Yin and Yang in Wing Chun

Basically, Yin and Yang are a pair of complementary and interdependent forces which can be seen continuously in our everyday lives. The symbol of Yin and Yang are a Circle with two perfectly equal swirls, one black and the other one white. Within these two swirls are a dot of the opposite color, in other words, there is a white dot in the black swirl and a black dot in the white swirl. These dots are a very clear indication that there can never totally be one without the other, whenever one is present so will be the other.

So bringing this theory back to relative terms, we can see Yin and Yang in light and dark, feminine and masculine, hard and soft, smooth and rough, and so on. Bringing this theory into perspective in Wing Chun Kung Fu, we can see that Wing Chun Kung Fu is a style which integrates this theory of Yin and Yang perfectly. It combines hard and soft, passiveness and activeness.

Wing Chun Principles

For those of you who do not know Wing Chun, Wing Chun is an explosive Chinese Kung Fu style that was developed quite recently. It is a short distance style utilizing short quick movements to minimize the amount of wasted movements such as large circular attacks and blocks and overextension of the arms and the body.

Other martial arts styles such as Karate and the Chinese Hung Gar style utilize very hard and stiff movements. These styles waste far too much energy and tires the fighters very quickly, a very important factor during a fight. The Wing Chun style utilizes strong force only when needed and assumes a more relaxed and subtle state when force is not required. This allows the practioner to utilize less energy and therefore allowing them to last longer.

Wing Chun teaches the practicioner to be able to generate power at a very short distance, unlike other styles which must maintain a distance to generate power and execute an attack. Thus throughout the generations, certain practioners have developed the punching power for this style to new heights, introducing a six inch punch, one inch punch and a half inch punch. All these punches require a high level of training and focus and also requires the development of chi.

A very important part of the Wing Chun style is the sensitivity practice known as chi sau or sticky hands. Sticky hands is the practice whereby two people have their hands constantly touching each other and moving in a rhythmic and circular fashion. Through time, the practice will heighten and improve the hand feeling of the practicioners allowing them to sense the movements of their opponents before they attack. Chi Sau exercises also aid in the conditioning and improvement of trapping an opponents hands.

Wing Chun is a style that is based on centerline theory. Centerline theory is simply when a person is facing an opponent, their body will always be facing the opponent. The shoulders and the position of the arms are always in a forward position. The legs will be in a protective stance where both feet are turned inward and slightly bent. The body will be tilted back a bit, about 5 to 10 degrees.

In Wing Chun, the body is broken up into 2 areas. The first area is called the outer gate. The outer gate is the area past the inner part of the shoulders. Then there is the inner gate, which is the area within the shoulders, basically the head and chest areas. The Wing Chun style is concerned with attacks to the areas within the inner gate, all parts of the body within the shoulders. This is the primary area of attack.

Wing Chun Forms

Wing Chun Kung Fu has 3 bare hand sets. The first set in the Wing Chun Kung Fu System is called Sil Lim Tao. The name means little idea form and it is the basic foundation for all other movements in the Wing Chun System. The first set is also used to develop and strengthen the mucscles and in the development of chi.

The second set of the Wing Chun System is called Chum Kiu, this set takes the forms from the first set and brings them to a new level. This second set also introduces new movements and brings them into perspective. Whereas the first set does not require foot movement in the set, the second set introduces footwork and also various kicks and new hand movements.

The third set in the Wing Chun System is called Bil Gee. Bil Gee means thrusting fingers and it is exactly that. The third set introduces even more hand movements and footwork. This set introduces a series of elbow movements that werent used in the first two sets. Traditionally, the third set was not revealed to many students and it was a closely guarded secret of the old masters that have passed the style down in the past.

Also, there is a sensitivity practice, mentioned earlier, which is a very famous part of the Wing Chun System. This system is called Sticky Hands or Chi Sau technique. The Sticky Hands exercises are an integral part of Wing Chun and it cannot be stressed enough. People can write about it and video tape it, but it can never be learned unless one truly practices it and a true teacher closely oversees the practioners, corrects them and shows them the proper movements. Therefore, Wing Chun has long been passed down by hand because of this Sticky Hand practice, the techniques cannot be shown through books, only through feeling.

Sometimes, to bring the practice of Sticky Hands to a higher level, practitioners would blindfold themselves and practice Sticky Hands. The reason for blindfolding an individual would be to heighten their sensing through touch and not through sight, thereby causing the practioner to act more by what he feels an opponent does rather than by seeing what an opponent does.

In addition to these three sets, there is also a wooden dummy set that goes along with these. The wooden dummy set was a very useful set in that it helped the practioner to understand proper hand positioning for blocking, striking and moving. The wooden dummy was and still is an invaluable tool in the development of a practitioner's Wing Chun skill. This set originally consisted of 108 hand techniques, but in recent times has been modified into 116 or more moves.

There are two primary weapons set in the Wing Chun System and they are the long pole(cheung gwun) and the butterfly knives(baat jaam do). The long pole set was a set borrowed from the Hung Gar Style. Only the Butterfly Knife techniques were truly derived from the Wing Chun System. The Butterfly knife set closely resembles the hand sets in blocking and attacking and so the hand sets needed to be developed and understood by a practioner before the Butterfly knife set was introduced.