Enthusiasm for WT regained with the help of your new reflex training

Some years ago I had more or less lost my enthusiasm and motivation with respect to WingTsun. Why? Well, every time I travelled to the Castle to train, something had been changed and there were new variations and many individual interpretations. My desire to
standardise the programmes in Belgium, i.e. to give myself and my students a specific basis, a solid foundation and a means of orientation was frustrated by these many variations and constant new aspects.
I too was frustrated, and my students began to mutter that my WT was not how it should be, and that my level of knowledge was not on a par with the instructors at the Castle.
Fortunately a standardisation was soon put in place, and moreover I met up with an old acquaintance from my years as a WT beginner. At the time he held the 4th TG like myself, but was much more advanced (he is now a 5th Master Level).
I was able to arrange a training session with him,  and I must say that I rediscovered my enthusiasm for training. Sihing Jörg
Gave me my motivation back. He showed me everything without holding back, was always open and honest, and was never afraid to admit not knowing something. Many thanks Jörg!
Shortly afterwards – perhaps it was fate, or simply a logical result -  I finally met my Si-Fu again. Making direct contact proved difficult, as he had all but ceased to give general classes. However, I made the effort and was rewarded: since 2005 Si-Fu has been giving me private tuition on a regular basis.
The first lesson was dominated by a great emphasis on techniques, mainly to freshen up and repeat my 4th TG. During training Si-Fu explained the reasons for his "2-year abstinence" – the time he took to re-examine, analyse and optimise his own Chi-Sao (as he told me). And in the truest sense of the word, I had the privilege of feeling the subtleties courtesy of Si-Fu.
Being taught by Si-Fu is a unique experience, as Si-Fu lives and breathes WingTsun. His hard work, enthusiasm and enjoyment of teaching spark a flame inside you.
Nowadays he teaches DIFFERENTLY ... No, strictly speaking he does not show anything new in the sense of new techniques, but instead shows Chi-Sao as it should be, with all its quintessential meaning. No endless progression of movements, techniques and sections. Si-Fu works with the principles of WingTsun and the simplest, most important basic reflexes.
His next book and the way in which he teaches will show what I mean. WT Chi-Sao will once again occupy the position it deserves.
The emphasis is no longer on endless series of techniques, which would only place us at the same level as most other styles who only practice a collection of memorised, lifeless techniques. Chi-Sao is and remains just part of the way, but is it only the way and not the goal. Please do not misunderstand: the sections are extremely valuable, and Si-Fu wants to retain them in the future, but they are not to under go constant change. After all, the one-man forms such as the SNT and CK do not constantly change either. Si-Fu does not intend to jettison anything already attained, but wants to change the emphasis, namely to reaction by feeling, not as a result of learning by rote!
What is important to Si-Fu is "reaction training" and implanting "reflexes" which can never be erased. These private lessons and this reaction training have given me the following benefits:

1- They have brought me closer to my Si-Fu, and my contact with him is better and closer than ever before. He is highly motivated and greatly enjoys teaching, while I enjoy learning from him.

2- Training my reactions with Si-Fu is bringing me back to what Chi-Sao should be: not an agglomeration of techniques, but important, practical basic Chi-Sao perfectly applied. It is not the sections and variations that make us good users of WT, but only the right reactions at the right moment.

3- My frustration about the changes to the sections has been overcome. I see many things much more clearly now. The sections are certainly important, but in conjunction with the one-man forms they are just one more tool, no more and no less. I have learned that no section occurs in practice, and I now know more about the significance and relative position of the individual sections.

4- Under the guidance of my Si-Fu, I am now trying to firmly implant and refine my reaction training by constant practice.

5- This reaction training has changed my insight into WT. It has put me back on track and given me back the meaning of WingTsun.

6- Indeed, the reaction training has already improved my WT considerably, although I am only starting out on this road. It will be a long time before I have mastered it fully. The important thing is that I am no longer distracted, and have my goal fully in my sights.

7- This reaction training has also brought me a great deal in daily life. I have learned to free myself from unimportant things, and to use my energy only where it is worthwhile so as not to waste energy and concentration (exactly as in Chi-Sao).

Private tuition from Si-fu has always been something special, but nowadays it is MORE. Si-Fu’s sense of fun, and his desire to make us better and stretch our capabilities, are highly contagious, and you cannot help but enjoy a lesson with him. It is so much fun, and you learn so much. And it has brought my Si-Fu and me so much closer to each other!
I have now been learning WT for 22 years. I love WingTsun, am more enthusiastic than ever before and am looking forward to my next lesson with Si-Fu in December.
One final thought: I feel sorry for all those "great names" who have left us over the years. They are feeling their way around in the dark, and no longer have a Sifu who can help them. Perhaps they now have twice the number of sections as we have, and perhaps some have long regretted their departure.
I only know one thing: whether they held the 1st TG or the 6th PG when they left … they will never experience the true WingTsun

Best wishes from Belgium

Sifu Krause E
4th TG
National Instructor of the Flemish WingTsun Organisation

Those who wish to take part in the debate abut Chi-Sao can send their comments to the WT-World editorial office by e-Mail (wt.welt@ewto.com). Contributions will be published on the WT-World online site.

Contributions:

• Editorial: Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge?
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Sifu Bodo Seibold
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Markus Senft
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Sifu Thorsten de Vries
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Sifu Stephan Bollen
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Sifu Kasper Lund Nielsen
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Sifu Michael König
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Sifu Andreas Tomczak
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Dai-Sifu Oliver König
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Sifu Jörg Kilian
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Christoph Brük
• Full of skill or stuffed with knowledge? – Pavan