"Soft Wing Chun, Taoism and the Ego" – Wing Chun Testimonial by Christoph Busetti
After some time training with David in the soft approach to Wing Chun I have come to realize two things: how this martial art could be probably one of the nearest martial arts to Taoism and how learning hundreds of techniques just feeds your Ego and brings you away from the real concept of martial art.
What does it shares with Taoism? To me, terms of; the soft overcomes the hard, being receptive like a valley and the concept of Wu Wei which I read as, cleansing yourself from your Ego (don’t be greedy) are all concepts you can find in Taoism and in this kind of Wing Chun and although, many speaks about this, very few are really able to apply these concepts in a logical way like David show us.
Good Wing Chun is undoubtedly a process which takes years, when not a whole life. There aren’t shortcuts with the art, it is just about hard work, a non-stop growing process, both mentally and physically which can be frustrating, but undoubtedly something deep within will be built, a new kind of consciousness. Learning thousand of moves and techniques without understanding the concept around they develop, is like learning a language you may possess a very broad vocabulary but without understanding the grammar it is meaningless. Sure, you can fool a lot of people, boast about your knowledge to people who don’t really talk that language, but in the end you can not effectively communicate.
My experience in Wing Chun began in 2000 when a f (as I didn’t know Wing Chun at all) was the speed of his movements and reactions, and the way they were playing with my hands: bong sau, chops and so on. And of course the super fast chain punches.
Most of the training at that time was about chain punches and complicated schemes: you hit me, I protect my self with a bong, then with the other hand I grab your arm and then I chop. It was like a game! Sometimes even more complicated.
A has to do this and that at this moment, B has to do this in the next moment. What I was thinking was: and if B doesn’t hit that way? How do I know what to do next? No problem, next time we will deal with another option! My stance was indeed weak, I used to loose balance often, but the most important thing at that time was to be fast have quick reactions.
And another thing I couldn’t understand was where the power comes from, when a punch is straight without shoulder or waist involved? These punches were weak when compared to those in boxing or other martial arts. But I thought that with a work out in the gym and by practicing more chain punches I would become more quick and gain power, so ok.
Another problem was: when practicing chisao my shoulder would become sore, and my teacher answer was: that,s because you just started, after a few months you will not feel it, because your shoulder will become stronger. Well, I though I could make it quicker by going to gym and training my shoulder, if itis just a thing about muscles...But, wasn’t Wing Chun created by a women for a woman? And GM Ip Man wasn’t also that strong looking guy.
Many things didn’t fit in...
Then after 1 year I moved to Venice to attend University, so I continued to train my chain punches but got no more formal training until 2011 when I first met again David in Shanghai.
I decide to start with him basically, because the “girly touch” he showed me once in my apartment in Hangzhou. It was strong, penetrating and it appeared that he didn’t really put any effort in it, like something instinctual, something natural and so very relaxed.
That was when I understood under Wing Chun, under a martial art created by a woman! A soft yet powerful force. (Soft as I understood it so far is given by the correct posture which makes your Qi flowing naturally without obstacle, hence filling every part of your body.)
And, also the punch he showed me, was like it dripped down upon me, effortless and without intention. And I felt it like penetrating not pushing me anywhere.
I decide to commit myself to this type of Wing Chun and the first thing I realized was: that it was very frustrating. No fancy movements, only a strong and logical focus on the first form, Siu Lim Tao, and the stance.
I have to admit that I thought about giving up several times: nothing dynamic, nothing cool to show around. It was just incredibly boring and frustrating. And I started even to sweat! Just by practicing the Siu Lim Tao.
Everyday just Siu Lim Tao and to reach the standard he ask us, I was still stuck in the first section. But later on, I realized that my punches and my overall Wing Chun was improving, becoming more substantial and solid.
I was being initiated into a whole new paradigm of consciousness.
I started to pay attention to a whole new set of priorities: timing, position, connection between knees and elbows, feelings. The connection between my knees, back, shoulders and elbows showed my muscles would be elastic bends, that once aligned become a big elastic bend with a huge power, soft but penetrating. A connection was always to be found for each movement. For every movement I was looking for it. Here is nothing about muscles (they become an obstacle indeed) but about being connected and relaxed. And, especially in Siu Lim Tao we start to train this and you will start even to sweat after a while. An internal work, Nei Gong, invisible from the outside but still not effortless at all, very hard, and that requires an huge dose of patience and an empty, Wu Wei, attitude.
It is also a martial art about feeling, what we do is dealing with these feelings. Finding and internalize them in order then to use them.
In each lesson David will correct our posture, feel if we are enough relaxed and connected and let us feel what it feels to do the correct movement. This feeling is what we have to work on. And most of the work to me is once the lesson is over, to re-organize all these concepts I have learnt, remembering these “feelings” and finding them again.
So definitely a lot of work in the end depends on us, it has to be carried out alone, in front of the mirror first to find the correct posture, movement and connection so that we can recover that feeling. And repeat them many times until we internalize them, we understand them. And how much knowledge we will gain from it depends also very much about how much we can get rid of our ego.
