I have been studying Wing Chun for about a month now. At first I was expecting that the first form I would leard would be Siu Lim Tau (spelling?) and I was a bit concerned that the form I was learning wasnât really much like the descriptions of Siu Lim Tau I had read.
I now know that I will be learning Siu Lim Tau a little later on, and I was told the name of the form the other day (Iâd been told before but had forgotten it - lots to remember :)). I donât know the spelling so I canât really search for it, but phonetically it sounds like âfah-buh-rowâ. Does anybody know what Iâm talking about?
Itâs a very short form, I think itâs around 35-45 moves or thereabouts, depending how you count them.
Are you sure itâs a form? Never heard of that. Are you possibly referring to some stance exercises rather than a full form?
Mah bo or buâ a moving stance of some sort? Where are you learning and who is teaching?
Uhh, why do you ask where/who? (Thatâs just a question, not meant to be confrontational or anything).
I am learning with an organisation named Zheng Dao Lo, located in the UK. I am in the Central Southern area. The head instructor for my area is named Ian Sibley (I havenât met him but my classmates have). I only know my instructor by his first name. I am fairly confident that he knows what he is doing, although I am not really in a good position to judge.
Am I sure itâs a form? Well that depends on what the difference between a form and a moving stance is. Itâs got punches and blocks and so on in it.
Confrontational? Not bya long shot. Saying where you are and who you are learning from could give some broadly informed folks to give you a btter answer than otherwise would be the case. Thus one well known wing chun group have tagged ona form of theor own after the slt and before ck. The 3 main forms in Yip Man wing chun are elegantly put together and no other hand form is really needed IMO. But many schools quite legitimately
can take some wing chun motions and make them into patterns for a workout . They are not forms strictly speaking- not the main
texts . Byt then ther are folks who dont know wing chun ata deep level but make it up as they go along- including coconut breaking!
Again- no confrontation- for someone like me- I dont go on the net looking for confrontations.
In our class, Siu Lim Tao is not taught immediately (in the first day of class). First you have to understand the theories and principles of wing chun in order to appreciate SLT. Then the basic techniques and drills are taught. After learning some drills, SLT will be taught.
I have no idea what âfah-buh-rowâ is. My guess is it is one of the routines or exercises in your class. In our class, we start the session with stretching/warm-up exercises and some routines. One of our routines have moving stances, strikes and blocks too. These exercises and routines are for warming up.
In our class, Siu Lim Tao is not taught immediately (in the first day of class). First you have to understand the theories and principles of wing chun in order to appreciate SLT. Then the basic techniques and drills are taught. After learning some drills, SLT will be taught
I think you should start to learn SLT immediately as its practice teaches you the theories and principles of Wing Chun. and of more importantly the correct energies to use.
Thanks for your opinions. Iâve spoken to a few other people and itâs been suggested that it could be a simple additional form that was created by my school. Itâs just got some basic techniques in it; the ones we have learnt first: pak sau, tan sau and (donât know how to spell itâŚ) qua sau (?), along with some straightforward punches.
Perhaps itâs something to practice and get comfortable/acquainted with before we start Siu Lim Tau.
Axiom- thatâs what I thought that it could be. Lots of possible combinations in wing chun. But I am surprised that you are not starting off section by section of the sil lim tao. But there are variances in teaching routines I am sure. A person came to see me last week. He has been doing wing chun in a well known line
for 3 years and yet he has yet to begin any chi sao.
Iâm not familiar with anything named âFa Bo Rowâ. Fa Bo by itself could mean âFlowery Stepsâ. Thereâs no âRâ sound in Cantonese, however, so the âRowâ is hard to place. There are a few systems of Weng Chun that contain Fa Kuen (âFlower Fistâ) sets but thatâs all that comes to mind. Itâs not uncommon to have some basic exercises before Siu Lien/Nim Tao, however, formal or informal.
At my First WC school I was never taught the SLT, i was there for about a year. But the school was combination of a bunch kung fu styles⌠I did learn a couple other WC forms though. The first one started off like the SLT, with the crossing arms at the bottom and bringing them up, but then in went on to do a bil jee and punch, on all 4 corners, then there was some steping and some chain punching⌠Its was leung ting lineage i think.
reneritchie - âFlowery stepsâ huh? Interesting Do you speak Cantonese? I canât be sure about the ârowâ syllable, but it sounded like that to me. Perhaps there is something that rhymes with ârowâ that would fit in?
CBA - Whatâs a bil jee? The form (if it is a form) Iâm talking about involves some initial movements from standing still in a head-on position at first (after the crossed-hands movement you mentioned), including some pak saus, tan saus and basic punches. Then you turn to the side and do some block/punch combos in one direction, then turn and mirror it in the other direction.
What exactly is chain punching? I mean, I can imagine its punching several times in a row but is that with or without accompanying blocks?
I think you should start to learn SLT immediately as its practice teaches you the theories and principles of Wing Chun. and of more importantly the correct energies to use.
Different schools have different methods of teaching. One method is as good as the other. In our school SLT is not taught immediately. In the first day of class, a beginner is given an overview of wing chun. He is given a lecture about the âhistoryâ of wing chun, the centerline principle, triangular structure, etc. After the overview, simple exercise routines are taught. Later on, simple techniques, then these techniques are incorporated into drills. Only after learning a few drills will SLT be taught.
I agree that, âSLT teaches you the theories and principles of Wing Chunâ. But a beginner may not appreciate SLT if he does not have a little background on Wing chun. I once showed a friend who practices karate the SLT and chum kiu forms. He told me that the forms will not work in a real fight. He was comparing SLT and chum kiu with karateâs âkataâ. I explained that wing chun forms are different from karateâs kata because when we do the forms, we donât imagine fighting a imaginary opponent.
Thats sounds pretty much like the form I was taught, and when you turn to the side you do the simeltaneous punch and bil jee(bil jee pick ) on the both top sides then the 2 lower sides right?
A few yip man students(maybe other lineages to, but i wouldnt knowâŚ) put some the stuff from the main forms into pre arranged fighting sets, so the students wouldnt have to wait as long befor the could apply the WC to fightingâŚ
I donât recognise the bil jee, but I havenât been doing this long at all so Iâm new to pretty much everything about it. The part of the form/drill/whatever it is that you do to the side is (left side first) a left pak sau/right punch under, right tan sau/left punch, left pak sau/right punch over, right qua (spelling?) sau/left punch, then a step backwards and move both hands together like youâre avoiding a kick (donât know the name of the move), turn to a straightforward stance and mirror to the right.
It sounds like the idea is the same, although what Iâve been doing is really very simple, involving only the basics. Itâs been useful to me though, to get some flowing movement and practise my stepping. Itâs not easy to learn the coordination required to move all your limbs at once in different ways. I liken it to when I learnt to drive and I had some trouble with fine control of how far down my foot was; it was kind of jerky. Now itâs smooth from all the practise. What I mean is that even though theyâre simple actions, practicing it really helps me to make my motion flow better.
