Happy Chinese New Year

O.K. That's all I had to say. Year of the monkey rock on.

Sonja

Kung Fu Connections: Follow up

I met with the Dean today to hand in an application and discuss my future plans. He's a busy guy - it took more than a half hour before we met. He was so enthusiastic, encouraging, and helpful. He said we need to start meeting more regularly to stay on top of the many academic opportunities I have. I had no idea I had so many options. But I could tell the whole time we talked that he was just waiting to bring up kung fu.
He has been training a Northern style for many years and had his own club at Harvard during gradschool. He said his club has continued to grow through the years and that he still keeps in touch with some of the members. "I've been waiting for someone to start a gung fu club here. I just want you to know that I strongly support what you are doing. You can't even comprehend how good this club will be for you." We talked about what kung fu means to us. I kept thinking: am I really having this conversation with one of the most important administrative Deans in the school.
Finally, he handed me his business card: "Put me on your email list. I want to be a part of this. I'm incredibly busy next semester, but I'm teaching a class Tuesday and Thursday evenings and perhaps we could work out one of those nights. I'll be exhausted after a 12 hour work day... But I'm excited. My wife will probably be angry with me when I come home after being gone all day. Maybe I'll just have to bust out the gung fu. ha ha." I couldn't believe it. I've been thinking what it would be like to have not only students participate in my club, but also professors. I never imagined a Dean would join.

The Yip Man Wing Chun Family Tree

http://www.wingchun.com/yipline.html

The people at Planet Wing Chun are developing a lineage tree for the Yip Man branch. Very Cool! :D

Fun Video for You

Check Em Out:

Various Wing Chun Kuen Clips

Leung Ting's Answer to the Photoshop incident

http://www.leungting.com/headchange.htm

MARKUS SENFT’S INTERVIEW WITH GREAT GRANDMASTER LEUNG TING

Mr Markus Senft is a free-lance martial arts journalist in Germany. Below is the special interview given by the Great Grandmaster Leung Ting while he was in Germany.

For many years there is a “Head-changing Photo” circulated on a number of web sites. It is so said that “in the mid 70s, Leung Ting used a photograph in one of his books, which was originally a photo taken by a reporter during an interview of the late Great Grandmaster Yip Man showing the chief editor of the New Martial Heroes standing beside the seated Grandmaster in his own house. Employing some cut and past technique, Leung Ting substituted the head of the chief editor with his own and made people believe that it was him who was standing beside the late Grandmaster.”

How to play good Siu Nim Tao, By Moy Yat

http://www.moyyat.com/snt.html

This material has been removed due to copyright issues. You can view the original following the link.

Sorry if I have disturbed anyone by posting it

Yin, Yang and the Invisible Spine.

Wing Chun is a system of pleasant paradoxes and challenging contradictions, complimentary opposites and Taoist notions of harmony. To be hard, we have to be soft. To be effectively mobile, first we have to learn how to stand still. To move fast, we have to slow down. Every new challenge met results in several new ones to contemplate, when we are at the end of our tether we realise we are at the beginning of it, to see the point we must walk the circumference, and when you come full circle, you are back where you started. One thing that I would like to share with you is the concept of searching for your opponent's spine, and hiding your own spine. It is a simple concept, yet application and proficiency take a lot of training, as with most of wing chun. If this idea is unfamiliar to you, let me explain.

The Ving Tsun Files. The way of Wong Shun Leung

I found this great book from the wong shun leung family at the http://www.wongvingtsun.co.uk/ homepage

The mechanics of wing chun punching

The Mechanics of Wing Chun Punching.

An equation which gets thrown around rather a lot in my experience of wing chun is that Force = Mass x Acceleration. While I believe it is not as simple as that, with regards to fighting, the basic idea still holds true. For more power, you need more speed, and more ‘mass’, or substance. As the speed of an object increases, so, relatively, does its mass. So to put it simply, to punch effectively we need speed and bodyweight. However, correct punching can generate power that surpasses what you would expect from your own bodyweight.

To achieve acceleration, we need to relax.

Lots of Siu Nim Tao

I am learning how to program graphics in c++/opengl. My objective is to be able to program a 3D videogame. For it I first intend to be able to make a simple supermario style 2D game.

I have this book I'm learning from and I am going through it step by step, trying to understand every bit before I move on to the next.

