wingchun100
Senior Master
Hey everyone,
No one here knows my story so you can't fully grasp my excitement over this, but I was finally able to attend class for the first time in months last night. Class started off with all of us working on whatever form we wanted to while Sifu came around and gave us tips.
After a while Sifu asked everyone to gather around because we were going to work some predetermined techniques in chi sao. He had me come forward to roll with him, then asked me what technique I liked or thought I did best. I said pak sao, so he had me do that. From a low fook sao hand, I did a pak to his bong sao arm and went in to punch, but he did a fook sao to deflect. We built on from that, going at a slow pace so we could really work the techniques and perfect them.
(Before anyone says it: yes, I know...and naturally so did Sifu...that you aren't going to perfect a technique in one night. He is always changing his teaching style, and this is the latest path he has chosen: to have everyone do the techniques slow so we can truly focus on taking them to the next level. Anybody can throw a flurry of wing chun techniques and look like they are doing it right; Sifu wants us to focus on substance over style. He may decide to change it once again, but so far I like this direction.)
As class came to a close, Sifu came over and asked me to do some regular chi sao with him. By "regular," I mean the real deal. This was exciting and intimidating to me. After all, I hadn't touched hands with anyone in a long time. Resuming chi sao by touching hands with Sifu first was kind of like deciding you want to become a mountaineer and picking the scariest mountain in the world as your first. But I did it, albeit poorly. At one point I caught a fak sao just under my nose and saw stars.
Naturally, all my bad habits were still there. Even when I had an opening, I didn't know what to do. Instead of going for the centerline, I found myself chasing his hands.
I said, "This has always been my problem, Sifu. I chase hands instead of going for the centerline. I have absolutely no damn aggression!"
Sifu said, "That's because you don't chi sao enough. You just need to get back in the game!"
We did some chi sao for another 5-10 minutes, and then we both had to call it a night. All in all, it was probably the best time I've had in months.
So I just realized this reads more like a blog entry than something I should have posted here, but I think I can adjust that by closing out with a question.
How many of you have had that exhilarating feeling of being away from training for a long time and then finally getting a chance to go back?
No one here knows my story so you can't fully grasp my excitement over this, but I was finally able to attend class for the first time in months last night. Class started off with all of us working on whatever form we wanted to while Sifu came around and gave us tips.
After a while Sifu asked everyone to gather around because we were going to work some predetermined techniques in chi sao. He had me come forward to roll with him, then asked me what technique I liked or thought I did best. I said pak sao, so he had me do that. From a low fook sao hand, I did a pak to his bong sao arm and went in to punch, but he did a fook sao to deflect. We built on from that, going at a slow pace so we could really work the techniques and perfect them.
(Before anyone says it: yes, I know...and naturally so did Sifu...that you aren't going to perfect a technique in one night. He is always changing his teaching style, and this is the latest path he has chosen: to have everyone do the techniques slow so we can truly focus on taking them to the next level. Anybody can throw a flurry of wing chun techniques and look like they are doing it right; Sifu wants us to focus on substance over style. He may decide to change it once again, but so far I like this direction.)
As class came to a close, Sifu came over and asked me to do some regular chi sao with him. By "regular," I mean the real deal. This was exciting and intimidating to me. After all, I hadn't touched hands with anyone in a long time. Resuming chi sao by touching hands with Sifu first was kind of like deciding you want to become a mountaineer and picking the scariest mountain in the world as your first. But I did it, albeit poorly. At one point I caught a fak sao just under my nose and saw stars.
Naturally, all my bad habits were still there. Even when I had an opening, I didn't know what to do. Instead of going for the centerline, I found myself chasing his hands.
I said, "This has always been my problem, Sifu. I chase hands instead of going for the centerline. I have absolutely no damn aggression!"
Sifu said, "That's because you don't chi sao enough. You just need to get back in the game!"
We did some chi sao for another 5-10 minutes, and then we both had to call it a night. All in all, it was probably the best time I've had in months.
So I just realized this reads more like a blog entry than something I should have posted here, but I think I can adjust that by closing out with a question.
How many of you have had that exhilarating feeling of being away from training for a long time and then finally getting a chance to go back?
