The Core Components of Wing Chun Kuen Structure 1: Sink the Shoulders All Wing Chun students will normally have had the experience of their sifu repeating certain phrases or words during training. Depending on their lineage and sifu what is said may vary in both content and emphasis. Often what one sifu or lineage stresses, another may not and some sifu may never mention what others stress. However, there ought to be some core commonalities from gwoon to gwoon as they are hallmarks of the style. Admonition to keep the spine aligned straight/vertically; sink; keep the neck straight as if your head is held up by strings attached to the crown; relax the chest and torso; keep the elbows in and down; centrethe wrist on the centreline; put the elbow on the centreline; grip with the toes; pelvis tuck; “kim sut” are common examples. Whilst there are others, if we were to focus on a really basic core set of notions to ensure we had good structure they would have to be relax the shoulders, keep the spine straight, sink the weight, and utilise the waist correctly. “Relax” and “Sink” are likely the most common basic reminders given in most Wing Chun classes. In this article I focus on a very common problem which is part of relaxing properly - tense shoulders. When we are practising our Wing Chun if we have tension in the shoulder (which includes the trapezius muscles and often involves the neck as well), we cannot perform our art properly. Proper use of the shoulders is a key factor in all good martial arts. They need to be relaxed. This involves the shoulders’ muscles and thereby the skeletal structure needing to be dropped - not with conscious stress and effort through the trapezius but naturally by ensuring we are always aware we must not elevate them or allow them to move forward. This does not mean they are lacking all muscle tonus but that there is not tension (either conscious or unconscious) in them. We have to practice being aware of, mindful of our posture whilst performing our basic movements and forms so that the habits we develop are automatic in combat application. Once we have developed structural habits that we nonetheless monitor by being mindful of our body, we are ahead of those who either don’t understand the concepts and their translation into our bodily structure and movement patterns; those who have not incorporated them fully; and, those who are unaware of them or perform their art incorrectly. In many gwoons the sifu will simply repeat the key phrases, perhaps having earlier explained their meaning, but in my experience only few will analyse their students’ structural difficulties and prescribe the correct remedy for them. For a student who knows and understands but has lost their mental focus, often the correction need only be a reminder. For some others, supplementary exercises may need to be prescribed. With my own students such exercises might, for example, take the form of sitting and/or standing meditation, strength training exercises, flexibility drills, dummy or punching bag drills, or, in this case, specific relaxation drills. How then can we develop appropriate relaxation in the shoulders? Some of the drills (I’m excluding a lot of noi gung and traditional Chinese exercises here) I utilise, from a comprehensive whole body set I utilise in my gwoon warm-up and perform daily myself, follow: Before these exercises, relax your mind, breath in and out strongly about three times and wiggle your arms and legs to dissipate tension. Don’t do too many repetitions of these exercises as this may be counterproductive and actually tense the shoulders. The attribute we are after developing here comes over time - trying to hurry it by working “harder” will backfire. Working at things regularly (ie often in the short term) and consistently (ie continuing over time in the long term) and being mindful of your state of relaxation/tension is what will work. Also, don’t be competitive, anxious or overly analytical as this tenses the mind. And, of all things, we must relax the mind to perform good gung fu! Exercise 1: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, raise the shoulders as far as you can then squeeze and hold for about two or three seconds then drop them. Repeat about ten times. Don’t do too many as this may be counterproductive and actually tense the shoulders. The attribute we are after developing here comes over time - trying to hurry it by working “harder” will backfire. Exercise 2: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, raise the shoulders as far as you can then squeeze and hold for about two or three seconds drop the neck rearward as far as you can looking up, hold for about two or three seconds then drop the shoulders and return the head to facing straight ahead. Repeat about ten times. These two exercises will increase your awareness of relaxation and tension; produce an awareness of your tension; and give the shoulder muscles a nice squeeze to assist the flow of hei (aka “chi”). Exercise 3: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, roll the shoulders forwards making as big a circle as you can. When finished, consciously drop the shoulders. Exercise 4: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, roll the shoulders backwards making as big a circle as you can. When finished, consciously drop the shoulders. Exercise 5: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, move the shoulders forwards and rearwards making as far as you can. When finished, consciously drop the shoulders. These three exercises will increase your awareness of relaxation and tension; produce an awareness of your tension; and also help open some of the energy gates in the area to assist the flow of chi. Exercise 6: Standing in the forward stance with forward foot facing directly ahead, knee aligned vertically over the ball of the foot, for your stance width: heel of the rear leg is aligned about a fist-width distance from the front foot, rear foot faces out at about a forty five degree angle, hips face front. Place the arm on the same side as the forward foot on your hip. Raise the other arm palm up to shoulder height directly on your centreline between your nipples, palm up. Then as if you are backstroke swimming with one arm, swing the arm rearward, keeping it straight but not tense - keep it very relaxed and moving rope like in large circles rearward. Gradually increase the speed. The move needs to be driven by a gentle hip and spine move rather than from the arm itself. Then reverse your position and work the other shoulder. Work up to about hundred and eight circles over time. You can then rotate the arm forwards. When finished, consciously drop the shoulders. Exercise 7: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, lift the arms relaxedly out to the sides in line with the shoulder, wrists limp. Relax your shoulders down and slowly raise the fingers until they point up without tension. Then slowly begin making circles with the fingers. Go one way then reverse and go the other. When finished, consciously drop the shoulders. Exercise 8: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, lift the arms relaxedly out to the sides in line with the shoulder, wrists limp. Relax your shoulders down and slowly raise the fingers until they point up without tension. Then slowly begin making circles, this time focused on moving from the shoulder joint with the arm united as a whole. This will turn the fingers in small circles. Go one way then reverse and go the other. When finished, consciously drop the shoulders. Exercise 9: Standing with feet parallel shoulder width apart, toes facing straight ahead, knees slightly flexed off lock, lift the arms relaxedly out to the sides in line with the shoulder, wrists limp. Relax your shoulders down and slowly raise the fingers until they point up without tension. Then slowly begin making circles from the shoulder joint with the arm relaxed. You circle the fingers, wrist, elbows and shoulders. This looks like a bird’s wing in flight. Go one way then reverse and go the other. When finished, consciously drop the shoulders. The difference between this exercise and the previous one is that here all three joints (shoulder, elbow, wrist) are circling. In exercise 8 only the shoulder was circling. These last two exercises will, more than any other, relax the shoulders properly. Conscientiously practised, all these exercises ought to really help relax your shoulders. They only take a few minutes but can yield great benefit. Then, in the words of one of my teachers, you need to “remember not to forget”. In other words, make your structure an instinctive habit and don’t let your perceptions and tensions allow you to revert to tightening up.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 06:36:45 +0000
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