Sihing Paul Wang teaches Sihing Ayron Johnson Section 3.
The International Academy of WingChun (IAW) imparts both a comprehensive learning methodology and teaching pedagogy of WingChun Self-Defense.
Previously, I introduced “Feed, Read, Deed” to guide your practice of specific exercises. The following — “Collect, Correct, Connect” — is a general framework to identify certain dimensions of progress. It clarifies the mode of learning you undergo at any moment. Continue reading
Sihing Paul at IAW Event 2012.
Since 2008, I’ve travelled to Germany half a dozen times. I’m grateful for these opportunities to do so. Without my students, colleagues or teacher, this would be impossible. They support me physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, socially, financially. No one succeeds, though each one must proceed, alone.
Years ago I realized that I wanted to seek a path, to master something, to become extraordinary. None of this is a big deal. I am not the first to dream as such, even among the thousands to have come and gone in this last decade of the IAW. However, the sheer reality of necessary resources invested long-term is another matter. Continue reading
Knife as weapon.
“Everyone talks about it, that the weapons of WingChun would improve the system, but why did no one do it?”
— Sifu Klaus Brand
In popular conception, “wing chun” invokes several mental images. Besides the so-called wooden dummy, it is the iconic weapons. Nearly all lineages of wing chun impart them as the most advanced forms in their teachings.
| Form | Chinese | Transliteration | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fourth | 木人樁 | Mok Yan Jang | Wooden Person Post |
| Fifth | 六點半棍 | Lok Dim Buen Gwun | Six Point Half Pole |
| Sixth | 八斬刀 | Bat Zam Dou | Eight Chopping Knives |
“I have never yet seen the student who improved by doing nothing.”
— Sifu Alexander Lemuth
I first met Sifu (Master) Alexander Lemuth over a decade ago when he came to visit California with our mutual Sifu. At the time, he was a Sihing (Teacher) and Second Technician Grade. Since then I have been impressed by his undeviating commitment to WingChun. In fact, I look to him as a consummate Artist, exceptional Teacher and adept Leader (of five Academies in and surrounding Stuttgart, Germany).
To date, Sifu Alexander is the only active student in the whole International Academy of WingChun (IAW) and the entire teaching career of Sifu Klaus Brand (IAW Grandmaster) to culminate this unparalleled system from its initial to final movement. Even, and admirably, so he has not diminished his own training. Among the first-generation students of Grandmaster, he is thus an exemplary standard bearer for all WingChun practitioners. In the following article, Sifu Alexander keenly articulates the incessant fortitude and ongoing action you need to succeed.
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High-Tech Arm.
Technique is your basis in WingChun. By technique I mean the accuracy, efficacy and quality of your movements. It displays as being clear in your intention and clean in your action. This depends on right knowledge and ample practice.
If you are swimming, precise technique allows you to glide faster and longer through the water. Swinging a high-tech titanium bat lets you hit harder and farther than a wooden one. In Self-Defense, poor technique decreases the likelihood and increases the difficulty of successful application, which is dangerous in a survival context. Such sloppiness is often due to forcing and rushing. You can amplify, rather than substitute, technique with power and speed.
There are consequential visual, tactile and, especially, functional differences between merely good and extremely great technical performance. How do you hone the latter? Here are several suggestions I’d like to share with you: Continue reading
Sifu Paul Wang 