Using Visualizations To Make Wing Chun Easier

[mook jong man]

Learning to do movements correctly in Wing Chun / Wing Tsun can be very difficult at times and extremely frustrating.
Using visualizations can sometimes help to simplify the technique and make it less daunting .

Here are some that I have used , when I first started double sticking hands I found it very hard to concentrate on my two arms working at once and have forward force as well.

So what I did was imagine that my arms were two hoses , that had water in them under high pressure .
The streams of water were constantly searching , looking for any weakness , any gap to get through my partners arms. It worked , when there was no counter force my arms would go through.

It also stopped me from over analysing what I was doing and just concentrate on a very simple concept.

There was another period where I noticed that I was drawing my arm back slightly everytime before I punched , it wasn't a huge telegraph , but it was enough to irritate me.

I would look in the mirror as I punched and it would go away , but everytime I thought of hitting something hard while I wasn't monitoring it in the mirror it would come back.

To eliminate this annoying habit once and for all I started to imagine that at the back of my elbow was a tiny rocket engine that thrusted my arm forward when I punched .

As this imaginary rocket engine only provided forward thrust there was no way my arm could have any backward motion once I decided to punch .
It worked , after a short while I was able eliminate the telegraphic movement and once the correct move was ingrained I could forget about the rocket and just go back to punching from the elbow.

I remember another time we were doing a simple leg raising exercise for relaxed , powerful kicking .
My Sifu said to imagine there was a big hook coming down from above , and the hook was around the back of your knee pulling your whole leg up.

Right away as I imagined that , my leg raising seemed to become slightly more effortless and relaxed.

Does anyone else have any visualization ideas / concepts that have helped them in practicing their Wing Chun / Wing Tsun techniques ?

 

[bully]

I'm afraid not in WC MJM but visulisation is the way I learn best. Your post is very helpful and I would be very interested to see what others post.

 

[yak sao]

This is kind of on the same order.
To teach proper muscle usage when punching I have students place their extended arm, thumb up on their partner's shoulder. Then I have their partners put both hands at the elbow joint at the top of their partners arm. I then tell the person with the arm on the shoulder to not let their partner bend their arm. They tense up and after a short second or two the partner who is bending them at the elbow causes the arm to collapse.

Then I tell them to do the same thing, but this time extend their fingers out as if they're trying to touch the wall in front of them. This time their partner can put all his weight on the crease at the elbow but can't cause the arm to bend.

This illustrates for them to use triceps not biceps for punching.
I also like to make a game of it .
I will have person A try it and be unsuccesful. Then I take him aside and tell him the "ancient Chinese secret" and voila! he can now do it!

 

[mook jong man]

This is kind of on the same order.
To teach proper muscle usage when punching I have students place their extended arm, thumb up on their partner's shoulder. Then I have their partners put both hands at the elbow joint at the top of their partners arm. I then tell the person with the arm on the shoulder to not let their partner bend their arm. They tense up and after a short second or two the partner who is bending them at the elbow causes the arm to collapse.

Then I tell them to do the same thing, but this time extend their fingers out as if they're trying to touch the wall in front of them. This time their partner can put all his weight on the crease at the elbow but can't cause the arm to bend.

This illustrates for them to use triceps not biceps for punching.
I also like to make a game of it .
I will have person A try it and be unsuccesful. Then I take him aside and tell him the "ancient Chinese secret" and voila! he can now do it!

I have done exactly that exercise you describe Yak sao , it was to illustrate how muscles in a relaxed state can tolerate more force than when tense.

 

[zepedawingchun]

Yo, mook jong man and yak sao, quit telling all the visualizations secrets, okay? J/K . Both of your descriptions are right on. The water flowing is a big one with most of the WC lineages. I tell my students to do the same when they chi sao. They still have a hard time of it until I illustrate it or help them work on it.

Another one is the compressed spring, when you want to punch, imagining your arm (elbow) is a spring that is compressed (slight forward energy) when an opponent has made contact to the bridge. Then, when they move off the bridge or slide on the bridge, the spring expands quickly (punch) to allow your strike to go forward.

Beginning Wing Chu/Wing Tzun/Wing Tsun/Yong Chun students on the forum, what mook jong man and yak sao have written is important visualization techniques to improve your skills. It is an aid to improve and better your martial arts that is just as important as forms, trapping, and chi sao. All the ready good teachers (masters?) use it.

 

[yak sao]

[Another one is the compressed spring, when you want to punch, imagining your arm (elbow) is a spring that is compressed (slight forward energy) when an opponent has made contact to the bridge. Then, when they move off the bridge or slide on the bridge, the spring expands quickly (punch) to allow your strike to go forward.



I tell the students to imagine their arm as a dart in a dart gun. The trigger is pulled and the only thing keeping your "dart" in is your partner's hand in front of your fist. When the hand is removed the dart/punch springs out