Journey in Zhong Xin Dao I Liq Chuan

After another insightful Zhong Xin Dao I Liq Chuan seminar in Vancouver, BC by Sifu Joshua Craig this past weekend, it led to my thoughts about the journey thus far.

The last blog post about a ZXD seminar was the October 2018 by GM Sam Chin, my introduction to this art.  Since then I have participated in various seminars to get a better overview of the system and philosophy, as well as have an opportunity to train with and learn from different ZXD students.  It seems excessive after typing this all out, but some of them happened to be tied into trips around the area already.  They have all helped with the journey in Zhong Xin Dao I Liq Chuan thus far, in different ways.

- GM Sam Chin seminar in Oakland, California - December 2018: convinced about the consistency of results from ZXD students

- Sifu Ashe Higgs seminar in Vancouver, BC - March 2019:  further introduction to basic exercises and partner drills

- GM Sam Chin seminar in Phoenix, Arizona - May 2019:  immersive environment with many senior students; tested and passed ZXD ILC Student Level 1

- Group class with Lipyeow Lim in Honolulu, Hawaii - May 2019:  side trip to group class while on vacation; detailed training about looking for the bone

- Sifu Joshua Craig seminar in Barrie, Ontario - June 2019:  amazed about the details in basic exercises; realized that there is much more to look for in Student Level 1 basic exercises 1-10; surprised I passed one month ago and realized my condense/expand was just choreography and not internal

- Sifu Joshua Craig seminar in Vancouver, BC - August 2019:  After Chris Chinfen (Vancouver group leader) also gained exposure to Joshua Craig's teaching, Joshua was invited to come to Vancouver; again I was floored by his teaching abilities

- GM Sam Chin seminar in Paris, France - September 2019:  side trip while in Europe; excellent training tips from various European students

- GM Sam Chin seminar in Vancouver, BC - October 2019:  1 year since my first exposure to ZXD; easier to recognize and realize what we should be looking for during training

- Sifu Joshua Craig seminar in Vancouver, BC - February 2020:  More details about level 1 basics; also had an excellent 2-hour private lesson on Basic Exercise 11 - concave/convex

In today's blog post though, I will take you through my experiences from the seminar in Oakland, California.

Oakland, California - December 2018
After the introduction to Zhong Xin Dao in Vancouver, BC I wanted to find out more.  As mentioned in the previous blog post, I was immediately intrigued by the philosophy.  The feeling of the art felt similar to Hänel-WT in effect, but perhaps different in cause.

Thus, in December 2018, I went to the seminar in Oakland, California organized by Guru Bernard Langan.  My goal was to have another exposure, and also to see what the longer-term students were like i.e. were they able to manifest similar abilities to GM Sam Chin.  Deeper down the question was if this was a path I could see myself train in.

I was not disappointed.  I met many other students from the west coast, from Oregon to California.  One of them, Mike, reminded me of a Wing Tsun Si-Hing Armando, as he was "light" yet responsive and structured.  There were others like Sonjue, Artem, and Kaiwe and who gave excellent tips from their backgrounds in anatomy.

It was also here that I learned even though one can be "successful" in a push-hands type drill/exercise, I may have still relied on past experience.  Although, I still believe that the Hänel-WingTsun Core Concepts training approach, especially in the last 3-4 years, helped get my body structure and function to its current state.  I could see a deeper level of refinement via Zhong Xin Dao.

I also learned from GM Sam Chin that I was preferentially moving in a sagittal plane.  That actually makes sense to me, especially as a result of more Biu-Tze training.

After this Oakland seminar, I was even more convinced about not only I Liq Chuan, but the Zhong Xin Dao philosophy to its training.

This photo below is not a demonstration of the frontal* plane, basic exercise 10, or otherwise.  It is a still from a Happy Holidays greeting.

Until the next post... happy training!

*a former version of this article incorrectly stated "horizontal plane"; thanks Sifu Joshua Craig

January 2015 WingTsun notes - From blank to a dot

I happen to be cleaning up my OneNote notebooks, having not used them in 3 years.

I found this entry from January 11, 2015 at 11:54PM.

-----

Idea about video

Graphic artist needed

Journey in Wing Tsun

Imagine a WT student, learning SNT for the first time.

Mechanics in the head, blank essentially.

As one learns more and more, schematics come out, different option.

More experience, multitude of options and ideas in stick figures, come out.

Mastery, involves simplicity again, and unified answer.

