Dabei konnten sich die SchülerInnen mehrmals kleinen Tests in Sachen ‘Stresstoleranz’ stellen. Der von uns im Training stark forcierte, spielerische Umgang mit Bewegung zeigte hier bereits große Wirkung.

Wir sind positiv überrascht ob der enormen Entwicklungssprünge der Trainierenden und gratulieren Allen herzlichst zu ihren neuen Graduierungen!

Weiterhin viel Spaß im Training!

Das Ausbilder-Team von Asia Training.

 

Alex ist seit mehr als 2 Jahrzehnten in der Kampfkunstwelt zuhause und jüngst Begründer von ‘Homo Ludens – Playing Man’, einem höchst innovativen Trainingskonzept.

Dabei steht das ‘Spielen’ mit Bewegung im Mittelpunkt, eine Idee der wir mehr als aufgeschlossen gegenüber stehen…

Bei unserem intensiven Trainings-Wochenende mit Alex Kostic sahen wir schnell wie sehr die Trainingsmethodik des ‘Playing Man’ den von uns bevorzugten Unterrichtsstil noch weiter optimieren kann.

Wir sehen uns als eine moderne Kampfkunst-Schule, die ihren Mitgliedern eine für heutige Bedürfnisse bestmögliche Trainingsqualität bieten möchte. Deshalb begrüßen wir auch diese neue Möglichkeit zu lernen. Für uns und unsere Schüler-/innen.

Am Samstag, den 23. Oktober 2010 findet ein Lehrgang mit Alex Kostic bei uns statt. Bei Interesse bitten wir um rechtzeitige Anmeldung.

Sistema Homo Ludens (Playing Man)

Combat, as a diverse conglomeration of specific practices of relations with oneself and others, necessarily implies movement as a horizon of more or less set possibilities. For each of us, the possibility of movement is so axiomatic and immediate that we almost never think of it. The moves that people make are most often instrumental in character – walking from part of the town to another in order to get to work, bending over to reach an important document in a drawer, sitting down to get rest, etc. The common thread for all these motions is that they are not an end in themselves, but rather aimed at some purpose exterior to the movement itself. On the other side, in the window of glorious human dignified practices are those that have taken movement to an art: acting, ballet, dance, etc. What does it mean? It is to say that within those practices the movement is not in the function of some immediate goal, but instead it rises to the fullness of its temporality, which realized its essential capacities through the play. Play, therefore, is not something we use to attain any other goal – it is a goal in itself.

The common attitude is that in combat training most important issue is the command of various fighting techniques. Nevertheless, in the course of such training, what is referred to as techniques, and meant to be the desired outcome of a movement, is usually simply “glued” to a body that tries, under the pressure of desire for success, to anticipate the unpredictable spontaneity of the situation, in which only a body educated through movement can lead to more or less favorable resolving of the conflict. The technical training attempts to compensate for what is lacking in the domain of corporal education, by reaching for the satisfactory outcome in a strictly controlled situation. That way, the combative training instills in its practitioners the uncritical self-confidence in an irresponsible manner, the self-confidence that is not founded in the freedom of move, but rather in the fantasy of efficiency.

First one needs to suspend the yearning for the perfection of technique, for the sake of free movement. Such freedom does not bear with dogma or school uniformity, but instead seeks space for play, which in a conflict situation becomes the unpredictable struggle for survival. Therefore, a man who plays will not ask about the origins of the particular movement, but alternatively he will reinvent every “technique” himself.

That way, the first step in educating the body entails linking the movements freely into various biomechanical kinetic chains. At first on one’s own and later with a partner, the body learns to anticipate force vectors and in the beginning starts with imitation, but soon follows with improvisation, in order to relieve itself from striving to do the “right” or “realistic” technique. In its place, it will make the necessary and sufficient movement, thus rewarding the practitioner with satisfaction. In that context, the satisfaction lures the body into breaking out of its shy autism and stepping into the field of its possibilities. However, in that field there is someone else waiting, and with regards to combat, that someone is threatening.

The threat at issue simulates the feeling of danger that cannot be avoided through any training. In the first phase, the subject has acquired fluidity of movement, softened his body with pleasure and forgot about the threat. Once the body has matured, it needs to be scared by powerful strikes and “impossible” situations, which humiliate the narcissism of the theatrical flawlessness. Only through perseverance in the experience of stressful contact it is possible to talk about mature, self-critical attitude towards conflicts. Once the spontaneity of movement, which does not stem from the conscious projection characteristic for technical exercises, is unified with the experience of the struggle and overcoming obstacles, the training becomes free play that is no longer played by the child in its naïveté, nor the adolescent in its competitiveness, but rather an adult person in its responsible relaxation.

