Wing chun: Formy - the Forms - le Forme

Wing chun: Formy


Zdravím všechny,

dnes budeme mluvit o Formách.

Většinou jsme zvyklí zmiňovat se třech formách ve Wing Chun: Forma "Malá Myšlenka" (nebo-li "Malý Trénink" nebo jiné překlady), Forma "Hledání/Potopit Most" a  další  z forem "Prsty jako šipky".
Nebudu tady zahrnovat Formu Výkopů, Formu Dřevěného Panáka nebo formu se zbraněmi (zmiňuju pouze nevíce používanou verzi Wing Chun, která je z GGM Yip Man).

Nemůžeme si myslet na Wing Chun bez těchto tří forem.
Navzdory tomu, že existují různé linie Wing Chun, a ne všechny využívají tyto stejné formy, nebo jen některé z nich.
Existují dokonce i systémy Wing Chun, kteří nepoužívají vůbec formy, ale pouze opakování základních pohybů.

Ptáte se, proč toto? Protože je Wing Chun systémem, který je  založený na konceptu. Jeho tajemství není v pohybech a v sériích, ale spíše v jejich úmyslu.

Co to znamená? V podstatě to znamená, že není důležité, kolik forem nebo známých sekvencí znáte. Nejdůležitější je kvalita, nikoli kvantita: to je důvod, proč obvykle lidé začínají s Tréninkem Malé Myšlenky, která v sobě obsahuje všechna semínka ze Systému.
Systém je celek a každá forma přidává specifický vzhled.

Bylo řečeno, že každá forma představuje konkrétní strategii v rámci Systému. Není to úplně správné.
Jedná se jednoduše o různé aspekty a řeč je také částečně spojena s různýma metodama učitelů.

Proto cílem každé formy je cvičit specifické dovednosti.
Víte tedy, proč trénujete vaše formy? A víte, jaké úrovni a jaké dovednosti odpovídají?

Pokračování příště...

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Wing chun: the Forms


Hi everybody,

we touch today the topic of the forms.

Normally we are used to consider three forms in Wing Chun:  the Form of the "Little Idea" (or "Little Training" or other translations), the "Seeking/Sinking Bridge" Form and the "Trusting Fingers" Form. I am not including here the Form of the Kicks, the Wooden Dummy Form or the Forms with weapons (just considering the most common Wing Chun version, GGM Yip Man's one).
We cannot think of a Wing Chun without these three forms.







Nevertheless, there are different Wing Chun Lineages, and not all of them use the same forms, or not all of them.
Even, there are Wing Chun Systems which don't adopt any forms but only repetition of basic movements.


Why this? Because Wing Chun is a conceptual system. Its secret is not in the movements or in the sequences, but rather in the intention behind them.




What does it mean? It means basically that it's not important how many forms or sequences you know. More important is the quality, not the quantity: this is why in general people start with a Little Idea which contains in itself all the seeds of the System.
The System is a whole and every form adds some specific aspects.

It has been said that every form is a specific strategy internal to the System. This is not correct.
It's all about different aspects and also partially related to the methodologies of the different teachers.

So every form is meant to train specific skills.
Do you know why are you training your forms? And which level and which skill do they correspond to?


See you next time...

________________


 Wing chun: le Forme


Ciao a tutti,

parliamo oggi di Forme.

Di solito siamo abituati a considerare tre forme nel Wing Chun:  la Forma della "Piccola Idea" (o "Piccolo Training" o altre traduzioni), la Forma del "Cercare/ Affondare il Ponte" e quella delle "Dita come frecce" form. Non sto includendo qui la Forma dei Calci, la Forma al Pupazzo di Legno o quelle con armi (solo considerando la più comune versione del Wing Chun, quella del GGM Yip Man).
Non riusciamo a pensare a un Wing Chun senza queste tre forme.

Nonostante questo, ci sono differenti Lineages di Wing Chun, e non tutti fanno uso di queste stesse forme, o non di tutte.
Ci sono persino Sistemi di Wing Chun che non fanno affatto uso di forme ma solo di ripetizioni di movimenti basici

Perchè questo? Perchè il Wing Chun è un sistema basato su concetti. Il suo segreto non è nei movimenti e nelle sequenze, ma piuttosto nell' intenzione dietro essi.