-----

It looks as though in 2015, I was writing about an idea representing the journey in Wing Tsun that could be displayed as a video.

Question:  What would I change about this note now?

In the second stage, as one learns more and more, schematics do come out of the head, but the student is more so in the "collecting" phase.  There are still issues with collecting techniques, but this may still be needed without a full understanding and appreciation.

In the next stage with more experience, although there are multitude of options, they aren't due to collecting more techniques, but rather more so in the "amalgamation" and "synchronization" phase.

In terms of the last stage, I still believe that Mastery = Simplicity = Unified.  And in the video, the WT student's head is no longer completely blank, but imagine a white background with a dot, right in the centre.





But what is that dot, and where is the centre?

Until next time...

Happy Training!

GM Sam Chin Zhong Xin Dao I Liq Chuan Seminar in Vancouver

On the weekend of October 6-7, 2018, I had an opportunity to participate in a Zhong Xin Dao (中心道) / I Liq Chuan (意力拳) seminar by GM Sam Chin in Vancouver, BC.  Thank you to Sifu Chris Chinfen for organizing this event, and for Sifu Steve McMinn for hosting it at DoStrength.

The Martial Art of Awareness.

I thought this would be a unique chance to learn about the Zhong Xin Dao philosophy behind the training of movement and awareness, to complement Wing Tsun training.  

Recently, Zhong Xin Dao has been formally declared as another discipline through the EWTO organization, by Si-Gung Keith Kernspecht.

Over the last several years, in Si-Fu Ralph Haenel's Wing Tsun Kung Fu, we have been working on uniting the body and movement with training exercises:

-       Folding, sliding

-       Opening, closing

-       Compressing, expanding

-       Pushing, pulling

For my own training and awareness, I have been trying to expand upon:

-       Connections and ability to generate pushing and pulling forces simultaneously

-       Spheres and circles (hence the original name of this blog Kyklosphaira)

-       Power from the ground, and absorption into the ground

-       Affecting the opponent’s structure on first contact

The first 10 minutes of GM Sam Chin's seminar caught my attention.  

We did not do any physical training at first.  It was strictly a verbal introduction by GM Sam Chin, yet it captured my mind.  Especially in regards to such things as having a reference point, the journey of the neutral path, realizing and recognizing, etc.  This was also helpful due to the concurrent timing of another journey of mine in trying to understand world views and philosophy.  When GM Sam Chin talked about the Zen and Tao philosophies behind the training methods of I Liq Chuan, numerous mind-body connections came through to me.

The ability to put a conceptual philosophical framework as a basis for the training of movement and awareness was very helpful to orient some of the movement in Wing Tsun training.  It does not replace my Wing Tsun training, but rather complements it and enhances it.

Time to bring out Si-Gung Keith Kernspecht's book, Inner WingTsun again.

Many thanks to GM Sam Chin, his wife, and son Hsin Chin for making the trip to Vancouver.

I will continue with Haenel-WingTsun, but will also seek out I Liq Chuan training as well.  Next stop, Oakland, California...

Happy Training!

Compress and Expand

The following video clip was made from Sifu Ralph Haenel's MovementKeys seminar held on December 9th, 2017.

This exercise allows you to train the awareness of your movements in Wing Tsun Kung Fu.

The tips summarized below:

1. Train slow and listen
2. Find your spinal movements
3. Play with gravity
4. Slide and ride the wave
5. Compress and expand
6. Wiggle and find the point
7. Be present
8. Experiment
9. Be the wave
10. Flow from under or over

Happy Training!

Wing Chun Illustrated

Wing Chun Illustrated "gives a voice to all lineages."

I was fortunate to be able to interview my Si-Fu, Ralph Hänel, for the 38th issue of this magazine.  Check out my Si-Fu's website here.  Thanks to Sifu Eric Lilleør for the opportunity!

Read it here.

Order your print-on-demand copy of Issue #38 here.

Happy training!

Awareness of balance in Wing Tsun

If you study and train Wing Tsun Kung Fu, you may have been told about the Centerline theory (centREline for us Canadians).  Or, you may have heard about following the opponent's center.  Alternatively, you may have had experience with an opponent's elusive center, yet yours is quite apparent to them.

This video is based upon the seminar held on August 19th, 2017 in Vancouver, BC, Canada, by Master Ralph Hänel, of Wing Tsun Kung Fu Vancouver.