Let the spirit of play spread through the training hall, and not the dubious authority of a master, who compensates his fear from the loss of control through egotistical perfectionism. Let the gym become a temporal and unpretentious community of equal explorers of corporal movement, instead of a bullying domain, which insists on rivalry, thus establishing the ungrounded hierarchy that, as a rule, only results in selfish egotism.

(by Alex Kostic)

Während dieser, drei Mal jährlich stattfindenden Prüfungswochen kann intensiv auf die individuellen Fortschritte der Übenden eingegangen werden. Besonders wird dabei auf die wirklich anwendbare Fähigkeit zur Umsetzung der erlernten Prinzipien und Konzepte geachtet und nicht auf blosses Abspulen unzähliger Techniksequenzen. Sämtliche Übungen des Wing Chun-Trainings dienen dem Zwecke einer gesamten Verhaltensveränderung und Bewegungsoptimierung. Sie sind Mittel zum Zweck.

Hierzu einige Anmerkungen von Sifu Scott Baker:

Wing Chun: Skills or Drills?

Sifu Scott Baker Ph.D.

In today’s modern world there are as many different groups teaching Wing Chun as there are phone numbers in any large city’s phone book. Each will approach the way they present the art differently, some do a good job of personalizing the instruction while others do not. The intent of this article is not to poke holes in different teaching methods, or even to question the legitimacy of one instructional method over another. Such a discussion in my mind would be contentious and fruitless. Rather I would like to explore what Wing Chun really is… what makes it Wing Chun? What specifically does one learn when embarking on the journey to learn this particular style of kung fu?  Are we learning movements, positions and structures that look like Wing Chun positions? Are we learning patterns and drills that allow us to play with some of these structures and positions? What really is the essence of Wing Chun Kung Fu?

In many modern schools, especially the larger professional schools that can be found throughout the world the curriculum is fairly close to the same, irrespective of lineage or location:

A new student will progress through the following:

1. Learning the positions, stance and structures
2. Learning to move by drilling these structures both alone and with a partner
3. Learn the sequences known as the boxing forms that further reflect correct structures.
4. Learn application with deeper and more complex 2 man drills including chi sau sequences.
5. Learn the more advanced forms and drills that reflect their application, including the wooden dummy.
6. Learn the weapons sets and application

Some systems take more than 20 years to progress through the above curriculum, while others take 5-6 years. The time it takes differs based upon the dedication and talent of the individual and the instructor. However, truly the Wing Chun system should not take longer than 10 years at most to complete.  So why does it take some groups 20 plus years to get the whole system; what are they teaching during those years? The answer is simply the difference between learning drills, or learning skills.

Many modern Wing Chun students get lost on their journey to learn the art, they get lost in an ever expanding forest of drills.  So many drills, every time they progress to another level, they have a whole new plethora of drills to master to complete the requirements for that level. The drills seem endless; what is the purpose of all these drills? Is Wing Chun simply an endlessly expanding collection of drills? Or is there more to it than this? What are these drills for anyway?

Drills a means to an end:

Drills are tools; it’s as simple as that. There is no collection of secret drills that comprise the system; in fact most sifus make up their own drills to suit themselves. So what’s the point? Originally drills were a crutch to help a novice learn a new skill, the drill itself is NOT the skill, but a tool to build that skill within the student. Once he has mastered that particular skill he can and should discard the drill, he no longer needs the crutch to support him. The problem is so many practice endless drills without ever knowing what skill that these drills are designed to teach? They get lost in the drill itself, and never discover the skill it was created to teach. Such students end up thinking the art itself is the drills… this is an incorrect understanding. The drill is like the wrapping around a valuable gift, the wrapping and the box house the gift for a time, but it is not the gift itself. One should unwrap the gift, discard the box and keep the valuable present found inside… this is the right way to view drills in Wing Chun. A wise student will ask, what is the skill inside this drill, what is the gift I must unwrap? If I simply collect the drill, it’s like collecting gifts that you never unwrap, you keep them in their packaging, and thus you never can use them or enjoy them. Fixation on drills is a common problem in modern Wing Chun. So many seem to collect drills thinking the more drills they learn the more Wing Chun they know, nothing could be further from the truth. The art is in the skill, not the drill!

Wing Chun is in the skills, NOT the drills!

