Chi Sau may be one of the most misunderstood of all martial arts practices. It is uniformly misconstrued by martial artists outside Wing Chun, which is understandable, but sadly practitioners within our style also sometimes get it wrong. This lack of comprehension extends to most aspects of Chi Sau including: The reason for practicing The…
What made Chu Shong Tin so happy?
Chu Shong Tin was a genuinely happy man. His natural delight in living would light up the room. His genial smile exuded warmth that was almost physical. In his last year he seemed even more joyful. On our second to last trip I mentioned to one of his senior students (Ada) that CST appeared to…
Let’s just call it Chi
Electric Brae is a road in Scotland that is famous for seeming to defy the laws of physics. When a car is stopped at a certain point it appears to roll uphill as if drawn by a mysterious magnetic force. A Scottish friend of mine has been there and swears that something strange is going…
“Don’t be methodical”
I spend a lot of time talking, (and writing), about how to do Wing Chun. It is also relevant to ask – why do Wing Chun? I once believed that the reason to train was to learn to defend one self. I considered this to be the purest and most fundamental justification for studying a…
Last Days with Chu Shong Tin
In July, 2014 I traveled to Hong Kong along with a group of my students to train with Chu Shong Tin. Over several decades I made this trip dozens of times, usually with fifteen to twenty students from Chi Sau Club. Recently we had visited three times per year and it was my intention to…
We Do Not Push Off The Ground
I try not to get involved in arguments on the Internet. There is an old farmers’ saying that explains my reticence. It goes: You should never try to teach a pig to sing, because: It will never be able to People will think you are stupid for trying It annoys the pig However I do…