I was here thinking about how hard it was and how I'd never make it when a thought entered my mind. Something Sifu always says: "Play more siu nim tao"

Achieving this task has a parallelism with the way we learn Ving Tsun. You have to start with the "little idea" and play it a lot, even if you don't get it or don't understand the details, just play it once and again and then one day, without knowing how, you will see that you understand it, and then you can start playing chum kiu, and then biu jee, and then the dummy... and eventually you will be able to make a 3D videogame without even knowing how you got there..

you just need to "play more Siu Nim Tao"!!

Ving Tsun Motivation

http://www.sunnytang.com/readingroom/VingTsunMotivation.html

Ving Tsun Q & A

http://www.sunnytang.com/readingroom/QandA.html

Kung Fu Mario

I don't want to abuse my posting privileges, but if you were ever into Super Mario Bros 3, you must check this out. Japanese Time Attack: http://content.collegehumor.com/media/movies/mosmb3.wmv

I only share with you because it reminded me a lot of kung fu.
Watch how Mario kills the bosses -- so VT.

Enjoy.

Kung Fu Connections

Today I recieved an email from the Dean of Arts and Sciences at my school in response to my application for a scholarship. Earlier this year I was interviewed by our school newspaper for being part of the tennis team. The interviewer was a friend of mine and asked me about kung fu. I talked a lot about how kung fu has affected my tennis game and way of life. Everyone enjoyed the article, but I had thought the references to my club would bring people to train. Most people commented on how they loved the article, but few mentioned my club. At most, people would say: "I never knew you were so into karate." Weird how the brain seems to translate all martial arts into "karate." More people read the article than I realize and it was very interesting to read my Dean's letter:

"P.S. I saw the article in Student Life, and I'd like to talk with you about the Kungfu club."

I replied jokingly: "I'd love to talk to you about the Kung Fu Club. I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"Not at all. I'm a kungfu practitioner also."

It's interesting that it takes a couple weeks in advance to schedule a meeting with him about academics, but that it only took a short email to plan to get together to discuss my club and training. Kung fu shows up in places you'd least expect to find it. It shows up everywhere. It will be interesting to see what he has to say. Perhaps our conversation will open some doors for me.

Foshan Wing Chun

I wasn't going to post anything else today, but I have come across this great article that really deserves being posted.

the original article can be found here:
http://www.wingchunkuen.com/why/articles/historical/yip_frearson01.html

Foshan Wing Chun
From Where the Water Flows
by Derek Frearson

Can you learn to fight without fighting?

Hey everyone,
super cool that lots of people are posting!
I know every lineage seems to have a different idea, so hopefully we can get the opinion of different lineages. Do you guys think you can learn to fight through the practice of forms, two man drills, and chi sao? Or do you feel that you need sparring and controlled fighting drills? Do any of you train cheung style sport kung fu? do you think the tournament play of that adds to your non-sport kung fu? I asked a kung fu uncle of mine about a year ago, "how do I know the kung fu works?" he said, "have you been in a fight since you started?" Me, "no". Him, "then I guess it works".

Leung Ting Interview

I have found this interview at http://www.wingtsun.nl/Intervws.htm

KERNSPECHT, a Leung Ting WT Dai-Sifu

COMBAT: How about people from other Yip Man schools?
KEITH R. KERNSPECHT: I hope we find a way to communicate and assist each other in making Yip Man martial art recognised as the great art it is. We should not allow technical differences and interpretations to split us apart. Nor should we continue and perpetuate traditional quarrels and fights that had their unlucky origins in Asia. We are Europeans and should understand that quarrels over who taught who more will not strengthen the image of Yip Man martial art. It is tragic that a Wing chun man gets better along with such as a karateka than with a clansman of the WingTsun-style. Familiarity breeds contempt and it is the little differences which seem to be harder to accept than the really big ones. I for my part do not want to be drawn into the vicious circle of style politics. I do not want to steal students from other sifus. I would rather attract complete newcomers.

COMBAT: Why? Would it not be easier to recruit students from other Yip Man schools?
KEITH R. KERNSPECHT: Maybe, but the Leung Ting system of WingTsun is very different from its brothers. The difference is not for the eye to see. While our techniques look alike - at least on the surface - our concept is often a world apart. To explain this to an enthusiast of another Wing Chun or Ving Tsun school is a hard and ungrateful job - like trying to convince someone to change his religion. I am a scientist and not a religious believer and fanatic. I try to convince my students by logic and not by beating them up.