Che significa questo? Significa essenzialmente che non è importante quante forme o sequenze conoscete. Più importante è la qualità, non la quantità: questa è la ragione per cui in genere le persone iniziano il Training con una Piccola Idea che contiene in sè tutti i semi del Sistema.
Il Sistema è un intero e ogni forma aggiunge aspetti specifici.

Si è detto che ogni forma rappresenta una specifica strategia interna al Sistema. Non è esattamente corretto.
Si tratta semplicemente di differenti aspetti e il discorso è anche parzialmente legato alle metodologie dei differenti insegnanti.

Dunque scopo di ogni forma è quello di allenare specifiche abilità.
Sapete dunque perchè allenate le vostre forme? E sapete a quale livello e a quale abilità corrispondono?


Alla prossima...

HKB Wing Chun: zdravější, jistější, šťastnější!

Bojové umění v Praze a okolí jsou málo používané.
Proto vás zvu si přijít vyzkoušet do naší Školy HKB Wing Chun. Máme tu specifické programy jako je osobní obrana pro ženy i muže a organizujeme kurzy pro děti, které jsou vynikající aktivitou po stránce fyzické a rekreační, edukativní pro tělo, zlepšující koordinaci a kvalitu pohybu a získání většího sebevědomí.

Naše motto je: zdravější, jistější, šťastnější s  HKB Wing Chun.

V sobotu 19.října 2013 v 18 hod ve Sportovní Hale v Malých Kyšicích, je pro všechny  připravena krátká prezentace /cca. 30 minut/.
Nestyďte se! Jste srdečně zváni!

Těšíme se na vás ;)
________________________________________________

Martial Arts, in and around Prague, are not so much developed.
This is why I invite you all to try the HKB Wing Chun School, because there are specific programs for different purposes, like Self-Defense for women as well as for men, and we organize classes for children, because it fits perfectly as a recreational-motory activity, educational for the body, improving the coordination and the quality of the movement, as well as a greater awareness of yourself.

Our motto is: healthier, safer, happier, practising HKB Wing Chun.

A short presentation for free, around 30 minutes, will be hold at the Sport Center in Male Kisice, at 19 October (Saturday in the afternoon) at 18,00.
Don't be shy! You will be welcome!

Looking forward to meet you ;)

Yip Kai Man: attempt of biography (part 2)

Yip Kai Man - 葉繼問
YIP MAN

From 1914 to 1937, Yip Man works hardly in the Army and in the Police. He gets married with Cheung Wing Sing, whose family comes from Cheung Yum Ham, one of the last ministers of the Qing dinasty. Yip Man and his wife have 4 sons, the males Yip Hok Chun and Yip Hok Ching, and the females Ar Sum and Ar Wun. When not working, Yip Man is training with other martial artists. In his garden he exchanges many ideas on the Wing Chun style. In one corner of the room there is a dummy for training. In that period, he trains with Yuen Kai Shan, Lai Hip Chi, Yiu Choi, Yip Chung Hong, Tong Kai and others...

In 1937, Japaneses invade the South of China, and for eight years Yip Man opposes to them: Fatshan, where now he lives, is invaded and totaly controlled by the Japaneses. Yip Man rejects to deal with them, so he becomes very poor; time by time, luckily, his friend Chow Cheng Chung helps him giving him some food.. Yip Man, to thank him, will take Chow Cheng Chung as a student.

From 1941 to 1943 he teaches Wing Chun in the cotton mill at Wing On. At this time his students are Chow Kong Yiu, the famous Lun Kai, Chau Sai Kong, Leu Pak, Chan So, Ying, Kwok Fu, Chan Chi Sun, Ng Ying, Chow Sai and others: this is the first generation of students who take lessons from Yip Man.

