The stance, Gee Kim Yeung Ma

[Svarog]

I can't do it.

After discussions with the person I will be training with (and I will be asking him this too), ad repeated looks in the mirror, I realized there is absolutely no way I will ever be able to get into anything close to a proper Gee Kim Yeung Ma

Really, I cannot physically get into this stance. Arthritis in the hips, knees, and prior knee surgeries make is physically impossible for me to get into this stance. It was hard years ago, due to my hips being angled further back than they should be. But now, it is impossible.

How much of an obstacle is this, if you want to pursue Wing Chun

Proper stance means proper alignment of the skeleton in order to increase biomechanical efficiency of the body. " Proper stance" can be achieved in more than one way. Some styles and practitioners insist in only one way of achieving proper body alignment or "structure" but that definitely not the case. For your problem in particular I would recommend Snake Crane Wing Chun because the basic stance in that style is probably the friendliest to body, especially to legs and knees of all Wing Chun styles. There is one other thing I would like to share. According to my teacher's research , originally Wing Chun stance was not referred as "Ma" ( horse), that change came later when style left the red boats and stance significantly changed.

 

[Callen]

we use it in fighting.. i think the main misunderatanding here is a static stance being 'vulnerable'. yes if you dont move you will get swept/taken down. thats why there is foot work, speed/strength training, and heaven forbid techniques! any and every position has vulnerabilities, including this stance. its how diligently you have trained, how well you have prepared and how well you know the principles (so you dont find yourself in the wrong position at the wrong time) and of course the skill of your opponent vs your own that determines your success/defeat.

if you stand still of course anything can happen to you.

Interesting. What is an example of how you use YJKYM in fighting, but in a non-static way?

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Interesting. What is an example of how you use YJKYM in fighting, but in a non-static way?

I also have problem to picture how one can stand in YJKYM and also remains not-static at the same time.

 

[Callen]

May be he mean to stand in YJKYM when one is far away from his opponent.

Yeah, maybe so.

 

[Callen]

I also have problem to picture how one can stand in YJKYM and also remains not-static at the same time.

That's what I was curious about as well.

 

[APL76]

That's what I was curious about as well.

What OBI_JUAN_SALAMI is talking about with YJKYM not being used statically is that we think of the stance as in motion and perhaps a way to think of YJKYM is as a "snapshot" of the stance frozen in a point in time. So the wing chun stance for us is the structure of YJKYM that is developed through the body, the power generation and movement created in Jun Ma, and the mobility provided by the stepping and leg movements from Chum Kue and Bui Ji. The other side of the "snapshot" of the stance is the Gok Ma, so the stance that in YM wing Chun we at least know as Chut San Bo.

We say the YJKYM is used but not statically in the sense that you sink down, have the hips forwards, knees in, back straight and so on, all of which we do in YJKYM, all of it put into motion via the things I mentioned above. I'm not sure how clear that is, but I guess we could summarise it by saying that that we think of YJKYM more in terms of body structure than as a static position. It is a static position too, however, we don't use the structure in a static way.

 

[Oily Dragon]

Look at this, comparing squeezing a horse, or goat, or anything between your thighs.

How many of you are familiar with the fact that the Y in YGKYM is a reference to the G, "2".

二

 

[APL76]

Look at this, comparing squeezing a horse, or goat, or anything between your thighs.

How many of you are familiar with the fact that the Y in YGKYM is a reference to the G, "2".

二

yep,

 

[Danny T]

It more of an understanding on how to use what you have learned about and with the fundamental structure of the YJKYM stance in movement. Stance is but a fleeting endeavor. It is but an instance or a snap shot in time. One's movement should be balanced such that the stance is available for the moment in time it is required.

 

[Highlander]

@Xue Sheng a very important distinction to be made (which I believe others have referred to) is that the picture shows the training stance (whether or not is a perfect stance can be debated) this isn't the fight stance however. This is a stance developed for training both legs at the same time. The stance you use in practice/fight should be, IMO, the 100 0 (80 20, 90 10, depends on your system)stance and this has A LOT of play as well has you get more adapted to the WC style of movement.