wing chun image    
chum kiu

191 Hold the arms in the rest position while shifting your weight onto the right leg and turn into a left stance.

192 Without movement in the rest of the body, lift your left leg off the floor without unnecessary tension.

193 The leg is lifted bent, the toes are angled out and this results in the knee moving off from the centreline, this allows the heel to become the point of focus; being the strongest contact area on the foot, it enables the heel to be driven straight out along the centreline. If the knee were maintained on the centreline the kick would not be feasible at close range, where Wing Chun techniques are most effective.

194 Thrust the heel out along the centreline with a horizontal stamping action, still with the energy expressed in the last few inches concentrated at the heel.

195 Relax the leg down, but do not allow the foot to touch the floor, push off the right leg to initiate a step.

196 Step forward and bring both arms out relaxed, the wrists beneath the level of the elbows, hands open.

197 When the front foot lands the arms take up a double LOW BONG SAU position. The elbow is beneath the level of the shoulder and the forearms are angled down and forward from the elbow. The hands are in line with the forearms, fingers straight with the fingertips almost touching on the centreline.

198 Tension is held throughout the arms in the double LOW BONG SAU as the step is completed by bringing the right foot up so that the right leg once again supports the whole body weight.

199 Without stepping or moving your stance drop the elbows down, leaving the wrists at the same level; the rotation of the arms will result in the forearms lying horizontally. This LOW TAN SAU position is not a technique in itself; once again it is an instance of a movement that merely allows you to repeat the correct practise of energy and movement in a technique.

200 As you initiate a step forward, begin to raise the elbows up, maintaining the level of the wrists. The arms are kept relaxed, just flicked up into position.

201 The elbows end up so that the arms form a double LOW BONG SAU position, expressing energy throughout the arms as you drive off the right leg, once the left leg has landed then the right leg is immediately brought up to support the stance.

202 Without moving the stance, drop the elbows down so that the arms fall into the LOW TAN SAU position. The LOW TAN SAU can also be considered as a reference position, indicating when the use of the LOW BONG SAU is relevant, i.e. if your TAN SAU is pressed down then you have the option of using the LOW BONG SAU to control the situation. You must understand that this is only one way of dealing with this particular scenario, in reality it depends upon a multitude of circumstances and related experience before you can respond instinctively to changes in position and energy, the responsibility for learning these responses lies in CHI SAU not the forms, so do not restrict your knowledge to the specific techniques practised in the forms as they are only basic moves to give you an understanding of self.

203 Step forward expressing energy throughout the arms as a double LOW BONG SAU.

204 When the left foot touches the floor bring the right leg up to support the whole body weight, so returning to a correct stance.

205 Shift your weight toward the left leg as your arms relax from the LOW BONG SAU position. The arms begin a circular movement by drifting to the outergate boundary and lifting to a relaxed double DING SAU position.

206 The whole of the body weight is now on the left leg as the right foot steps up to join the left. The arms are still relaxed and continue their movement toward a double JAM SAU position.

207 Simultaneously with the feet coming together the arms complete their movement with a double JAM SAU energy. The level of your stance is maintained so the legs should still be bent.

208 Hold the stance and extend the arms as a double VERTICAL PALM STRIKE with the energy expressed in the last few inches.

209 Maintain your stance and bring your hands back toward the body with the back of the hands almost touching.

210 Continue the circular motion of the hands until they drop down in front of the chest and close them as fists.

211 Pull the arms back to the rest position at the side of the chest.

212 With your weight remaining on your left leg, place your right leg behind you.

213 Maintaining the weight on the left leg initiate a turn keeping the arms in the rest position.

214 Complete the 180-degree turn into a right stance with the whole of the body weight supported on the left leg.

215 With no shift in the stance, lift your right knee to initiate a kick. Keep your heel on the centreline as the knee moves out to allow the stamping action of the kick.

216 Drive the heel out with the stamping action expressing the energy in the last few inches as a FRONT KICK, mimicking the use of energy in the basic FRONT PUNCH.

217 Relax the leg down and initiate a step just before the foot touches the floor.

218 As you step forward the arms are brought out relaxed toward a double LOW BONG SAU position.

219 With the completion of the step, energy is exerted in the arms through the LOW BONG SAU’S co-ordination with the stance and the left leg is brought up so that it supports the whole body weight.

