The following is a description and explanation of the 4 core “Internal” qualities or concepts in Chu Shong Tin Wing Chun. The description is intended to be as concise and actionable as possible. In reality each of these concepts is very complicated and many of them overlap or are mutually reliant on each other. These 4 qualities need to be developed and maintained in body and mind at all times.
Understanding the exact physics is not necessary. You do not need to know how an internal combustion engine works to drive a car. While intellectual and conceptual understanding is very useful, it is incredibly important to remember that the actual execution process for applying your martial arts skills must be distilled down to maintaining Tai Gong, Sing, Fong Song and Herng.
#1 Stance and Tai Gong
Maintain the Wing Chun Stance while training – feet flat on the floor, toes pointing inwards, knees soft and springy, pelvis hanging neutral.
Tai Gong is a thought that helps unite the lower and upper halves of the body. To do Tai Gong, Chu Shong Tin suggests gently thinking of lifting the anus as if delaying emptying one’s bowels.
Maintaining Stance and Tai Gong makes you very stable and allows the entire body-weight to be channelled towards the target.
#2 Straight Spine and Sing
Maintain a vertically balanced spine. Keep the back straight at all times, do not bend or lean.
Sing is the process of sending Qi or Thought up through the spine to the Nim Tau point and allowing the spaces between the vertebrae to expand and decompress.
Maintaining constant awareness of the spine will naturally create good structure and make it harder for an opponent to off-balance you or crush your structure.
#3 Relaxation (Fong Song)
Maintain a constant flow of relaxation and openness throughout the entire body. Keep the body soft and springy. Do not become stiff or rigid. Do not become limp and floppy.
Fong Song can also be thought of as “release”, “open”, “relax”, “sink”, “expand”, “soften”, “let go”.
Maintaining relaxation enables you to rotate the joints freely to redirect forces and produce multiple vectors of force in a single movement. Relaxation also allows for the use of the bodyweight as a source of power.
#4 Aim (Herng)
Maintain constant focus from your centre or spine towards the target. Ensure that the force being produced by any movement is always aimed towards the opponent’s centre, or is disrupting the opponent’s centre.
Herng can be translated as “point”, “aim”, “focus”, “converge”, “triangulate”.
Maintaining Herng means you are always attacking your opponent’s balance or threatening to strike them in some manner.
Conclusion: The 4 Pillars of Chu Shong Tin Wing Chun are essentially the prerequisite conditions that need to be met in order for one’s techniques to have genuine power and minimal weaknesses to be exploited. Deficiency in one or more of the 4 Pillars leads to a lack of power, accuracy, balance or stability. – Louis Shapiro