How to learn Ving Tsun

We already talked about what Ving Tsun is and how it works. Now let's talk about how to learn Ving Tsun. When the average person imagines a martial arts class, they imagine a bunch of people standing in white pajamas parroting the motions of the teacher standing in front of the class. Ving Tsun classes are not like that at all at least in most schools. In most Martial Arts disciplines you learn techniques and applications for a very long time before for you learn the underlying principles that make those techniques and applications work. In Ving Tsun, from the very beginning you're trying to understand why it is we do what we do. You will learn techniques but you will also learn the underlying principle. What I tell my students is that Ving Tsun is learned face-to-face, mind to mind, and heart-to-heart, I'll explain the meaning of this phrase.

Face to face

When I say face-to-face what I mean is you have to be physically present and you have to put a good deal of time in to practicing with your Kung Fu brothers and sisters as often as possible. Ving Tsun develops a certain skill set based on energy and sensitivity and you won't be able to access that skill set unless you have had first-hand experience of it.

Mind to mind

To understand the finer points of Ving Tsun, in addition to experiencing the skill of those who have more skill than you, you must also have discussions with them and ask questions. Also you need to have an opportunity to help those who have less experience than you. Each time you help someone who has less experience than you, you deepen your own understanding of what is being taught.

Heart to heart

A Ving Tsun school is like a family, the Sifu of course is the father of the family, you also have younger brothers and sisters as well as older brothers and sisters. Just like any other family each member of the family tries their best to support the entire family. It is Sifu’s responsibility to create an environment whereby the student through their own initiative has full and complete access to the entire Ving Tsun system. The more the students support the Sifu and each other in this endeavor the easier it is for the Sifu to fulfill his obligation, which in turn benefits everyone. Essentially you have to care, everyone has to care. The more you care the easier it will be for you to get the Kung Fu which is the meaning of heart-to-heart. Of course the highest level is simply to open your heart and give, with no expectation of anything in return. The world needs more of this…