Grandmaster Wong demonstrating "Golden Dragon Plays with Water"
PICTURE-PERFECT FORMS AND FLOWING MOVEMENTS
Have you wondered why we attack and defend in particular ways, like using “Black Tiger Steals Heart” and “Single Tiger Emerges from Cave”, and not punch and block randomly? It is because these particular ways of fighting, called patterns, give us the best advantages in given combat situations.
Early fighters fought randomly, not unlike most untrained persons do today. Those who fought regularly and frequently discovered from direct experience that certain ways of fighting, like striking in a particular manner and moving in a particular fashion, gave them various advantages. Over many centuries these particular ways of fighting evolved into formalized patterns.
Later, kungfu masters linked various patterns into sequences, and sequences into sets. Such developments over many centuries were possible when fighting was taught as an institutionalized art as in the Shaolin Monastery, not as personal abilities. In other words, when a Shaolin master taught his students, his instructional material was not taken from his personal experience, but from the collective effort of thousands of masters over many centuries. This is different from what an individual fighter teaches his students. His instructional material consists of his own experience, including what he has seen and heard, and not the vast repertoire of an institution.
Besides practical material, an institutionalized art also contains extensive and profound philosophy. For example, from kungfu philosophy we know that although attacks can come in countless forms, they all can be generalized into four main categories, namely striking, kicking, felling and gripping. Hence, to be combat efficient, we need to be proficient in dealing with all these four categories of attack. Surprising it may be, many martial arts today are incomplete, focusing on one or two of these categories and having no techniques to defend against attacks from the other categories. This is mainly because such martial arts are actually meant to be sports where dangerous attacks are forbidden.
Understanding such philosophy enables our learning and training to be cost-effective. For example, by practicing defences against typical attacks, we may be able to defend against all attacks. This is more cost-effective than learning a lot of defences in isolation. In principle, it is like learning how to type, then you can type any document, instead of learning to type a lot of documents one at a time.
First we deal with only one type of attack, i.e. striking. Other types of attack will be dealt with later. Strikes can come in from countless directions, but they can be generalized into four main directions, namely top, middle, bottom and sides. When you can defend against these four directions of strikes, you can defend against all strikes!
But in this section we learn to get the forms correct. Their combat application will be learnt later.
Please note that you can download the video clips onto your own computer and view them at your leisure. Place your computer pointer at the picture or one of the links, and right click. Choose “Save Target As”. Select the directory or sub-directory where you wish to keep the video clip. Click “Save”.
Note the co-ordination of footwork, body-movement and hand technique, which constitutes the “three external harmonies”. First the weight is on the back leg, turn the body by rotating the waist, and punch in a spiral movement. The legs, body and fist should “arrive” at the same time — not stabilize the stance first, then punch, nor punch by throwing the body forward. The sound “herit” comes from the dan tian. The mouth must be open as the punch is executed.
The size of the video clip is 1.20 mb.
Click here to download
Single Tiger Emerges from Cave
Note that “Single Tiger Emerges from Cave” is not a block. This technique is called “leaning”, i.e. you lean your arm on the opponent's, not block against it. The attack will not reach you even if you do not move your hands at all as you have moved your body away by sinking into the False-Leg Stance. The sound “yaaah” comes from the lungs. Make sure it does not come from your throat.
The size of the video clip is 640 kb.
Click here to download
Notice that the movement is similar to that of “Black Tiger Steals Heart”, except a finger-thrust is used instead of a punch, it is aimed higher, the body is slanted slightly forward, and the other hand is placed in front as a guard-hand instead of at the hip. The movement of the finger-thrust, like that of the punch in “Black Tiger”, starts from the back foot, and is implemented by the rotation of the waist. The force comes from the dan tian. The “ssssh” sound comes from the kidneys.
The size of the video clip is 1.34 mb.
Click here to download
Golden Dragon Plays with Water
This is a beautiful pattern that uses minimum force against maximum strength. Don't make the common mistake of blocking. It is not a block. The technique is called “threading”, i.e. you move your hand as if you are sewing with needle and thread. The hand movement is led by the fingers, not by the forearm, and you lean slightly forward.
The size of the video clip is 1.14 mb.
Click here to download
Grandmaster Wong demonstrates that the “threading” technique is meant to deflect, not block, an on-coming attack. As the attack approaches, you simply “thread” your hand forward. The attack continues its onward movement but is deflected off its course. This is different from blocking where you bounce the attack back. Your body is slanted slightly to further move the target away from the attack.
The size of the video clip is 1.45 mb.
Click here to download
Some people have heard the kungfu principle that the movement of an attack comes from the waist, but do not really know what this means. Grandmaster Wong demonstrates the mechanics of this principle. He shows that irrespective whether the attack is a vertical punch, a level fist or a finger-thrust, the movement is the same, i.e. it is generated by the rotation of the waist. The waist rotation in turn expedites the explosion of internal force from the dan tian to the strike.
The size of the video clip is 901 kb.
Click here to download
The term “whole body movement” is sometimes heard but little understood. Some practitioners confuse it with “whole body weight”, implying that one places his whole body weight behind his punch to give power as in Boxing.. This is a mistake. “Whole body movement” means that your whole body is in motion even when you use just your hand to strike so that your internal force is focused on this one strike, as in the pottern “Precious Duck Swims through Lotus” shown here.
