As we all know, there are countless reasons why we might begin something, but the motivation behind it is always the same. And since we are talking about a martial art here, the wish to be capable of self-defence is probably uppermost at first. The question we should ask ourselves is: why do we want to defend ourselves anyway? To protect ourselves, i.e. to build up something like an external immune system which will help to keep potential troublemakers at bay and in the worst case save our life or that of another.

In the final analysis we are concerned about our own death. Why?

Merely the thought of possibly being attacked at some time drives us to train several times each week, so that we are prepared for a serious encounter. Such encounters only occur very rarely indeed .... so this is actually a very uneconomical approach!

But if we equate fear of a possible aggressor with fear of our own mortality, i.e. death, the lively interest in the martial arts is more than clearly explicable.

It also becomes more than clear why many people completely reject the martial arts: because they have decided not to face up to this topic. Others postpone the start of their training to a next week that never arrives.

Once our greatest enemy - the finiteness of our own existence - has been recognised, we must find a way to defeat this enemy. And that should be just as possible for a woman as for a man. The man/woman duality is not enough to neutralise the gender-specific differences, however. This can only be achieved via the trinity of woman-man-combat.

Owing to its softness and suppleness, WingTsun allows the weaker person access to combat as a phenomenon in a way that women in particular find much easier. The technical aspect is easily and enjoyably mastered, and gradually the fear of pain and violence declines while the mind grows stronger. In fact it grows beyond the purely physical level to the strategic level, where muscle power has long ceased to be decisive. A process of self-recognition takes place: "I am not my body. I am not my sex. I possess a body that has a sex." Energy, soul, chi ... , whatever we want to call it, remains.

The physically strong person who seeks a physical contest is obliged by WingTsun to give up his strength, to give way and allow himself to be led. Via this obligation he too grows beyond the physical level to the genderless, strategic level. He too begins to recognise that: "I am not my body. I am not my sex. I possess a body that has a sex."
There are three paths that lead to this understanding: the royal path of contemplation, the hard road of experience and "blindly" imitating another.

WingTsun is a vehicle that combines all three paths and levels in itself. The student learns with the help of his body, and by imitating his teacher, until he has freed himself of everything and understanding smoothes his future path from now on.

This trinity is unavoidable, however the relative weighting can be greatly shifted depending on our preparedness to remain within the stream, so that we increasingly seldom need to call on that stern teacher called experience for advice.

Text: Corinna Thumm (1st TG WingTsun), Petra Pfaff (1st TG WingTsun)