guy hitting us, it is not used to try to hit the Bad Guy, the only time a shield was used to hit the opponent was once knights started to wear plate armour that could resist sword cuts, then the damage came from being knocked down crashing about inside a metal suit, a bit like a car crash, not from the shield bash.

I mentioned that in all probability we will need to bring about the transition from the initial chaos of contact to a position where we can implement our Counter Attack philosophy, this does require physical use of the shield, but not by attacking.

Using the Shield to make the space to transition from the initial chaos of the first encounter to phase #2 is about using our own force or energy to move us to a safer place by using the opponent as an anchor, it is not about trying to move them to better position to attack them, that is not to say that we could not or should not do that, it would just not be considered ‘Counter Attacking’, it would be diametrically opposed to this philosophy.

Once we are in a safer place the Bad Guy is once again invited to attack us.

Philosophies should be guides, not dogma, this is the deep philosophy behind Wing Chun, the deep philosophy behind our training.

Theory and reality are not in anyway similar, in reality if we find ourselves in a violent situation anything goes, if it works it was the correct choice.

Over the years quite a few people of accused me of trying to re invent the wheel with the way I approach Wing Chun, my usual reply is that people accused John Dunlop and Charles Goodyear of the same thing when they introduced the pneumatic tyre, it is incorrect to imply that I am involved in reinventing the wheel, It would be a lot more accurate to say that I am trying to upgrade the suspension.

Counter Attacking as a philosophy means that we not only expect but must in fact invite the Bad Guy to attack us

When writing about anything we always run into the power and the awkwardness of words, subtleties are missed simply because some people do not use words as well as others, defence mechanisms kick in, comments such as ‘that is just another way of saying blah, blah, blah’ or ‘thats just semantics’ prevent people from seeing the reality of what is in front of them, the simplicity.

In the last post I mentioned defending and attacking require different mindsets, that we cannot defend and attack at the same time, due to this fact Simultaneous Attack and Defence needs to be seen as a concept and not a method,.

Perhaps as a method for applying the philosophy of Counter Attack it has some value, if you are in an Attacking / Predatory mindset {using the Shield Arm, I will cover this later}, but by equal measure it has zero value if you are in a Defensive / Survivalist mindset.

Counter Attacking is a philosophy that once understood and abided by is outside of the win – loose matrix.

Getting back to the subtlety and awkwardness of words for a second, different things are ‘called’ different things because they ‘are’ different things.

If we are defending we are only defending, if we are attacking we are only attacking, if we are under attack and turn the tables on our attacker we are not defending we are {counter} attacking. 

Is the last statement subtle or awkward?

Or simple and clear?

Counter Attacking is turning the tables and attacking in return, Counter Attacking does not require defence, only that we are under attack.

Simultaneous Attack and Defence is a method we use only if we are being attacked to try to turn the tables and snatch some measure of control, it is always reactive, we are a victim of external circumstances and all the negative  implications that come along with that randomness, we are involved in someone else’s agenda, someone else plan, someone else event, and our own actions will be controlled by a Mindset that will be a product of that event and not necessarily of our own choosing.

Counter Attacking as a philosophy means that we not only expect but must in fact invite the Bad Guy to attack us so that we can then turn the tables and return the attack, we choose to allow the attacker the opening shot, if need be tempting them with clear openings and easy targets that they would find hard to pass up.

This is very much the difference between learning Wing Chun and learning how to use Wing Chun.

Having invited the attacker in, there is very little surprise in their actions and this allows us to respond, not react.  It is now our agenda, our plan, our event.

Something that should not be overlooked is that now that it is our event, it is our actions that drive our opponents Mindset and not their own.

Looking back to the three phases of a fight I mentioned in the previous post, the majority of the Wing Chun training I have been involved in and witnessed at various other schools is all about phase #1, and of course it is faultless if we find ourselves in this position.

To be in phase #1 requires that we are in control of the situation from the very beginning, something the Bad Guy will not want if this is an attack and not a fight, often we ourselves will sacrifice this position by being over involved in the pre violence theatre and missing the attack indicators.

The vast majority of violence we will face will be phase #2. 

More often than not we will of missed phase #1 completely,  we will need to force a separation and create the space for phase #2 to come into being, often we will not even be defending ourselves, just creating space any way we can.

Earlier in this piece I mentioned the Shield Arm, this will make more sense to people with a European background of my generation than others, as children we played with swords and shields as they were an important aspect of European History, from the Greek and Trojan wars through to Medieval times they were the weapons of choice for most armies, we covered it in High School, there were countless movies and popular legends and to top it off social conventions of the 1960s and 1970s thought it healthier for children to be Spartans or Knights than Gunslingers.

There was period in my teenage years that a group of fellow Martial Art friends and I were involved in some semi – serious play with swords and shields, we did research as well as we could and on occasions took instruction from one of the organisations that involved historical reenactments, great fun and very informative, when you play with sword and shield, or dirk and buckler it becomes crystal clear that weapon arts came before empty hand arts, but that is a post for another time.

In the Wing Chun Genesis Myth a stork is observed warding off the attacks of a snake by using its wing, not to counter attack but to absorb and redirect the attack, just as a soldier would use a shield, this action is called Bong Sau, the Wing Arm it could just as easily be called the Shield Arm.

Chi Sau teaches how to dampen force through the Wing Arm / Shield Arm, Chum Kiu teaches how to manoeuvre the shield to intercept the incoming strike before it manifests its potential force, decrease impact forces. 

When we shift in Chum Kiu we shift along the line of the incoming attack, not towards the attacker, we do this so as to shorten the length and as such decrease power of the swing as we counter attack with the free Striking Hand / Sword Arm.

Although there are a number of methods to apply a shield, what they all have in common is that the action is a relatively  passive one, the shield accepts the attack, it does not try to add any of its own force or actively redirect it, any redirection is a product of the shape of the Shield and the direction of the bodies movement upon contact.

The shield acts as a damper, or as I describe it to my guys a passive or inactive defence, by placing the shield in the path of the strike there is no longer any need to monitor the incoming strike and all of our concentration, focus and intention can be diverted to attacking open targets that cannot be defended because the attacker is involved in their own attack.

To be continued… pt. 3. HOW DO WE TRAIN THE SHIELD ARM?