Keeping Open-Minded (Please Watch)

 

The shoes and the shirt

do not always have to go together

 

Basics are SO important.

If your Wing Chun is going to work for you then a good understanding of the basics is vital…

 

BUT

 

If you hold on to these basics for too long, they can and will become a weight around your neck.

 

I wrote in a recent blog that I do not believe there is a Tan Sau or a Bong Sau (as such), simply meaning that this should be a Tan/Punch or a Bong/Lap-Fak Sau, but even that is not quite right, because stopping at that point could be the deciding factor in a possible life or death situation.

You do not stop until the threat is eliminated, obviously I am not suggesting hospitalising your opponent (or worse!), what I mean is, you do not stop until you are sure there is not longer a threat from that attacker.

 

All too often in a class situation, we may drill a singular move with no consideration as to what may happen afterwards (such as Tan/Da (Tan and punch)).

Are you carrying an assumption that you will have simply KO’d the attacker with your first and only strike?

Or that they will simply agree that they were wrong and off they trot on their merry way.

 

I will say this phrase, AGAIN:

‘I do not promote violence, nor do I try to justify it.

But if it comes along you should know how to deal with it’.

 

Dismissing this responsibility as a teacher is dangerous to your students, as instructors we have a duty of care to consider, to make sure that what we teach is in the best interest of our students and that it will not put them in danger.

A class should be a safe environment in which to train, 100%, but at the same time we must not sugarcoat situations, wrapping our students in cotton wool and pretending that there is not threat to them should they make the decision to engage with an opponent in the street.

 

Allow yourself to be openminded to varying the use of techniques, allow, and even encourage yourself to change your approach to the most basic of drills, such as changing the Biu Mar footwork used in a Pak Sau drill, to a Sarm Bok Mar stance?

Or try varying the amount of power used in a Lap Sau when training Lap Sau exercise (a weak Lap may not warrant the turn with the Bong, and possibly not even a Bong at all?).

 

I addressed this idea in an earlier video blog:

‘A Different View To Your Training’

 

In the video below I look at how we can apply this open-mindedness to a Sarm Bok Mar drill and how we can take this idea further still.

 

I hope you find something useful within the clip?

 

Thank you.