Private Lesson from Kenneth Chung
On December 6th, 1992, I flew down to San Francisco to meet Master Kenneth Chung. Here is SOME of what he told me:
Without rooting, you will lose. Force is stronger if you are rooted.
Always remain calm and relaxed
Receive the incoming force. Don’t push the force away.
Follow what goes but don’t chase a running opponent.
Thrust forward when the hand is freed or you don’t feel anything. Hit the eye or nose.
Always defend the center. Close up, stick, sense the force.
Attack the center. THROW the punch straight forward.
Face the shadow. Don’t let the opponent to the side.
Drop the elbows.
Relax the shoulders. Better force, no telegraphing.
Keep the head up. Or you get hit and also your arms will stiffen.
Who initiates loses. The smallest tension can be uprooted.
Don’t be flowery. Simple actions can neutralize everything. Fancy movements have no place in Wing Chun.
Keep the body as one unit when you turn.
The opponent attacks first, you get there sooner.
Force is dissipated along the tangent of a circle in any direction.
Don’t be double weighted, 100% of the weight is off one foot.
Uproot stiffness e.g. with Lan sau or Tok sau.
You can’t push and pull what you can’t feel.
Don’t waste time finding the center or you will be quickly hit.
Elbows are one fist from the body or else they get jammed into the body.
Keep all motions simple, not flowery, conserve energy.
Turn only when necessary, just enough to neutralize the force.
Practice slowly to learn what’s going on, apply the form.
Every movement should produce a result (hit the opponent).
Don’t blink or you will get hit during the blink.
Don’t practice in the external way.
The Qi Gong section of the form is practiced very slowly. The slower the better. Taking 30 minutes to do the form once is good.
The goat restraining stance is good to train the muscles just above the knee area.
Don’t telegraph anything, wait for the opponent to move.
Practice sticking hands very close to your partner, not at the distance of your wrist.
Project confidence through your eyes. Smile at your opponent. This will help you to relax. An angry mind will show up in the form of muscle stiffness.
Drag the punch down, jerk stiff forces.
Use the Lan sau to uproot. Two hands are always active.
If the Lan sau is pushed down then use Bong sau and turning to evade.
The Jum sau cannot push down a strong force, just slide the elbow forward.
Quick explosive punching practice is not necessary.
If you don’t control your force, I won’t control my force.
Up and down can cur through flowery hands.
The thumb to the eye is very convincing.
Early results with fast hands feeds your ego and prevents progress.
Don’t tense the punch at any point, use wet noodle power.
Don’t be hasty or greedy. Learn you art slowly. At the same time don’t be afraid.
Don’t move the head up and down when advancing in the second form.
It’s no use to learn the second form if the first form is no good.
It’s no use to learn much of anything if the stance is no good.
Each muscle counts in the stance.
The Pak sau was used to intercept the punch and drag it down.
Don’t pose in an aggressive Shaolin type of stance. Just relax. Don’t pose with the hands out.
Against the round kick, kick the supporting leg.
Don’t bother to chase your opponent around, wait for the attack.
It is not necessary to do rapid tensed punching.
When my force disengaged, Ken’s fist was on my nose.
When my force started up, I was jerked with a whiplash down.
when I stood in my firm stance, I was easily uprooted and pushed backwards.
Lap sau was not possible to do on Ken.
There was no stiffness to slap, push, pull or jerk.
He pushes your arm down with one finger, you cannot push him.
The slow part of the first form is performed very slowly, it takes 5 minutes for the hand to come out and five minutes for the hand to go back.