Wing Chun Kung Fu is a martial art dedicated to self defence, it is not a sport and has never had any inclination to be in a combative arena for the purpose of winning against an opponent.
Many martial arts require the learner to have a prerequisite level of fitness, mobility or other such requirements, and in this way Wing Chun is unique in that the system has been designed as to fit the requirements of the individual learner.
The ethos of Wing Chun for adults is personal development of the mind, body and spirit. Within these three subjects we have listed a number of core benefits that learning the Wing Chun Martial Arts system will give you, giving a little indication as to the scope and meaning of each.
Wing Chun Benefits for our Mind
Shaping the way we think and see ourselves
Wing Chun Kung Fu is more than what you see from a classroom; the environment created and the knowledge base of our instructors stretches beyond the format of simply punching and kicking.
Personal development is the fundamental philosophy of Kung Fu, and indeed your Wing Chun training is 80% based on improving yourself physically, and the other 20% is shaping yourself mentally into a great martial artist through developing your self discipline, confidence and ability to persevere, as well as numerous other benefits.
Stress Relief
Stress is often caused by our mind being allowed to slow down and stagnate. Our Wing Chun classes get you involved in physical activities that release endorphins and do not allow you the down time that may lead to stress, and although we do not want you to think too hard as a student, it is well known that the art of Wing Chun Kung Fu is technically brilliant and for those thinkers its a great way to activate the mind.
Training Wing Chun forces you to focus on the here and now, not on the every day problems that you may be facing outside of class, and is therefore a great way to clear your mind.
Better Relationships and Social Support
Another benefit that our students soon find is the social interaction and friendships that come with taking classes. Students come from all walks of life and those looking for a social network soon find this from our Wing Chun classes.
Families that join together soon find that to have started a hobby that they all enjoy and have the opportunity to practice at home together really brings the whole family together.
Increased Discipline
Self-discipline is in decline today in a world where instant gratification is so prevalent. Discipline is an important element in life, it is key to attaining and achieving some of the fundamentals in life that allow you to develop and grow as a person.
Wing Chun helps you develop self-discipline in a truly enjoyable way. Learning the art of Wing Chun goes hand in hand with training your mind to remain peaceful and focused whilst you flow through complex drills, and training your body through practice and conditioning. You’ll notice before long that this self-discipline (and the confidence that comes from developing it) is leaking over into other areas of your life, helping you achieve more and go further than you ever dreamed.
Improve eye focus and eye to hand coordination
When you’re not in contact range you have to rely on visual reflexes to keep you safe. Self defence comes in 3 formats, physical, visual and audible, our eyes play a main role in defence as our sense to see and understand our situation and circumstances is important and one that is trained and enforced in our classes.
Our Body
As Wing Chun practitioners we learn firstly how to use the body to its best effect as well as how to protect it from incoming danger, we do this through the application of the Wing Chun theories, principles and mottos.
We also work on understanding all elements of the human body, how to attack and defend muscle groups, how to use these for their soft and hard capabilities, body structure and conditioning, and to how best to keep safe as well as manipulate our opponents for the best outcome in the subject of defending ourselves.
Wing Chun Benefits for our Body
Body Structure
Body structure is created through the understanding and implementation of the Wing Chun shapes that you learn. We then work on holding these shapes in positions based on the theory and concepts that you are using within your fighting programmes, this is also dependent on your purpose in application.
In order to make correct shapes you practice your forms and in order to implement the correct shapes you practice your Chi Sao. Body mechanics is one of the key elements to Wing Chun and a beginner students should spend time learning this.
Body Conditioning
Wing Chun Kung Fu is a soft martial art so unlike the hard arts we must condition our selves in a slightly different way. Hard training is tough on our bodies yet simple to do, the body responds to hard conditioning by becoming hard, however this is not for most, and most certainly was not the purpose of Wing Chun Kung Fu. In Wing Chun we must remain soft in defence whilst being hard and showing aggression when applying ourselves with our attacks. We should train so as not to affect our normal day to day lives with injuries, this is done by utilising body mechanics as described above.
Body Understanding
As Wing Chun practitioners we must understand how our body works and how it should work correctly, how to get the best from it and how to keep it safe and uninjured in both day to day life as well as whilst defending ourselves if the situation arises. We learn this through the theories of Wing Chun, working through these theories and instilling them into our body is the key to making us work correctly in any given situation.
Builds Internal Energy and Wellness
Most people have heard how Chinese Martial Arts are good for your health and helps develop internal “Qi” power. There are dozens of medical studies that support that this is a core element of your Kung Fu training.
In Wing Chun Kung Fu we have many methods that we use to increase your health and wellbeing. Our Wing Chun forms are one such tool that is used for this; they can be used to help with your flexibility; increase your strength; improve your softness; focus your mind; generate power and all with the added benefit that the forms hold all of the applications of the Wing Chun System as well as all the theories. If you do your Wing Chun forms slowly and deliberately you’ll get many of the benefits.
Improve Your Reflexes
Chi Sau (or sticky hands) provides the training of increased contact sensitivity and increased auto-reflexes. This will also help you in other martial arts or sports that you choose to take up and is a method used to download specific responses and reactions to incoming problems that you may face not only in your martial arts classroom but in normal life.
Our Spirit
The human spirit plays a very important part of our Kung Fu journey and is key to our overall development as a Wing Chun student and practitioner of Kung Fu.
Philosophy
The study of general and fundamental problems, in your Wing Chun training this makes a lot of sense from a self defence perspective and is something that you will be examining and learning about how to overcome in every class.
Psychology
Although the Wing Chun Applicator is not expected to become a trained psychologist the understanding of this subject matter is imperative in the world of self defence, especially in order to understand your opponent in a confrontation.
Art
You could perceive this to mean the expression of your own Wing Chun, the artistic expression of your Wing Chun comes from the spirit inside.
Knowledge
With our improved knowledge on the subject of Wing Chun Kung Fu comes a greater level of spirit within, our mind and body grows with knowledge. It is important to know the spirit that is within ourselves and also the spirit that drives our opponent so to understand how to act correctly in a self defence situation, those that are uneducated and hold little knowledge on this subject are already a step behind the aggressor.
All of the above are just a few of the added benefits of training in Wing Chun Kung Fu and as our website develops and schools grow we will elaborate on all of these topics, for now always remember that training over the long term is what helps you develop increased focus and your self defence skills in everyday life. This translates into helping you achieve your other life goals faster and more effectively.
If you’re interested in discussing these further and taking classes in a supportive and positive environment, your journey could start by completing our form below.