The size of the video clip is 1.27 mb.
Click here to download
A common mistake many students make is to use this pattern as a block instead of a sweep as its name “False-Leg Hand-Sweep” indicates. Your point of contact with an opponent's attack, therefore, is not your forearm but the edge of your palm. Your sweep may dislocate or fracture an opponent's arm as he completes his attack, employing the tactic “no defence direct counter”.
The size of the video clip is 855 kb.
Click here to download
Hang a Golden Star at a Corner
As in other patterns, “whole body movement” is used in this attack called “Hang a Golden Star at a Corner”. In swinging a “horn-punch” your arm should act like a chain, and not a rod. The punch is swung beyond the target, usually an opponent's temple, but in practice with a sparring partner you should stop a few inches before target in case he may fail to defend.
The size of the video clip is 980 kb.
Click here to download
Slight Difference, Big Difference
A slight difference in performing this pattern against a swinging horn-punch may give a big difference in result. If you perform this pattern as a block, a mistake commonly made by many people, your arm may be broken. If you perform it correct as an interception, you may break an opponent's arm. This pattern is called “Immortal Emerges from Cave”. Ensure that your interception is at about 45 degrees, not 20 degrees, which is another common mistake.
The size of the video clip is 1.65 mb.
Click here to download
Shallow-Shoot in More Sophisticated Footwork
In the previous video clip, “Immortal Emerges from Cave” is performed by moving a leg back into a Bow-Arrow Stance. When you can perform this well, you progress to use more sophisticated footwork. First you move a small step backward into a False-Leg Stance, then move your front leg leg forward into a Bow-Arrow Stance. In the first case you just “shallow”. In the second, you “shallow” then “shoot”.
The size of the video clip is 1.01 mb.
Click here to download
Moving about in Different Hand-Forms and Stances
You can now have some fun performing the various patterns moving about in stances. For example, after performing “Black Tiger Steals Heart”, instead of restarting at Ready Position, you may move straight to “Single Tiger Emerges from Cave” in any direction. You may change the hand forms or the stances. For example, instead of performing a tiger-claw at a False-Leg Stance, you may use a Unicorn Stance, and instead of punching out with a level fist, you may strike out with a palm.
The size of the video clip is 1.74 mb.
Click here to download
Selecting Patterns in Different Order
You need not use all the patterns or follow the same sequence. You may select just two or three patterns, and perform them in any order. Grandmaster Wong provides two examples.
The size of the video clip is 683 kb.
Click here to download
Picture-Perfect Forms and Flowing Movements
Participants have a lot of fun and benefit linking various patterns together and performing them in sequences. It is inspiring that their forms are picture-perfect and their movements fluid.
The size of the video clip is 1.17 mb.
Click here to download
Linking Patterns into Sequences to form Sets
In fact the participants have composed their own sets. Here the patterns are selected and linked together randomly. The purpose here is just to experience performing sets of patterns in a flowing manner. Later, both the selection and linkage can be based on certain objectives, like repeated practice of certain patterns or movements to correct some faults, or suitable arrangement of patterns to deal with prototype opponents.
The size of the video clip is 1.02 mb.
Click here to download
1. Stances: the Foundation for Internal Force and Combat Efficiency
2. Footwork Secrets for Health, Efficiency and Elegance
3. Moving into a Same Direction using Different Ways to Gain Advantages
4. Picture-Perfect Forms and Flowing Movements
5. From Random Fighting to Patterns, and from Patterns to Sequences and Sets
6. One-Step Sparring to Develop Combat Skills
7. From Pre-Arranged Sparring to Guided Sparring
8. Using Techniques and Tactics in Sparring
9. The Five Basic Kicks
10. The Secrets of Side Kicks and Continuous Cannons
11. How You may Defeat Opponents Experienced in Random Free Sparring
12. How Would a Fragile Girl Counter a Powerful Sweeping Kick from a Muay Thai Fighter?
13. Shaolin Felling Techniques and their Defences
14. Safety First Before Executing Felling Techniques
15. From Combat Sequences to Free Sparring
16. Sixteen Combat Sequences and Five Kungfu Sets
17. Surprise your Attacker with a Counter-Attack
18. Working out Ways to Fight a Boxer
19. Effective Tactics and Techniques against Boxers
20. From Gross Outline to Fine Details
21. Exploiting Advantage to Clinch Victory
22. Variety of Kungfu Techniques against Boxers
23. Analysis of Techniques Used against Boxers
24. Using Shaolin Kunfu against Boxing in Free Sparring
25. Effective Shaolin Tactics and Techniques against Kick-Boxing
26. Shaolin Kungfu against Kick-Boxing in Free Sparring
27. How to Handle a Karate Exponent
28. How to Handle a Taekwondo Exponent
29. How to Handle a Wrestling Exponent
30. Understanding the Typical Attacks of Muay Thai Fighters
31. Grandmaster Ho's Secrets in Countering Muay Thai Fighters
32. First Avoid Defeat, Then Secure Victory
33. Counteroing the Elbow and Knee Attacks of Muay Thai Fighters
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