220 Retain your stance and relax the arms by dropping the elbows down.

221 The forearms rotate so that when the arms come to rest the forearms are parallel and horizontal in a double LOW TAN SAU position.

222 Initiate a step forward and begin to raise the elbows up.

223 Lift the elbows until the arms take up the double LOW BONG SAU position. Tension is held throughout the arms and linked to the drive off the right leg in the step. Do not push out with the arms, they are held in the LOW BONG SAU position, not extended beyond. The direction of the energy expressed is derived from the drive of the right leg, using the large muscles of the leg to project energy through your stance and therefore into the LOW BONG SAU. To complete the step the left leg is brought up to support the stance.

224 Drop the elbows, relaxing the arms toward the double LOW TAN SAU position, without a change in your stance.

225 When the arms come to rest in the LOW TAN SAU position, the forearms are horizontal and the elbows are one fist distance from the chest. Once more it becomes relevant to point out again that you must understand the importance of relaxation in Wing Chun, this must be maintained throughout all of the forms; to know that there are movements and positions that have no practical application, apart from giving instances as to specific energies or simply to return to a position so that you can repeat the practise of a technique.

226 Lift the arms into the double LOW BONG SAU position, expressing energy throughout the arms as you step out driving off the left leg.

227 Return to a correct stance by bringing the left leg up to support the body weight immediately after the right foot lands, forward momentum maintains your balance for the split second necessary for the step to be completed.

228 Shift your weight toward the right leg as the tension is relaxed from the double LOW BONG SAU position.

229 As the weight is being taken onto the right leg the arms circle out to the outergate boundary with the forearms rotating so the palms face each other.

230 The left foot steps up to join the right. The arms continue their rotation through the double DING SAU to the double JAM SAU position where energy is expressed in the last few inches.

231 The palms are relaxed out forward and then thrust out as VERTICAL PALM STRIKES with energy in the last few inches, there is a slight straightening of the legs linking the energy of the body from the floor to the hands.

232 Maintaining the body position, begin to pull the hands back toward the body with the backs of the hands almost touching, the rotation around the elbows.

233 The rotation continues with the fingers brushing the chest and finally falling into a sort of TAN SAU position in front of the chest, just a position not a technique.

234 Maintaining the stance the hands close as fists.

235 Both hands are now pulled back to the rest position with the elbows being the focal point of the energy in the last few inches of the movement.

236 Keeping the arms in the rest position at the side of the chest, shift your feet a few inches in an anti-clockwise rotation. The precise position that the feet move to is defined by the fixed footwork of TURNING in CHUM KIU.

237 The right foot remains fixed as the body begins to turn to the left.

238 As the body rotates the left leg is raised off the floor.

239 The rotation continues and the left leg, led by the knee, is brought around.

240 Keeping the right planted to the floor, the rotation opens up the hips with the knee out in a high kicking position.

241 In the last few inches execute a TURNING KICK, stamping the heel out as far around, in an anti-clockwise direction, as far as possible.

242 As soon as the kick has been executed, with the right foot still in position, drop the left leg down and form a right stance. The right hand opens and forms a WU SAU while the left arm relaxes down with the palm heel of the hand being the focal point.

243 As the stance is completed, the left hand executes a GUM SAU with all the weight of the body held on the left leg.

244 Turn to a left stance as the left hand is brought up passively as a WU SAU and the right hand is pushed down as a GUM SAU with the energy focused in the palm heel of the hand in the last few inches.

245 Repeat the movement a third time, the left GUM SAU using energy in the last few inches as the right hand forms a WU SAU, It is important to co-ordinate the arm techniques with the turning energy.

246 Return to the forward stance while you are executing a LIFTING PUNCH with the left hand. The right hand is pulled back to the rest position at the side of the chest. The arm remains straight and relaxed when lifted up from the GUM SAU position; tension is only expressed in the last few inches and linked to the turning energy of the body.

247 Open the hand palm up.

248 Bend the fingers back toward the body and begin a HUEN SAU rotation, keep your mind focused and concentrate right to the end of the form, the movement of the HUEN SAU is still slow with tension.

249 Rotate the hand deliberately; making sure that the elbow is locked out, until the arm reaches its natural stop point.

250 Relax the tension and close as a horizontal fist.

251 Pull back to the rest position.

252 Relax the arms down as you bring the stance together.

253 Complete Chun Kiu by totally relaxing, coming to rest in a natural standing position.

Home | First half of first section | First section completion | Second section | Completion |