Valuable insights
1.Wing Chun follows the APV guideline for development: Learning Wing Chun or any Chinese Kung Fu requires adherence to the APV structure: Attainment (goal setting), Practice (proper execution), and Verification (checking results against the design).
2.Tan Sau attainment requires lightness and instant strength: The objective for practicing Tan Sau is achieving a lightweight sensation, capable of exerting force instantly when required, without being hindered by the practitioner's own mass or structural locking.
3.Practice involves imagining a stainless steel rod connection: Proper practice involves visualizing a fine stainless steel rod connecting the middle fingers through the back, requiring one hand to lead outward while the other pushes backward simultaneously.
4.Lightweight feeling verifies correct Tan Sau practice: Verification of correct practice occurs when the entire movement feels smooth, perfectly lubricated, and the hand remains lightweight, allowing strength to be exerted without physical obstruction.
5.Jamming breaks the force path in movement: Improper practice, characterized by pushing the hand out with a squared body, creates jamming at joints, breaking the force path and making the structure heavy and slow to generate power.
6.Tong Bei Jing is the penetrating back strength: The concept of Tong Bei Jing translates to the strength that penetrates or links through the back, ensuring force transmission flows seamlessly from fingertip to fingertip via the spine.
7.Heavy muscle building hinders Wing Chun principles: Ancestors advised against excessive weightlifting because building large muscles breaks the Tong Bei Jing connection, disrupting the necessary balance required for this two-handed art.
8.True transmission knowledge is rare today: The genuine, ancient knowledge, including the understanding of Tong Bei Jing from the 1850s technology, is not widely known or transmitted in the last century of practice.
Introduction to the APV Educational Framework
This educational content focuses on culture and historical evidence within the context of martial arts training. A fundamental guideline for learning Wing Chun, or any Chinese Kung Fu, involves following the structured process known as APV. This acronym represents the necessary steps for skill development: Attainment, Practice, and Verification. Establishing clear goals regarding what one wishes to experience or achieve defines the attainment phase, setting the stage for effective training.
Defining the Three Pillars: APV
The structure dictates that Practice (P) must be executed properly to ensure the desired Attainment (A) is reached. This proper method allows the practitioner to develop the necessary skills effectively. Following practice, Verification (V) becomes crucial. Verification confirms whether the execution aligns with the intended design of the technique. Essentially, this system establishes a goal, provides a method to achieve it, and implements a check-and-balance mechanism to confirm success.
- Attainment: Defining the desired experience or achievement.
- Practice: Developing the proper way to execute movements.
- Verification: Checking if the practice yields the designed result.
Attainment Goals for Wing Chun Tan Sau
To elaborate on this framework, an example using the Wing Chun Tan Sau technique is provided. The primary attainment goal for performing a Tan Sau, or a Sansa movement involving it, is twofold: the hand must feel lightweight, almost levitating, while simultaneously possessing the capacity to exert significant strength at any given instant. Throwing aside complex terminology, the essence is achieving effortless lightness coupled with immediate power generation.
Lightness Versus Exerting Instant Force
This requirement for simultaneous lightness and strength is vital because Wing Chun functions as a sensing art. If the hand is lightweight—meaning it is not carrying its own weight or causing the body to become stuck—it remains responsive. The ability to exert strength on demand, without structural impediment, is the hallmark of successful attainment in this specific technique.
The Practice: Utilizing the Stainless Steel Rod Analogy
Developing this lightweight capacity while maintaining instantaneous strength requires a specific mental framework during practice. The method involves imagining a very fine stainless steel string or rod mounted between the middle finger of the practicing hand and the middle finger of the opposite hand, looping around the back. This visualization serves as the blueprint for correct internal mechanics.
Leading and Pushing Dynamics
When executing the Tan Sau, one hand must lead the imaginary rod outward, while the other hand simultaneously pushes the rod backward. This interplay of pushing and leading must occur at the same speed throughout the motion. Whether moving outward or retracting inward, the dynamic remains constant: one action pushes the connection backward into the structure, while the other leads the movement forward or backward.
When you do a tan so it is actually this is pushing and this is leading the entire rod here you're pushing and leading.
- Outward motion: One hand leads outward; the other pushes backward.
- Inward motion: The hand retracting pushes backward; the other leads outward.
Verification: Detecting Jamming and Structural Failure
Verification confirms whether the practice has resulted in the desired state. If the technique is performed correctly using the Tong Bei Jing concept, the entire body feels smooth, as if perfectly lubricated, and the hand remains effortlessly lightweight, ready to exert force immediately. The key differentiator lies in how the body responds to the movement.
Identifying Common Incorrect Execution
Conversely, incorrect practice—the common method where the body is squared and the hand is simply pushed out—results in immediate jamming at the joints, such as the shoulder or elbow. This jamming makes the hand feel excessively heavy because the practitioner is loading the structure instead of utilizing internal connection. This action breaks down the force path, preventing immediate strength generation without relying on brute force against the body.
The Reality of True Wing Chun Transmission
The concept described by the stainless steel rod analogy is named Tong Bei Jing in Chinese, meaning the strength which penetrates or links through the back. This signifies that the internal force continues uninterrupted from the fingertip, through the back, to the opposite fingertip. This principle is the reality of true Chinese Kung Fu transmission, which is often beyond contemporary speculation or imagination. Those possessing this true transmission can scan an opponent's body to identify exactly where structural weaknesses or jamming points exist.
Critique of Modern Strength Development
The ancient Wing Chun ancestors purposefully discouraged lifting heavy weights to the point of building large muscles. This is because excessive muscle mass breaks the Tong Bei Jing connection, leading to structural imbalance, which is detrimental to Wing Chun, an inherently two-handed art requiring equilibrium. Large muscles disrupt mobility joints, turning them into stability joints, hindering overall function.
Chinese kung fu is beyond what you imagine, what you speculate. Chinese kung fu, one need to go learn what it is.
The body mechanics understood by the Chinese masters over a century ago, specifically around 1850, represented a mature technology that many modern practitioners lack knowledge of. The ability to sense and neutralize an opponent's weakness, rather than relying on brute force against brute force, defines the art. This knowledge, the Tong Bei Jing, is the true transmission that empowers exploration of one's own structure.
Questions
Common questions and answers from the video to help you understand the content better.
What is the primary attainment goal when practicing the Wing Chun Tan Sau technique?
The primary attainment goal for Tan Sau is achieving a state where the hand is lightweight, almost levitating, while simultaneously maintaining the ability to exert necessary strength at any instant without impedance.
How does the concept of Tong Bei Jing relate to practicing Wing Chun movements?
Tong Bei Jing, or penetrating back strength, relates to practicing movements by visualizing a connection through the back, ensuring that pushing actions are balanced by leading actions to maintain a continuous, lubricated force path throughout the body.
Why did Wing Chun ancestors advise against building large muscles through weightlifting?
Ancestors cautioned against building excessive muscle because it breaks the Tong Bei Jing connection, introduces structural imbalance, and hinders the mobility required for the two-handed art of Wing Chun.
How can a practitioner verify if their Tan Sau practice is correct according to the APV method?
Verification occurs when the execution results in the entire body feeling smooth and perfectly lubricated, allowing the hand to remain lightweight and capable of exerting strength immediately upon need.
What structural issue arises when Wing Chun practitioners square their bodies during hand movements?
Squaring the body and pushing the hand out causes jamming at the joints, such as the shoulder and elbow, which breaks the force path and makes the structure heavy, preventing instantaneous power generation.
Useful links
These links were generated based on the content of the video to help you deepen your knowledge about the topics discussed.