Lun Kai says to us that Yip Man never taught, at that time, any forms of double knives, but for sure he taught the Long Pole technique. We also know that at that time, the Wooden Dummy form was quite different from the last version we have, and it consisted - as told by Sifu Sergio Iadarola - of only 67 movements and there wasn't in it any footwork (in other cases Yip Man taught 146 movements on Wooden Dummy, in some other cases 108, up to reach at the last stage to the 'classical'  116 movements).
Of course, it also depends how you do count the movements.

In 1945, Japan loose the II World War. Until 1948, Yip Man is extremely busy with his work, and even if he loves Wing Chun, he cannot practise it so much. Only in 1948, his good friend Tong Kai introduces to him Pan Nam, and asks Yip Man to give him some lessons, which will be given in the Athletic Association Cheung Yee, in Fatshan.

In November 1949, communists, under Mao's leadership, consolidate their power. Yip Man is wanted and he is forced to escape to Hong Kong, having just a stop for 2 weeks in Macao and hosted by some friends, and he is also obliged to leave in Fatshan all his goods.

In July 1950 in Hong Kong, Yip Man starts teaching Wing Chun, up to that moment an almost secret art, to the public. In a very first moment, he is very reluctant to do so, since he thinks that it's to Master Ng Chun So to pass on the system. But under the pressure of his friend Lee Man, and also pushed by economical reasons, he starts his career as a professional teacher.

(continues...)

About the posture, emptiness and fullness... Mottoes (part 1)

About the posture, emptiness and fullness...

The vacuum...how many times we heard about this concept? Many times, isn't it?

Practicing Kung Fu, let's keep always in mind the idea of the vacuum, of the absence and of the precence of energy, force and resistance. Without the proper concentration, it will be really very hard. In the same time, we need to have a correct posture. Do you remember the motto "Free yourself from your own force”?
People speak so much about mottoes and concepts in Wing Chun, but if we go deeper, we find out many differences between different lineages... Also we find out many and big differences in the teachings of different gyms, because everybody changes the mottoes, or their interpratation, by his preferences, skills, or far memories from the past. That's why I show here some of the main mottoes about the posture.

Mottoes about the body structure
(San Ying Kuen Kuit)

Ding Tin Laap Dei - 頂天立地

Ding Tin Laap Dei - 頂天立地 - (Dǐng Tiān Lì Dì in mandarin) is a basic motto of Siu Nim Tau, and it is often not applied. Beacuse of this, many errors in the posture come out, even in the execution of the forms, which are one of the basic tools to train and to get those many little ideas.

頂 [dǐng] has many meanings, like "bring on the head", or other times "to go against" or "push from underneath or from behind". The simplified form is 顶 and it comes from 丁 [dīng], used for his phoneme, and from 页( o 頁) [yè], 'head'. In cantonese is /Deng/ o /Ding/.

                                                                

天 [tiān] is the 'heaven' or the 'sky'. It's a picture of a person with a very big head. The head nowadays is written with an horizontal high line (一). In cantonese it is /Tin/.

立 [lì] means 'to be stable', 'stand', or 'to be vertical'. The ideogram represents a man (大) standing firmly on the ground (一). In cantonese is /Laahp/.

地 [dì] is the 'earth'. Often it is used to mean 'background', 'position' or 'ground'. It comes from 土 [tǔ], the 'earth', and  from the phonetic use of 也 [yě], which means 'hips'. The pronunciation has slowly changed, and 地 [dì] now sounds differently from 也 [yě]. In cantonese is /Dei/.

'Push the head against the sky and stand firmly on the ground' is a good translation. Actually we have to do this during the performance of the Siu Nim Tau, and more in general in all the workshops at this level. We can imagine a light (so not heavy but always present) object on the top of the head, in correspondance of the point Baihui. In the same time, sink the point Huiyin at the center of the perineum: the effect is a stretching and an extension of the spine, in order to create a central axis which in chinese we can call Zhong Ding, or vertical mid-line, very important for the correct balance. This level requires indeed the comprehension of the space and of the concepts of Heaven - Man - Earth.

This is also why this motto is that important in order to connect strongly the mind and the body.

(continues...)