VT in action. A real story

This is something that happened to me not so long ago.
I had been training Ving Tsun for from 3 to 6 months only so you could say I was a beginner.
A friend of mine took me to her home town for the weekend and while we where there she wanted to show me the martial art she had been practicing.
I agreed joyfully because I really enjoy martial arts of all kinds (I had studied many martial arts before knowing VT) and wanted to see what this style I had never heard about had to say . I also secretly wanted to test to see if this VT thing was as good as I thought it was.

Ving Tsun in Action

Does anyone have any footage of Ving Tsun being used in full contact tournaments, sparring tournaments, or real life versus another style? Since I've only trained VT (and with VT people) the only visualizations I can create in my head of what a fight might look like turn into VT vs VT situations.

Weight Training

Personally I don't plan to add weight training back to my life for awhile. What do you guys think about weight training as part of your kung fu training? Do you prefer compound excersizes, isolation, high reps, low reps? Have any of you trained with rattan rings or iron rings? What about using sand bags for your ankles or wrists?
Always an interesting topic.

Here is a picture of Yip Man using iron rings with tan sao

About Jiu Wan Sifu

Article found at http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/sidaijoey/

Article: Moy Yat Remembers the Great Yip Man

Another great article in moyyat.net

In this world exclusive interview, Ving Tsun recluse Moy Yat relives the great days he spent with his teacher Yip Man and fellow student Bruce Lee.
By Rhonda J. Wilson

Why Do You Train?

Sea of Hands

At the 10 Year Anniversary in Iowa City

Summer 2003

Article: Interview with Sifu Moy Saup Tung

This article can be found at moyyat.net

The following is a transcript from an interview between VT America and Aaron "Moy Saup Tung" Vyvial, who is a 3rd-generation "great grandson" of Yip Man, and special student (disciple) of Moy Tung / MY-3 inner circle member. Here Moy Sifu Vyvial discusses his understanding of some of the details of the Ving Tsun Kung Fu system.

VT: What is kung fu?

AV: Kung fu to me isn't a style and it isn't a system of martial art.
The deeper meaning, is that the results of what you do is Kung Fu. My
Kung Fu is Ving Tsun. Simple as that. Going to a class and doing
martial arts and playing the forms is all a method. Kung Fu is
intangible and cannot be taught.

VT: What drew you to the Moy Yat Ving Tsun System?

AV: I wanted to be the elite of the elite. I wanted a Kung Fu made up
of pure art without all the trappings that came from the other styles
around. Also, the main draw would be my Sifu, I am one of the youngest
of my Sifu's Inner Circle, and I know how lucky I am to have joined
when I did. I was able to learn from a true Master of Kung Fu. That is
a term given by us not him. Every time I go to another school's seminar
or watch a Kung Fu training tape, I just thank God that I found the
treasure of the martial arts world. I am also so grateful for the time
that I was able to spend with Sigung Moy Yat before he passed away,
going to dinner with him, listening to his stories about Yip Man first
hand and attending his seminars was like being a part of history. A
history that I can now pass to my students. I consider myself very
lucky. I have met many people who call themselves a Master or even
Grandmaster and I wouldn't trade my Kung Fu for anyone's. Moy Yat Kung
Fu and now Moy Tung Kung Fu is run like a family not a business.

VT: But what in particular about Ving Tsun?

AV: It is a system based on humans. Other styles previous were based on
animals, bugs, mythical creatures, Demons and Gods. In order to be
truly successful in those styles one had to take the true nature of
their style as their own. Ving Tsun was the first system based on the
human body and how it worked therefore I needed to take the true nature
of man... I was one step ahead of the game in my view. I respected the
simplicity inherent in the Ving Tsun System.

BIU JI: Ving Tsun's Misunderstood Form

Since nobody seems to be even able to decide on a spelling of this form (It's spelled at least 4 or 5 different ways in the IC school alone) I thought this article was great. I've been told to look at my kung fu in 1000 lights... This is a very different thought process on the form than I've ever come across.
I really like when movements from the forms are isolated and put into application. It makes the kung fu more real for me.

