GH VING TSUN KUNG FU
GHVTKF offers private Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) Kung Fu tuition teaching a simple, direct and efficient system of Hong Kong Ving Tsun.
The system is heavily influenced by the Wong Shun Leung Method based on the 20 years experience of the Instructor. It offers simple and practical ideas with direct and economical techniques required for personal protection.
What I Teach
GHVTKF teaches Ving Tsun Chinese Boxing as a complete system. The system is mapped out using very logical progressions. I emphasize that the Ving Tsun forms/conditioning/drills act like building blocks. The first form, Siu Lim Tao, teaches and trains the stance along with the fundamental hand positions of Ving Tsun. The second form, Chum Kiu, teaches how to use the strategies of Ving Tsun. The third form, Bil Jee, teaches how one deal with and/or escape dangerous situations. The famous Wooden Dummy, Muk Yan Jong, teaches power generation, correct positioning and alignment, timing, mobility, balance, and recovery from unfavourable situations. The Long Pole, Luk Dim Kwan, teaches how to fight with long range weapons as well as strategies for fist fighting. The Baat Cham Do, Eight Slashing Knives, teaches one how to fight against any other weapon (apart from a firearm) improves mobility, striking power, awareness and evasive/tactical strategies. Chi Sau - a drill used for developing the technical and strategical fighting techniques of Ving Tsun.
Unlike other systems of Martial Arts, Ving Tsun is based on concepts and principles. These provide the practitioner with certain behaviours and responses required for combat.
About Me
I have been practicing combat arts since I was 9 years old starting with Karate. I was bitten by the Bruce Lee bug from a very young age and always dreamt of becoming a Kung Fu instructor. In my teens I did a lot of competition Kickboxing and boxed as an amateur. After trying a few other Martial Arts, in 1997 I started Ving Tsun Kung Fu. A few years in I began to question the efficacy of the ideas that were being taught in my club and realised that all Ving Tsun must not be equal and there must be something better. After some research I decided to pursue the Wong Shun Leung Lineage. Wong Shun Leung was a very famous Master in Hong Kong and a famed student of Grandmaster Yip Man. Known as "Gong Sau Wong" or "King of talking with his hands Wong" He was famous for his many "Beimo" challenge matches in Hong Kong.
I spent 5 years within a UK branch of WSLVT and then moved over to another branch in Germany where I spent the next 10 years practicing and representing one of Wong Shun Leung's foremost students. I've also spent time in Hong Kong practicing with some other prominent Ving Tsun instructors.After a sabbatical from Ving Tsun I decided to start practicing again and teaching what I have learnt over the last 20 years. I offer private one to one lessons or small group tuition.
At present there are no formal group classes due to the fact that I am currently relocating to Oxfordshire. Lessons can be arranged in Gloucestershire or Oxfordshire at your home or a location of your choice.
There are no joining fees, no memberships and no uniforms. I charge an affordable fee for 1 hour or 1.5 hour sessions.
Ving Tsun can be a very fulfilling and a fun Martial Art to practice but it is for actual combat and has no elements of sport competition.
Contact Me
If you are interested in learning Ving Tsun please contact me. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the system. Thanks for visiting my page. Graham Handbury
[email protected] - +447739388622
Chi Sau-Ving Tsun's Primary Training Drill.
Chi Sau is a partner exercise central to the Ving Tsun Boxing system. Often referred to as “sticky hands”, this translation leads to significant misunderstandings and does not reflect the far-reaching implications this exercise can have on the practitioner’s development. The expression "sticky hands" is in itself a paradox and can only have come from what a person sees rather than what the exercise is actually for.
In fact, this exercise system does not involve exclusively the hands and arms but also the unity of whole-body and mind.
“Sticking” in the sense of following or fixating on the opponents arms via tactile responses can lead to many problems.