After some time training with David in the soft approach to Wing Chun I have come to realize two things: how this martial art could be probably one of the nearest martial arts to Taoism and how learning hundreds of techniques just feeds your Ego and brings you away from the real concept of martial art.
What does it shares with Taoism? To me, terms of; the soft overcomes the hard, being receptive like a valley and the concept of Wu Wei which I read as, cleansing yourself from your Ego (don’t be greedy) are all concepts you can find in Taoism and in this kind of Wing Chun and although, many speaks about this, very few are really able to apply these concepts in a logical way like David show us.
Good Wing Chun is undoubtedly a process which takes years, when not a whole life. There aren’t shortcuts with the art, it is just about hard work, a non-stop growing process, both mentally and physically which can be frustrating, but undoubtedly something deep within will be built, a new kind of consciousness. Learning thousand of moves and techniques without understanding the concept around they develop, is like learning a language you may possess a very broad vocabulary but without understanding the grammar it is meaningless. Sure, you can fool a lot of people, boast about your knowledge to people who don’t really talk that language, but in the end you can not effectively communicate.
My experience in Wing Chun began in 2000 when a f (as I didn’t know Wing Chun at all) was the speed of his movements and reactions, and the way they were playing with my hands: bong sau, chops and so on. And of course the super fast chain punches.
Most of the training at that time was about chain punches and complicated schemes: you hit me, I protect my self with a bong, then with the other hand I grab your arm and then I chop. It was like a game! Sometimes even more complicated.
A has to do this and that at this moment, B has to do this in the next moment. What I was thinking was: and if B doesn’t hit that way? How do I know what to do next? No problem, next time we will deal with another option! My stance was indeed weak, I used to loose balance often, but the most important thing at that time was to be fast have quick reactions.
And another thing I couldn’t understand was where the power comes from, when a punch is straight without shoulder or waist involved? These punches were weak when compared to those in boxing or other martial arts. But I thought that with a work out in the gym and by practicing more chain punches I would become more quick and gain power, so ok.
Another problem was: when practicing chisao my shoulder would become sore, and my teacher answer was: that,s because you just started, after a few months you will not feel it, because your shoulder will become stronger. Well, I though I could make it quicker by going to gym and training my shoulder, if itis just a thing about muscles...But, wasn’t Wing Chun created by a women for a woman? And GM Ip Man wasn’t also that strong looking guy.
Many things didn’t fit in...
Then after 1 year I moved to Venice to attend University, so I continued to train my chain punches but got no more formal training until 2011 when I first met again David in Shanghai.
I decide to start with him basically, because the “girly touch” he showed me once in my apartment in Hangzhou. It was strong, penetrating and it appeared that he didn’t really put any effort in it, like something instinctual, something natural and so very relaxed.
That was when I understood under Wing Chun, under a martial art created by a woman! A soft yet powerful force. (Soft as I understood it so far is given by the correct posture which makes your Qi flowing naturally without obstacle, hence filling every part of your body.)
And, also the punch he showed me, was like it dripped down upon me, effortless and without intention. And I felt it like penetrating not pushing me anywhere.
I decide to commit myself to this type of Wing Chun and the first thing I realized was: that it was very frustrating. No fancy movements, only a strong and logical focus on the first form, Siu Lim Tao, and the stance.
I have to admit that I thought about giving up several times: nothing dynamic, nothing cool to show around. It was just incredibly boring and frustrating. And I started even to sweat! Just by practicing the Siu Lim Tao.
Everyday just Siu Lim Tao and to reach the standard he ask us, I was still stuck in the first section. But later on, I realized that my punches and my overall Wing Chun was improving, becoming more substantial and solid.
I was being initiated into a whole new paradigm of consciousness.
I started to pay attention to a whole new set of priorities: timing, position, connection between knees and elbows, feelings. The connection between my knees, back, shoulders and elbows showed my muscles would be elastic bends, that once aligned become a big elastic bend with a huge power, soft but penetrating. A connection was always to be found for each movement. For every movement I was looking for it. Here is nothing about muscles (they become an obstacle indeed) but about being connected and relaxed. And, especially in Siu Lim Tao we start to train this and you will start even to sweat after a while. An internal work, Nei Gong, invisible from the outside but still not effortless at all, very hard, and that requires an huge dose of patience and an empty, Wu Wei, attitude.
It is also a martial art about feeling, what we do is dealing with these feelings. Finding and internalize them in order then to use them.
In each lesson David will correct our posture, feel if we are enough relaxed and connected and let us feel what it feels to do the correct movement. This feeling is what we have to work on. And most of the work to me is once the lesson is over, to re-organize all these concepts I have learnt, remembering these “feelings” and finding them again.
So definitely a lot of work in the end depends on us, it has to be carried out alone, in front of the mirror first to find the correct posture, movement and connection so that we can recover that feeling. And repeat them many times until we internalize them, we understand them. And how much knowledge we will gain from it depends also very much about how much we can get rid of our ego.
