CAN WE, WILL WE, WHEN WILL WE REOPEN?
 
I hope that everyone is well and has been able to continue training over the last few months.  The online classes have been a really pleasant surprise for us, they have allowed to devise a method of group teaching which supplements our usual one-to-one coaching approach.  If you have not been able to join, we have maintained the core group of the club very well with regular classes reaching 20 attendees.
 
In the same way as when we entered the lockdown, government advice is changing quickly and there is potential that we could open the doors to a class in July.  If that becomes possible, the question for us is what will that look like, who will come and what will we do.  I am going to some ideas here for students to think about, and ideally you can text, email or FM message me with what your preferences are so we can get back to training in a way that benefits us all.
 
My thoughts are:

• The Tuesday venue is the larger place, so I think that at first we could open there one day a week to see how it goes.
  
• The venue is large, so I think up to 16 of us could be in and remain 2 metres apart with ease.
• We can keep the windows open for good ventilation.
• I will provide proper hand sanitizer which everyone would have to use when entering.  If the government says we need masks, we will wear them
• If the government changes to 1 metre distancing, we could get close enough to do adjustments etc.  Also, there is potential for chi sau(???)
• Students would have the option of staying at the back of the class and maintaining distance, which those with a lower risk profile could agree a different approach for themselves at a closer distance.
• I think that in the past we have let some students train in a ‘none Sung way’ as they adapt to our methods, from now on we will be more strict to ensure training is what we believe.
  
• We will take the group work from the online classes and adapt that to the start of the class (group form work for the first half an hour).
• We will maintain a weekly online class for the wider group.

 
The big question I have to ask students is will they come to class if and when the regulations allow it?  I appreciate that some have health and financial issues and that they may have to wait.  Financially I do not want to pay £30 to rent a room which will be empty, so I need to know who is interested?  If there were only a few students would you pay £10 a session?  My preference is to charge £8 drop in if the group is a good size, but would students be willing to pay say £30 a month instead (some months you would get 5 sessions, others you might miss one).
 
So lots to think about.  I need to hear from you to get an idea of where we are at now.  I have been teaching privately over the last month and I am very encouraged by the development of our senior students who will be able to assist us with teaching as they have a good grounding in Sung methodology.  Exciting times ahead.

September, just like January, is usually a time when we get new students eager to try out wing chun, or alternately a few old faces reappear with the intention of starting again. Come October most of them have vanished. It is a cycle I have seen for almost 20 years of training in martial arts.

I am not sure how people reasonably expect to learn any martial art if they only want to commit to once a fortnight of training, and even that is usually if there is nothing else comes up that day. Even for some that do train with us for several months and start to grasp the depth of this wing chun, many still think that two hours a fortnight will make them a ninja. You can see the disappointment when after a year or so that things did not work out that way and other people progress much quickly.



There is always an excuse available to us not to train, feeling tired, bad weather, bad day, drinks after work, money; the comfort option is provided by our brain as a ready waiting friend. But just because we talk about relaxation does not mean there is not work to be done. I do understand the dilemma, I’ve had two kids since I started training, a busy job and loads of potential distractions. But you have to ask yourself the question if I am not willing to try now, to put in the work, when will you do it? Really, when? If your daily training routine is an exercise in avoiding discomfort, to pamper yourself after work every night, then it will only get harder for you. In fact ask yourself the question how busy are you really? How much time in front of the telly, computer etc, hanging around with people so not to feel awkward by saying you have something else important to do. Then ask yourself - what if? What if you actually put some time aside and tried standing practice every day, came to classes or even had a private lesson. If you have not really tried and do not intend to, then failure is guaranteed.



I am not writing this blog to have a go at anyone, just holding up a mirror to us all. Plenty of people have come to the club and in a short period seen a big improvement in their wing chun, in their physical, mental and emotional health because they have taken the decision to commit to themselves to a difficult endeavour. I train every day, I give my all for every minute of every class but I know I can be lazy sometimes. But what we do not want is to look back and say that maybe we could have been better, achieved our goals, if we actually put that extra bit of time in. Maybe turn off that telly or put the phone in the other room; don’t be half hearted. You only get a return if you make an investment.



So make a choice, if not coming to every class maybe one extra class a month. If you are one of the many people who have said to me you plan to visit Sheffield for private lesson, then do it. Why would you say it to yourself if you do not beleive it? There is only one person you will be letting down and failing if you not not try.



Motivation comes and goes, it is the drive to improve ourselves which we must cultivate if you want to achieve. There are days that you have drag yourself out, days when it hurts to stand for long period, days when the mind wont stop wandering, but if anything worthwhile was easy everyone would be a master. So stop putting it off, stop watching youtube as if that provides all the answers, and get training. Maybe you will not like it, maybe not see any improvement, but better to try and fail than never know what you are capable of.

If you have been for lessons over the last month or so you will have noticed that instead of just prodding, pulling and coaxing your muscles in the usual (subtle) way, I have been taking this further to test your potential for a much larger range of movement and rotation. In order to progress to the Bil Jee form there are several prerequisites you need to be able to meet, these are nothing to do with experience or time served, just basic physical requirements which you will have reached if you have put in the training. Firstly if your shoulders have a tenancy to lock into structural positions although they may be powerful they will not be able to deal with the power you can create from the rotation of your centre and you will either injure them or have to keep them floppy when you meet resistance. The latter will have no power and the former is obviously not what you want. Secondly you need to maintain the integrity of you spine when under pressure, if you cannot maintain the release of you lower spine (tai gong) and the upward lengthening (sing) then your body will buckle under pressure. Third, the body has to act as a single unit; you cannot move from your centre if the centre is not connected and communicating with the whole body. These are the basic requirements which you will have developed ability for when practicing SLT and chum kui. Without them the more complex issues of sinking and spinal rotation etc will be impossible.​

We do not have belts and grading at Sung and learning a form is not a privilege we hold back for those who meet an arbitrary requirement. If you can maintain the correct state whilst under pressure in a consistent manner, then it is time to test that by introducing new ideas. As your body digest that new info you will fail and keep failing but over time the successes will outweigh the failures and then it is time to move on again. You do not have to be perfect.

So my plan is to keep introducing bil jee ideas to those who are ready or nearly ready and work through the form; likely to be with a group of about 6-8 students. If you can only train once a week then this may be difficult to add this work to the other stuff (standing, SLT & CK) so either work more at home or you can excuse yourself from the extra pressure. There is no race and you need to be honest with yourself.

People who have completed the CST system will all testify that the SLT is the most important part of the method (and the most important part of the SLT is the standing practice). However if you see the system as a jigsaw, you only really understand the puzzle is you have seen the whole picture and know where everything fits. What is the most important part of a car, the engine, the wheels? You need to have all the pieces connected together and working or you are going nowhere.

I will probably teach the Bil Jee in about three rounds, first the movements with the rotation of chum kui, then add spinal rotation and finally add the magic sauce. And funnily enough you will come to realise that the magic sauce is that bit we talked about in the first lesson when we introduced the SLT.