Common misconceptions regarding this exercise is that it is a type of sensitivity training drill, and that the practitioner can gain advantage over an opponent by sticking onto their forearms trying to feel which way they are moving or intending to move. Although it is true that certain contact reflexes are developed through Chi Sau, blindly following the opponents’ arms, as seen in many systems of Wing Chun, is illogical and impractical. In Ving Tsun one can often use the application of pressure to cause a reaction from the opponent but pressure as in arm manipulation via tactile responses is not a good way of practicing this valuable drill. The question can then be raised as to what exactly this exercise is for and why it holds such an important place in the system?In the beginning stages, Chi Sau serves to train certain combat behaviours that are essential to the system and its concepts and principals. These behaviours include:
- Orientation in relation to the opponent.
- Synchronicity of actions i.e. both arms are used in a coordinated effort.
- Building of structure, meaning using the whole-body to generate force/power from the ground.
- Distance, mobility and timing.
- Learning how to use all the Ving Tsun actions as laid out in the forms.
- Fighting tactics and strategies.
- Determination.
- The ability to continue an attack should it be impeded.
- Cutting off the opponents way of moving.All aspects of combat related skills and behaviour can be worked upon and developed within this drill. Another important aspect is understanding what can go wrong in a fight and how to fix it. Balance is a big factor in fighting, and it must not be compromised. Also, movements that overshoot the target or intended path to the opponent need to be corrected. Many actions in the forms teach us that overshooting, and balance, are problems so we learn how best to recover from them during Chi Sau.One vital requirement for Chi Sau is co-operation between two training partners. If Chi Sau becomes a fight of egos, then it will not develop and improve the correct behaviours for Ving Tsun.An often missed concept of Ving Tsun is the method of "cutting off the way" meaning that we learn how to pursue and disrupt the movements of an opponent safely by turning their attacking limbs away from us. Through many hours of Chi Sau practice this action becomes second nature.In a nutshell this drill is vital for the correct Ving Tsun development but if it is practiced in the wrong way it can do more harm than good when it comes to actual combat.This is summed up perfectly in an answer given by Wong Shun Leung in an interview by one of his top western students, Philipp Bayer.
""A frequent stumbling block is that the basic principles aren't properly understood and therefore not passed on correctly. To compensate this ignorance, techniques are changed so that they are no longer working with the named principles. They therefore lose their effectiveness. Techniques are not understood properly and all of a sudden function differently. The loss of reality causes the inclusion of completely new techniques that have nothing to do with Ving Tsun. Sometimes it is just a question of patience. I can teach somebody the forms within a day. Never the less the techniques are not useable. When Ving Tsun is to be effective, the movements of the techniques must be intensified. Some students don't train enough and only practice what they enjoy.
The basic part of training is Chi sau and its accompanying "hit" exercises on the wall pad.The best techniques mean nothing of you don't have the necessary swiftness and knock out power."" - Wong Shun Leung.
How I teach Ving Tsun
Ving Tsun Boxing lessons are generally taught on a one to one basis. The reason for this is because the relationship of teacher>student - student>teacher is very important when learning, especially in the beginning. In fact the relationship should be more like training partners rather than teacher to student. Priority is given to the correction of errors as well as learning how the system should function. A student needs the correct feedback and needs to feel how an action is executed with the correct force and intention.
The proper execution of all the Ving Tsun movements is of high priority. Without this the student will not be confident in their actions and in many cases an action that lacks the correct speed and force will not work properly. Without the proper contact a student can end up making his/her own ideas and decisions which can have a very detrimental effect on the system.
In GH Ving Tsun Boxing there are no gradings, as seen in other Martial Arts. Ving Tsun takes time to learn and each student will have their own pace at which they can positively improve. Gradings and belt colours only form a hierarchy and can lead one to think that they have completed a certain section at which point they move on never to go back. That idea does not work in Ving Tsun.
I believe that one to one tuition is the best scenario for learning. That does not mean that a student cannot practice/spar with other students or other styles. When proficiency in the techniques is acquired and the correct "thinking" attained then this would be a natural time for a student to make Ving Tsun his/her own.