This introduction may sound like the famous gung fu stories wherein the seeker finds a Taoist or Buddhist sage or old wise hermit. However, it is quite true - I have been blessed by having been surrounded by such people throughout my life and the story is quite true. In response to a challenge I once felt unable to overcome, distressed, I said to a very wise man: “I have no power!”. His answer educated me. He replied:” You may think you have no power. In so thinking you disempower yourself. You actually have more power than anyone I have met” I was stunned! “Please explain, please teach me my error!”, I replied. The wise man smiled kindly in his infectious way, as he was wont to do, and continued: “You have your personal power, the power of your character, the power of all your years of intense training of your body, mind and spirit. You have the power of your extensive education across different cultures, you have the power of all your experience. You have the power of your intuition and insight. You have the power of the love of your family and the respect of your friends. You have your charisma and personal power. How can you say you ‘have no power’?” I replied that I was referring to not having power in a different and specific context - economic power and power of control within an organisation. The wise man laughed gently and then taught me about power, its uses and abuses. He taught me that I had disempowered myself by subjecting myself to the power of a situation; the misuse of power by others; and, my own incorrect thinking. At worst, a situation in which one feels powerless may well be one in which it is wisest not to struggle but to leave; resign oneself to the reality of the situation; change one’s priorities; or, simply see through the underlying illusory appearances.

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As motivation was one of the first topics researched by psychologists, and one wherein there has been consistent empirical support for some basic notions, we know a great deal about how to motivate ourselves and other people. To assist management in controlling workers and getting the maximum possible output, modern organizational psychologists developed several theories to explain what motivates workers. These theories include: need theory; equity theory; expectancy theory; reinforcement theory; goal-setting theory; and, intrinsic-motivation theory (1). There is considerable empirical support for goal-setting theory as being an effective means of motivation. Hence, as well as serving as a motivational theory in organizational psychology, goal setting has logically also become one of the main planks of sports psychology. Now, whilst I would be in the forefront of those arguing that Wing Chun ought never to be considered as a sport, I would argue adamantly that there is considerable merit in tapping into the data-base of knowledge afforded us by Western sciences like psychology and sports psychology to improve our Wing Chun practice.

This article applies goal setting theory to training in Wing Chun Kuen. The theory underpinning goal setting is that people behave rationally and consciously. Whilst we could debate whether this is universally and uniformly correct (and possibly offer a number of examples in our Wing Chun world where this is decidedly not the case!), for the purposes of this article, it is assumed that, within the parameters set by voluntary athletic training such as in martial arts generally and in Wing Chun Kuen specifically, it is indeed the case. The crux of this theory is the relationship between consciously set goals, intentions and task performance. Need theory also postulates that people address their needs through setting goals to achieve them (2).

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Of late, at least in some circles, there has been a renewed focus on “Mo Duk” or Martial Morality. The attention paid by sifus in former times to ensuring their successors were adequately competent and would pass down their art accurately whilst displaying good character is contrasted with the situation today.

One famous sifu of my acquaintance, for example, makes much of only teaching worthwhile people yet has endorsed a “disciple” of whom the local Chinese and martial arts communities hold a very discrepant view, seeing him as avaricious and scheming. Other examples areafforded to martial arts practitioners on the international scene with some real scoundrels, thanks to the lack of professional journalistic integrity of martial arts journalists and editors, becoming famous.

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The standard advice of consulting your physician prior to beginning an exercise program applies. Anyone with any form of spinal or back injury, past or present, is advised to consult their physician before beginning this program of exercise. The author advises he accepts no liability for any difficulties incurred as a result of the content of this article.

We’re all well aware one ought not to use muscular strength in Wing Chun Kuen application. However a strong body is an advantage in being able to train harder and longer and to recover from inevitable strikes that get through your guard. Also, you will know full well that being “relaxed” and “not using force” can, paradoxically, be very, very tiring in the earlier stages of training. Hence it is my belief you benefit by having a strong body to practice with and to live your everyday life. Your body is your weapon, your tool - it needs to be developed and cared for with the best, most current maintenance methods .

