[QUOTE=TenTigers;912479]I understand what you are saying. I think the misconception is too many people think chi-sao is fighting.
Basically, it comes from the fact that there are far too many people talking on this subject that have far too little experience and understanding.
Don’t take the words of internet jockeys, posting on a MA forum about WCK.
Instead, speak to people who are in fact, authorities on the subject.
People like ChuSauLi, Phil Redmond and others, who are accomplished Sifus, with decades of experience, can give you a more informed view of WCK, rather than the teens and youtube masters who frequent the forums.[/QUOTE]
I think TenTigers has hit the nail on the head. There are a ton of misconceptions and differences of opinions regarding what chi sau is, and how it is trained. As one that has spent the last two decades dedicated to Wing Chun and it’s methods, I’ve tried my best to be open minded in the sense when I was training in one specific method, I would be open to researching (books, articles, videos, and eventually personal one on one training) how others did things. Suffice it too say there are too many interpretations of what chi sau is. Some look at it as a sensitivity excersise, some as a trapping drill, while others look at is as a Wing Chun form of fighting or testing hands. For me it is all those things, but primarily a excersise that brings alive what the forms and intention of the system is teaching us. Wing Chun IMO is all about training a particular ability for a particular moment in a fight, the moment contact is made with another’s bridge. Chi sau teaches us what to do in the moment, but isolates it and allows that moment to be played over and over again. It’s like freezing a moment in time. Chi sau also brings the shapes of Wing Chun into a more alive environment as compared to the forms. Dan Chi (single arm chi sau), allows one that has learned and absorb the benifits of the Siu Nim Tau form, to bring the form alive by practicing and perfecting the shapes from that form. It also introduces the idea of centerline awareness, aim of ones energy, relaxation and firmness in the arms, facing, etc etc…Dan chi is also done with stepping motions with different variations happining from there. I didn’t see this portion of the training until I started learning the Wong Shun Leung method. From there we can move onto the more common drills of Poon sau and Dbl arm rolling and the drills that are included there. Lat sau jik Chung training starts here as well, with the ability to spring forward with or without footwork when contact is lost, two arm coordination, some basics trapping drills, and structure/body mechanics development. One would never begin a fight from any of the chi sau starting positions, but what one learns from these excersises, can translate directly to what can happen in a fight. It is much better to intercept an attack coming towards you with some sort of bridge, rather than with your face, it is at this moment that chi sau attributes come into play.
In the method I train in now, we chi sau pretty close to one another, allowing each of us to effect the others COM, rather than chi sau’g further away and playing wrist games. Development of the elbow position and how to utilize it as the initiator of all upper body movements, is an important idea developed here. Soon the whole body plays a part within each movement done, and since the excersise adhere’s to the idea of constant contact with the other’s bridge arms, one can learn to sense when their own COM is under attack, and when his partner’s COM is open for attack. It’s an isolated, exaggerated excersise, so that when the sh!T hits the fan, some basic ideas and reflexes will be able to be executed to help one succeed in a fight.
Chi sau guarantee’s nothing, as is the case when training in any MA method, but it does allow one to learn what WC is teaching us. Application of what is learned is not WC, but is what the individual that has trained in it’s method decides to do with it at that moment.
Just my loonies worth…not a complete picture but just some further info:)
James
