The System

The 7 Aims of Wing Tsun

Wing Tsun is unusual for a Chinese martial art in that our Grand Masters and Masters possess a very progressive attitude to the application of Biomechanics to Kung Fu. Chinese martial arts are most often taught in a traditional manner, the danger of this is that the martial art can stagnate and then be superseded by more flexible systems or becomes clouded in myth, especially when unforeseen circumstances lead to information being lost or changed. Rather than be hindered by traditional methods Wing Tsun has been taken along the route of the scientific method. This means that new advances from the scientific community looking into the human body and mind can and will be incorporated into our system. Our leading instructors working with sports scientists ensure changes to our martial art are rigorously tested for efficiency, practicality, and then, effectively, peer reviewed to see if new advances can be introduced to the system while still maintaining the ability to teach Wing Tsun to almost anyone. Our philosophy being rooted in Taoist thought supports this method because it leads us to adapt our martial art to even finer degrees.

2008-2009 has seen such a change to the system, in Grand Master Kernspecht's introduction of the 7 Aims of Wing Tsun. These are a redefinition of what a student of Wing Tsun must develop in order to master the art of WT. They are extremely valuable as they allow us to ensure that all our instructors are teaching the same material, and that their teaching outcomes remain relatively stable through out the EWTO (although simple human nature means that instructors will inevitably favour particular aspects of the system over others). From a student's point of view, they give good guidelines into what areas we may be weaker or stronger at, allowing us to fine tune our programme to suit our own individual needs.

The seven aims are listed as follows: please note that their order is not fixed, some may prove to be more important than others for different people.

• Awareness
• Flexibility
• Balance
• Timing
• Body Unity
• Sensitivity
• Fighting Spirit

Definitions: What follows is a summary of the most basic concepts for each of the 7 Aims.

Awareness: Development of our perception is important as it gives us not only a better understanding of our physical bodies (knowing our bodies' dimensions and articulations) but also makes us conscious of our surroundings. The ability to assess our environment, the people in it, and evaluate the best course of action is almost always the first step in keeping ourselves safe from harm.

Flexibility: The most common and obvious application of flexibility is that of our own bodies. The ability to move appropriately when given pressure requires most Wing Tsun students to train over time a degree of physical suppleness. However flexibility of mind is just as important to Wing Tsun; and is for some, one of the more difficult parts of our system. What this means is that we learn to be adaptable with the shapes, movements and concepts derived form our Forms, Lat Sao and Chi Sao programmes. We do this to avoid trapping ourselves into thinking that the techniques we learn are fixed and immutable when we apply them.

Balance: This subject is a wide reaching one, ranging from the philosophical to the physical. On a philosophical level, Taoism (on whose principles Wing Tsun is based) is founded on the idea of understanding the balance between Yin (the feminine) and Yang (masculine). In our modern European lives this could be translated as keeping up a healthy active lifestyle, having respect for others and so on. On a more physical level, in Wing Tsun achieving efficiency relies on the development of balance. Our centres of gravity and points of turning must be in optimal positions for us to effectively use our principles of power. A great deal of our footwork exercises are geared towards building, maintaining and adapting our sense of equilibrium at all times.

Timing: Simply put, this is the knowledge of knowing when to move. In practice this is something we must develop throughout our programmes, as it is a constantly evolving aspect of our training regimes. As our knowledge of the system improves and muscle memory builds, we change the way we react to received pressure and in doing so alter our required timing. Timing is also linked to Awareness; knowing our bodily dimensions and observing those of others affects when we apply a technique. WT Instructors often refer to this marriage of concepts as "knowing our distance".

Body Unity: By combining Newtonian physics and the laws of conservation of energy (The 1st Law of Thermodynamics) we derive our understanding of body mechanics and the WT Principles of Power. Body Unity is the understanding of how to utilise the Human body to maximise our power output with the least amount of effort on our parts. This requires us to learn how to move the body in a single motion and in a way to make any transfer of energy/power easier to achieve.

Sensitivity: Sensitivity is a key part of the Wing Tsun Programme. There are two reasons we begin to train sensitivity in the early stages of our training: the first is speed and the second is strategy. By learning to be sensitive we can take advantage of the fact that the human brain can process tactile information around six times faster than it can visual (for a more detailed scientific explanation of this see chapter 2 of "On Single Combat" by Professor K. R. Kernspecht). As we get faster in analysing the movements and attacks of our opponents we can use this information to react effectively to them. This allows us to adopt the Strategy of no Strategy, we enter into combat with no preconceived ideas as to its progression or outcome because we can react and apply WT principles to devastating effect faster than our adversaries can counter them.

Fighting Spirit. This is the term we use to describe our attitude to personal defence. It is the ability to control and focus aggression. One of Grand Master Leung Ting's favourite mottoes is "to be a great friend but a terrible enemy". This is derived from Taoist philosophy; one should strive to maintain passivity (Yin) but know action (yang) in life. In practice this means we learn how to utilise the information we get from our awareness to ensure we only use violence as a last resort, and that when we have no other choice we produce and control explosive force in such a way that we use only what we need to resolve a situation quickly and efficiently.