What is this move for?

At the beginning of many student’s Ving Tsun training, I often hear “What’s this move for?” when playing a form or drill. Frequently I ask them what they think, or how many ideas for what it could be can they come up with before I answer them. I do this to de-emphasize a tendency to focus on single meanings. This puts you in a box and takes away from learning the principles behind the movement. Ving Tsun is ultimate freedom. As Grandmaster Moy Yat put it: “Kung Fu without a system is not kung fu. Kung Fu dependent on a system is not good kung fu.” and “The best kung fu to learn is the kung fu you don’t know you’re learning”.

Ving Tsun trains your body to react in a powerful, efficient, and spontaneous manner. No training of “combinations” you may see in other martial art styles.

Yip Man and Bruce Lee

When playing your forms look for training Ving Tsun principles, such as relaxed forward energy, centerline, facing, stance (your horse).

Here is an analogy:

When weight training, you may do some arm curls to build your biceps. But when you leave the gym do you use your biceps to only move in an arm curling motion? Do you only move that one way? Of course not, your arm muscles get stronger with the training, but the benefits carry over to ANY movement you make! This is the secret of Ving Tsun! You train your forms, drills, and conditioning. If you must use your kung fu to defend yourself, you don’t need to worry if you’re going to throw a punch or some form of open hand strike… your body will automatically strike out in the best manner for that situation.

Kung Fu Life is a Long Life,

Sifu Bryan Pierce