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Different Wing Chun lineages follow different steps in the sequence of developing chi sau. The chi sau of Yuen Kay San and Koo Lo Pin Sun Wing Chun, for example, follow a different set of steps to that of Yip Man Wing Chun. Yip Man Wing Chun has no wrist rolling chi sau whilst Yuen Kay San and Koo Lo Pin Sun Wing Chun don’t do the dan chi sau of the Hong Kong version. Chi sau, however, is the quintessential Wing Chun exercise, occurring in some form in every Wing Chun lineage. Everyone who has heard of Wing Chun likely knows that it is synonymous with chi sau as one of its distinctive features. So many Wing Chun practitioners invest so much time and effort into it. In fact, it has become an obsession with many who spend most of their training time engaging in it! Some gwoon seem to even only train forms and chi sau!

Chi sau is often much misunderstood and, in my experience, is often neither systematically nor comprehensively taught in many gwoons. On the other hand, in some gwoons and organisations it is taught very systematically and logically. (Albeit that some have divided up Wing Chun learning, including chi sau, into innumerable money-spinning grade levels!). In others, some of their standard drills are quite bluntly utterly bizarre and amount simply to “chasing hands”. Others resemble a bizarre cadenced dance routine with instructors even counting out the beat! These must fill up time-consuming grade levels, I guess! In yet other gwoons, the practitioners shamble around in some sort of stance which doesn’t resemble any respectable Wing Chun stance and wrestle and lean their way through their chi sau, looking like they are engaging in a Frankensteinish version of Mongolian wrestling! In all too many otherwise reasonable gwoons the practitioner is simply left to figure things out for themselves without explicit instruction. I refer to this as the “caught rather than taught approach”.

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Meditate on the unborn nature of mind:
Like space, no center, no limit;
Like the sun and moon, bright and clear:
Like a mountain, unmoving, unshakeable;
Like the ocean, deep, unfathomable.

- Jetsun Milarepa

Just as they hone the fitness of their bodies and their reactions, many martial artists practice meditation to hone and control their minds. Meditation can assist martial arts training and performance by giving the practitioner the ability to focus and relax the mind. In combat a relaxed but focused mind is essential and may well be the factor which ensures you are a survivor. Japanese samurai well understood this and sought out Zen masters to learn this skill and studied it assiduously. Likewise, Chinese masters, both Buddhist and Taoist, in various martial traditions, have stressed the necessity of mind training to attain superior skills. This is especially marked with respect to the internal systems, some of which have extensive chi gung and meditation curricula. Wing Chun Kuen, of course, has its Siu Lien Tao form, the first section of which can (and in my view, should) be used as meditative exercise.

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“Positive addiction” is a very useful concept. As a psychologist, I find it is beneficial to both those with, and those without, current problems in living. It is especially beneficial, however, to those in any sort of “rut”. I believe it is essential to success in the martial arts. The concept is simple enough in itself and this article explains it in sufficient detail for you to implement it in your life. In fact, it is a startlingly simple notion.

We all know what comprises “addiction”. “Addiction” is, in common usage, a harmful, socially disapproved and often illegal activity engaged in so as to quickly meet one’s needs without real effort in any long term and constructive relationships or without any effort to develop oneself to be a better person or assist others. Most addictions occur in a relationship chain which is exploitive and harmful to others as well as the end-user. Addictions can be focused on activities as well as substances. The commonly used term “addiction” actually ought, more properly, to be called “negative addiction”, as some addictions can be beneficial rather than destructive.

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Kicks - strikes with the lower limbs - can refer to a very large variety of types of strikes across the spectrum of martial arts. In Wing Chun Kuen, as with many other aspects of the art, there seem to be interesting variations/disagreements concerning the kicking aspect.

Originally, when I first learnt Wing Chun back in the 1960s, my sifu then, a direct Yip Man and Wong Sheung Leung student, told us that in Wing Chun there was only a front kick at two levels (knee and stomach) and a side kick (with no pivot) to the same two levels laterally - period! And, that was it - no discussion! Even the scoop kick in the dummy form he described as a type of front kick. And, in one sense, I can see how he was correct. Nowadays it seems most Wing Chun trainees ascribe to the view that there are a wider number of kicks. (And it is my opinion that some practitioners have borrowed some non-Wing Chun kicks from other arts and imported them into Wing Chun or devised Wing Chun look-alikes - but that is a discussion for another day).

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