During this seminar, through all of the exercises (be it opening, hollowing, pushing, etc.), we trained our spherical shield or ballistic armour.

My own personal training points were:

1. Feeling the partner's center
2. Affecting the partner on first contact, at any contact point
3. Constant awareness of maintaining one's own balance and affecting the partner's balance

Happy Training!

Rene Latosa Escrima Seminar

On June 16th, 2017, I had the opportunity to attend a Latosa Escrima seminar by none other than the master himself, GM Rene Latosa!  This was organized by Behzad Karim of Back to Basics Self Defense, and held at the Academie Duello (this was a great environment with medieval sparring occuring in the background).  Apparently, as per Sebastian Molnar of Salsa Kapow, they also hold salsa classes at this venue.

Several others from the Wing Tsun Kung Fu Vancouver class also came.  Si-Fu Ralph Haenel told us that Rene Latosa is very friendly.  He was absolutely correct!  

Introduction

Prior to this seminar, my first and only exposure to Latosa Escrima was in Toronto, while I was also learning Wing Tsun from Si-Hing Asad Mir.  He had held some Latosa-Escrima classes at one point.  I recently found my content sheet with the Level 1 program.  I had not even finished level 1 yet.  This was 12 years ago!  I hardly remembered the form.

The one thing that impressed me about the seminar was that GM Rene Latosa initially asked us to just move as we would naturally during a strike, while he observed our motions. I was very glad that he did not teach any specific techniques.  Had he done so, I am confident that my body would have been restricted, and I would not have learned as much as I did.

I also liked the learning point that in a self-defence situation, we were not expected to be accurate with our first strike.  In fact, we should almost be expected to miss, and be ready for more strikes. In the heat of the moment, when trying to defend oneself or others from harm, there will be increased stress and limited time to react, so I can certainly see this occurring.

I’m not going to go through all the drills that we did.  Rather, like most of my previous Wing Tsun seminar reviews, I will outline 3 main ideas that I gained from the seminar.

Whole-body movements

The practice of whole-body movements in Wing Tsun have already activated many connections in my body.  The drills that we were shown did not feel foreign to me.  While the movement patterns were not identical, the concepts of prerequisites for good powerful striking was, including such things as a sinking stance, relaxed posture, activation of our spine, weight-shifting, the use of large and small circles, etc.

Keep moving and learning about your own body's movements!

Improving empty hand striking

In the Wing Tsun system as taught by Si-Fu Ralph Haenel, training with the Luk Dim Boon Kwun (long pole) and Bart Cham Dao (knives) improves our empty hand skills.  In Latosa Escrima, I found that this was a common theme as well.  Yes, we train with weapons, but it does not only translate to being better with the Escrima sticks, or the staff.  It accelerates our empty-hand skills.

The crucial point, however, was to be able to self-analyze and critically think about the drills you are doing.  Can you honestly say, that when you go through a drill, that you don’t get stuck in a repeated predictable rehearsal with your partner?  Do you fall into the trap of a monotonous dance?  Or, are you in the moment, feeling your body movements, accessing all the options?  Is there intent at every second?

What is the drill's impact on your function?

Radius of striking zone

This is where you picture a half-circle of striking zone in front of you.  I can see the link between this idea, and the practice of the Weapons Chambers as taught by Si-Fu Ralph Haenel.  Although we have the direct lines of attack in Wing Tsun, we also have a variety of options, and should also have the ability to generate power in many directions. We must not be stuck on a classical A -> B chain punch.  There are many different punches in Wing Tsun, and many different ways of using a strike from our Weapons Chambers.

To extend this even further, perhaps we should picture an entire circle of striking zone, with a circumferential sphere of powerful options.  

Summary

In the weeks leading up to the seminar, I was asking myself various questions, thinking about all the differences between Latosa-Escrima and Wing Tsun. 

“What was the Latosa-Escrima form again?”

“What were the 7 strikes?  Were there 7?"

“Would I be able to remember the 2-track stance?”

“Was not the weight more so on the front leg, not the back leg when initially training Wing Tsun?”

In the end, it did not matter.  Why?  Because, as I said before, we did not learn specific techniques.  We went through numerous drills and  creative ideas that allowed us to activate our bodies, in order to improve our skills.  

This was just a snippet of what can be gained from attending a Latosa-Escrima seminar by Rene Latosa.  I am glad to have had the opportunity to meet and listen to such a modest legend.

Happy Training!