Nature of our Ving Tsun School
Welcome to the Kung fu family! As you may already know, Ving Tsun kung fu is known for it’s simplistic, no non-sense approach to self defense, and it’s practical application to fighting. But self defense/fighting is only the beginning stage of what you will learn. Eventually, while we want to be able to handle ourselves in a physical confrontation, being able to handle ourselves in life is much harder and the skills you learn should be reflected in your daily life as well. When used correctly, Ving Tsun is a tool that allows the practitioner to maximize his or her potential in life because it develops not only the body, but the mind and spirit as well.
Ving Tsun is about the study of energy. More specifically how to use energy, maximize it, store it, redirect it, contain it, disperse it, block it, and release it. One of the main methodologies we use for studying and understanding energy is a training exercise called Chi Sau (sticking/energy hands). Through studying energy we are able to learn about others’ attitudes and attributes, but most importantly we learn about ourselves. We train into our bodies such attributes as relaxation, efficiency, coordination, economy of motion, timing, and sensitivity. Over time these attributes will permeate through the practitioner’s everyday life. After all, it’s only when these things are present in all aspects of life can one truly say that they are a practitioner of the art.
While some styles have many forms and exercises, Ving Tsun has a fairly small number when compared to the other systems. This is because Ving Tsun focuses on depth, not breadth. So with each new form you learn you’ll be able to add the new ideas to your old forms, thus increasing your overall kung fu. Unlike most systems that teach self-defense/fighting right away with a variety of drills, Ving Tsun takes a different approach. We first build up/unlock your sensitivity through sensitivity drills, each building on the next, while inputting principles, theories, concepts, and ideas into the students with each sensitivity exercises. Thus, the student ends up having ingrained certain principles into their hands along with the necessary skill to showcase that principle. Remember many martial arts systems focus on technique-based scenarios, Ving Tsun does not. If you approach self defense /fighting in a technique-oriented way, you would have to learn an infinite number of techniques to cover the infinite number of scenarios in which you could potentially find yourself. But we deal with principle/theories/energy thus reducing the need to find an endless number of techniques.
Many systems utilize animal mimicry as part of their training. Indeed some Ving Tsun movements can be seen to have connections to the snake and crane forms. The snake utilizes subtle whipping, slippery and linear thrusting motions, while the crane uses deflection and flowing motion. While animal forms may be artsy and flashy and even entertaining to do and to watch, they “may” not always be useful, effective, or reasonable since we are not animals and can never really effectively mimic animals. For this reason, we like to use the human form when we focus on our positioning and posture. After all, why pretend to be something we’re not. Remember, Ving Tsun’s beauty lies in it simple yet effective movements. You can say we look at artistic movements with a different eye.
At our training hall we believe the best learning environment is a relax environment. We expect students to be self-motivated. Also we feel the best approach to learning is the traditional family style approach. All students are considered brothers and sisters in the kung fu family. Unlike the militant approach, the instructor doesn’t stand in front of class while all students follow orders/motion. The learning process allows students to intermingle with each other as well as the instructor, thus allowing everyone in the family to learn from one another.