Wing Chun - What Are Its Principles? I believe that this is a very important question for all students to ask and to understand. After all, it should become very clear from even your first lesson that Wing Chun is NOT a technique based system (that is, we do not focus on set techniques in response to set attacks). Instead, we are seeking to master a body structure which can respond to and deliver force in any way that you choose, and as we are all individuals, how you choose to respond to something may well be entirely different to how anyone else does. Sifu Derek tells of how his fellow students under Mr Yip Man would often ask at training “Can I do X in response to attack Y?” and Mr Yip Man would simply respond “Can you do it? If you can, then do it!” This is an elegantly simple and logical test - that if something works for you in a fight then you should do it, however that doesn’t mean that others have to do the same. This flexibility and “customisation” of the style to each individual teacher can also explain why many of Mr Yip Man’s students appear to teach in different ways, but I believe that if you look at any genuine Wing Chun school, regardless of how they teach, you will find them unified by the principles that lie behind the Wing Chun system. So what are these principles of Wing Chun? Some have listed 5 principles or 8 principles, but I believe that you can distill them all down to just one - “Economy”. I believe that the other attributes frequently cited (such as “simplicity”, or “directness”) are all subsets of this fundamental principle of Economy. To my way of thinking, the principle of Economy in Wing Chun applies to all things and to every aspect of what we seek to do, and it is what distinguishes genuine Wing Chun not only from other styles of martial arts but also from styles that may claim to be Wing Chun but do not adhere to this fundamental principle of Economy. When training in Wing Chun, one should strive to be Economical in absolutely everything that you do. That is, you should always be trying to find a way to achieve your objectives by doing less, not more. If you can adopt this thinking then you will understand the need to choose the most direct route to your attacker, not to separate defence from attack, to minimise muscular effort, nor should you add superfluous movements or flourishes to anything that you do. In all things be Economical. I say this to all students always - Wing Chun done correctly does not LOOK impressive, either in a real fight nor in practice. The outward shape and appearance of your hands are less important than the state and structure of your hands. This is also why it is impossible to have Wing Chun competitions based on the forms, because outwardly and to the eye, there is little difference to be gleaned between a high level practitioner doing Siu Lim Tao and a lower level practitioner - in your Wing Chun training if you are striving for aesthetic appeal then you are moving away from this important principle of Economy. As I said at the outset, Wing Chun is not a technique based style, so how you respond to any attack or situation will ultimately be up to you, and as Mr Yip Man would say to all his students, you are free to do whatever works for you. But as you have this great freedom as a student, I would urge you to pay close attention to this principle of Economy to ensure that your training proceeds on the right path. In time you will realise that you can not selectively apply this principle - for example if you spend your time practising punching along the centreline (i.e. “economy of movement”) but you are happy to use your muscles and some tension to apply power (but not “economy of effort”), in years to come as your strength peaks and starts to decline, you will find your fellow students abilities continuing to grow while yours will have been needlessly limited by the path that you chose at the beginning of your training. Focus and apply this idea of “Economy” to every aspect of your training and practice in Wing Chun and I assure you of a rich dividend in years to come.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:58:55 +0000
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