By: Jim Roselando

To the un-trained eye one may think that the Pin Sun Wing Chun lacks noticeable power but when felt there is no doubt as to the what energy can be generated through its graceful and compact actions. Hopefully, after reading this article, one will understand some of the key elements utilized to developing the explosive power of Leung Jan's art.

As one begins their training they are initially taught how to open the posture and align the body. Our fundamental horse, Yee Jee Kim Yeung Ma (character "=" yang clamping horse), opens in three parts and finishes about shoulder width apart with the heels slightly out, toes gripped, knees clamped to no more than a fist distance, anus lifted and pelvis tucked. As we work further up the body you straighten the spin, slightly tuck the chin, clinch the teeth and last but not least you employ three of the major elements found in all old style Wing Chun which is Lok Bot (drop shoulders), Chum Jarn (sink elbows) and Sow Hung (hollow chest). After learning, and while learning, these key body links you are now about to begin the silent boxing of Pin Sun Wing Chun.

Pin Sun Wing Chun uses a quiet body. Its power comes from the connection of body, positioning of skills, relaxation, root, internal power, distance, timing, speed and other important elements. The training of boxing skills begins in the Yee Jee Kim Yeung Ma and one is not allowed to move until sufficient time is spent in the horse. By not moving any areas of the body, but the hand skills being trained, one is beginning to develop Yau Ging (subtle power). Many other arts utilize big body swinging actions to power their hands but in Pin Sun Wing Chun we do not do this. It is not the goal of a Wing Chun practitioner to have noticeable power. This would be telegraphing ones intent. If one can see where the power is generated from they can also neutralize it and while this may be good for a beginner to see how power is generated it will cause long term damage for a traditional Wing Chun artist as it will not only stunt their Yau Ging but also their future Duen Ging (short power). One Wing Chun proverb states: The skills depart from where they originate. This tells us that we do not telegraph or pump to generate power! In future training one will use their footwork to add more body power to the boxing methods but make no mistake, the body will still be silent when in motion.

Power comes from the earth, manifests in the body and is expressed in the limbs! This is key to understanding the way any Kung Fu practitioner looks at expressing power. When you are connected to the earth, and have good stability/balance, you will now be able to issue power. One example is trying to hit with power while one is off balance on a slippery surface and or trying to hit while stable on concrete. Another is to build a pyramid upside down. This is not to say we must be like a mountain and not moveable but you must have a strong stable stance that is mobile. So, although our horse is narrow it must be strong, lively and agile.

The body is where the power develops. Through our connected frame we each have a certain amount of mass/weight. When moving we all add the amount of body weight to our actions. The turning, stepping, etc. all carry our mass and generate the added force to the skills. Of course you have to be properly aligned otherwise this would not be effective. This is stage two for power in fighting.

Last but not least are the limbs. These are the tools we mainly use to cause damage to our opponent. I say "mainly" since we do utilize the body to strike when needed but for this article we will focus on the limbs. Within the design of our actions the founders made sure that muscular strength would not be what made the effectiveness of our fighting but relaxed structural power would be. As a matter of fact, contraction of muscle is frowned on in Pin Sun Wing Chun. With the proper positioning, distance, timing and speed combined with the two above discussed elements of these Three Keys we can now see how it connects to each other. Mass plus velocity equals power! The earth, body and speed are the basics to this formula!

Lets begin with a quote from Leung Jan: Lik Yiu Noi Kung (your power must be internal). This quote should not be taken the wrong way! It does not have any relations to Chi or any other spiritual power. Too much dreamy, or wishful, thoughts gets into some Kung Fu practitioners minds as all those old Kung Fu movies we all watched sometimes cloud rational thought. Noi Kung in Pin Sun Wing Chun refers to the inside power developed from your solo, partner, dummy and weaponry training. Of course you must realize that without the proper body alignment and positioning this wouldn't matter! This is just a part of the total Pin Sun Wing Chun arsenal of issuing and receiving force. It should be known that the teaching of Wong Wah Bo made no use of Hay Kung methods!

Remember the first time we all did a hand drill with a good amount of repetition, and our shoulders started burning, but after a few months we were able to do this for a long time and there was no burning? How about if we were to take an average person and ask them to sit in our horse for five minutes and its highly unlikely that they could do it properly without shaking or having to stand up and re-adjust yet for someone who has trained for a number of years this would be no problem. We have developed a stylistic Ging!

From the outside we look normal but inside we have technical Ging that can be felt but not seen. Weight lifters have a noticeable muscular power but this is not the case for a Wing Chun practitioner. The hours we spend practicing our actions and positions. The hours we spend doing partner exercises. The hours we spend on the Jong (dummy). All these things build Wing Chun power. It is totally relaxed but yet it is abnormally strong. Knowing the importance of this power, Leung Jan developed different partner sets to go along with his personal arts progression, which would aid in the development of the Noi Kung as well the boxing itself! Mui Sifu always tells us that the average person takes about two years to have a fair amount of Pin Sun Wing Chun Noi Kung.

Mai Jee Hong Choi (closed finger empty fist) is the formation taught by Leung Jan in Koo Lo village. This still employs the Yat Jee Chung Choi (sun character thrust fist) alignment but the fist does not clinch or contract on impact. The middle of the fist, between fingers and palm, has space so it is totally relaxed but due to the bone alignment, positioning and impact area there is no tensing. As this is one of the earliest boxing tools taught in the art it makes the pupil away from day one that intellectual design and subtle power is what the art is based upon!

Through these basic training platforms, and concepts, we can see how the root training is by far the most important for developing into a good Pin Sun Wing Chun martial artist. Compared to some of the other more flashy arts our training is, or can be, a bit boring and tedious for a new practitioner but the results are wonderful. There are many more aspects to Leung Jan's Koo Lo village Pin Sun Wing Chun teaching that develop the practitioner but these root training methods are some of the most vital areas that cannot be lacked, compromised or altered otherwise you will end up with a weak system. It should always be known that you must be simple, subtle and natural. Your goal should be refinement and not gross Kung Fu. Any lack of power in your boxing can nine times out of ten be located in you stance, body and positioning.