BIU JI: Ving Tsun's Misunderstood Form

Kung Fu Life in Real Life

I haven't had a chance to read all of Moy Yat's Seminar on Kung Fu Life, and perhaps I should before posting this. From what I did read, Moy Yat talks a lot about the importance of kung fu family. I'm just curious how any of you deal with other friends, family, meaningful people in your life that don't train. If you live a Kung Fu Life, how do you share that with them if they aren't willing to train. Do you just not acknowledge that part of your life when you're in their company, even though it is ever-present? Do you try and make them understand? Or is there some other way? Let me know what you think... as I'm still not sure what's best.

"Are You Training a Martial Arts Style or System" Article by Benny Meng and Richard Loewenhagen

Interesting article by Benny Meng, I don't claim to fully understand what he says about the different bridge levels but I kind of do.

The same way that when you fight as a total beginner you lack timing and the fight is left to luck or agressiveness, and when you start to really know something you start seeing things and don't need to rush so much because you know what to do. In this article, on my oppinion, he says that there is a third level where you become total kickass and see fighting as a sort of chessplay where your moves have nothing to do with luck, but are dictated by your system.

Interesting.. Chisao seems to be like that..

You can find the article here:
http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=322

Mai Gei Wong Wing Chun (Mainland China Wing Chun)

Can anyone tell me what this video clip is? Is it just a demonstration of movements in Mai Gei Wong lineage or is it an actual "Form"? It definetely looks like Wing Chun, but not the Chum Kiu, Biu Gee, or Siu Nim Tao in my lineage. I'd really like to get more information on what they are performing here.

Mai Gei Wong Demo

30+ Minute Siu Nim Tao

Every other week Sisuk Bart and I have been doing a 30+ minute SNT. If you have tried it what are your thoughts on long siu nim tao? While I am doing one I have so much time to think about all of my positions and constantly cycle through details I want to lock in. After finishing we go right into a series of chum kiu. The rooted feeling is incredible and something I never feel from doing shorter SNT. Definetely give this a try and let me know what your experience is.

Kung Fu Club Recruiting

Getting people to come in for an intro is harder than you'd think.
Most people are skeptic... I know I was before I started training.

Today I was at a study group with one of my sidai and a kid from class asked me about kung fu. I told him he should just come check out my club. "Your club?" he sorta laughed. "How long have you been training?" I gave them a verbal intro and then told them they should just come in tomorrow and check it out for themselves. "So basically you do all these forms and drills, but don't actually know how to fight..." he said and stood up. “So if I attacked you right now you wouldn't be able to do anything?" As I told him not to mess around and my sidai watched in wonder, he ran at me with a huge right hook. I wish I could tell you exactly what I did, but it just happened so fast. I just remember my reaction as I held his neck against the wall, leaving him completely helpless. My initial thought was: "what was that? didn't seem like ving tsun...” Then I realized how quickly I had ended the situation and had to laugh. The other guys couldn't believe it. And my sidai said: "Dude, I saw you make a fist and I was scared you were gonna punch him." Whatever I did was enough, because all of them want to come in for an intro now.

Whatever works… Just keep doing what you’re doing, Roger. They’ll come.

Getting my Ving Tsun Club rolling

Today I went to a public sports place to get some info on the possibilities of setting my club there and they not only had no trouble with it as in other places I've gone to ask, but where eager for me to do it! They even offered me a discount on the price of the tatami.

The deal is this, the room will be 15 Euro per hour while I have less than 15 students (so as to make the price available for the small group of 4 people we are now ) and after that we'll get the normal price of 27 Euro per hour.

This means many things, it's a big step up.
For one we only have one hour so we'll have to be on time and press as much kung fu into that hour as possible. Secondly we are going to be very tight on the money issue so hopefully everybody pays on time.
The good thing about having this place is that we can now bring strangers in so the group can grow and the kung fu will get better.

I need all the advice I can get on this matter so if you guys have any ideas please let me know.

Also if you live in Madrid and would like to learn Moy Yat Ving Tsun you are more than welcome to reach me by email at roge@rogeman.com or by phone at 690182189 :)

What is kungfulife.com?

Kungfulife.com is a website where kung fu people will talk about their kung fu experience.

There is still a lot of work to be done but the idea is growing and seems fun and feasible.

If you practice kung fu and would like to join the kungfulife.com website send an email to rogeman@zonalibre.org and we'll talk about it :)