So what do I mean by that? Having an endless supply of memorized drills and patterns of motion does nothing for ones fighting ability. We do not fight in patterns, fighting is motion, free and unlimited. Anything can happen in combat. To use an analogy I tell my students that learning Wing Chun is like learning a new language, except this is the language of motion rather than sound. Those who unlock the skill that make the art powerful will learn to move in free expression as a competent native speaker of a new language. When studying a foreign language we usually follow these steps:

1. Learn the words that represent objects and ideas
2. Learn the rules of the language, how to correctly sequence the words
3. Become familiar with variations in expression, slang, idioms, etc
4. Learn to think in the new language, and eventually dream in it.
5. Learn the advanced articulations and nuances of the language

When you compare these learning phases with Wing Chun we get the following:

1. Learn the structures/positions that reflect the art
2. Learn the rules that teach how these positions interact in motion (drills)
3. Learn to apply the rules of motion and interactions of structures in free expressions (apply the skill outside of the drill)
4. Learn to feel when motion and position are correct or incorrect instinctively
5. Learn when to change up the expression and become unpredictable in motion.

Clearly, if a student gets lost in drills, he will stay at the second phase of learning. Such will never unlock the real art, and will not be able to express the core skills of the art in real combat. He becomes like a language student who only has a set of say 100 memorized sentences in his new language. He can express these memorized sentences perfectly, but he cannot converse with a native speaker! Even if he memorizes 10,000 sentences, he cannot converse with a native speaker! Hence, he does not really know the language at all. So many in Wing Chun today fall into this category; they parrot memorized patterns of motions from their drills, but cannot apply their art outside of these patterns, hence they do not “know” Wing Chun at all!

Realize it is much easier to teach drills rather than skills, hence the appeal of keeping those who do not know what the art really is in the dark; they remain in the forest lost among a million drills! These students may think they are progressing, they feel they are learning more and more, because they are simply practicing additional drills. Unless they have compared their ability to move against someone who has mastered the language of motion, they may never realize their art is hollow! These drills do not compensate for real skill when the free exchange of motion occurs in real combat.  Wing Chun is a fighting art, and is designed to impart real fighting skills, look for the art in the skills you learn, not in the drills you memorize. You might give someone with an injured leg a crutch to help them walk; once they can walk you take away that crutch because they no longer need it. The skill the crutch helps them learn is to maintain balance while in motion. Once they master that skill, the crutch is not necessary. Drills are a crutch to support learning a skill; focus on that skill, once you have it the drill is in the way. Learn how to use that skill in new and unpredictable ways, break out of the pattern and express the skill freely. Therein rests the essence of Wing Chun!

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Höhepunkt dieser ersten Prüfungswoche des Jahres 2010 war die Verleihung des 1. Techniker Grades an Raphael und Florian. Sie bewiesen grosses Durchhaltevermögen und demonstrierten die Vielfalt der Möglichkeiten, erlernten Techniken eigene Gestalt zu geben. Wir wünschen Beiden weiterhin so viel Hingabe und Begeisterung..!

Ausserdem gratulieren wir Lucie und Volker zur bestandenen Übungsleiter-Prüfung!

 

…It is a very practical training sequence, just like the three boxing forms in the Wing Chun system…”

(Sifu Dr. Scott Baker, aus “Chi-kung, Development and Practical Application”)

Viele der teilnehmenden Kinder trainieren nun schon mehrere Jahre bei Asia Training Kung Fu. Dieses Durchhaltevermögen verdient nicht nur blaue, grüne und rote Gürtel, sondern unseren  ehrlichen Respekt.

Außerdem bedanken wir uns bei allen anwesenden Eltern, Großeltern und Geschwistern für ihre Geduld und Ausdauer an diesem mehrstündigen Prüfungsnachmittag und darüber hinaus.

Gemeinsam freuen wir uns auf  viele zukünftige Kung Fu-Schwarzgurte!

Viel Spaß auf der Reise…

Sifu Alexander, Thomas, Karina und Lucie

 

Sifu Scott ist Autor des Buches “Chi-kung, Development and Practical Application” und steht uns seit 2005 als Sifu zur Seite.

Er unterrichtet Wing Chun fast ausschließlich privat und in kleinen Gruppen. So kamen auch wir wieder in den Genuß intensiver Fortbildung. Ziel unseres diesjährigen USA – Aufenthaltes bei Sifu Scott war der Abschluß der Waffenprogramme des Wing Chun Kung Fu. Der “Six and a half point long pole” und die “Bart-Cham-Dao” sind Unterrichtsinhalt der Technikerstufen bei Asia Training.

Mit den Anwendungen des Langstockes und der Doppelmesser vervollständigt sich das Wing Chun – Curriculum.

Thank you Sifu Scott for sharing your experience, knowledge and understanding of Wing Chun Kung Fu over these past five years ! It is appreciated.

Sifu Alexander and Thomas

 

Von Sifu Scott Baker aus seinem Buch “Chi-kung Development and Practical Application”

Wir sind stolz und glücklich über die positive Entwicklung unserer Schule in diesen vergangenen fünf Jahren. Wir freuen uns, auch die nächsten fünf Jahre so viele nette Leute in ihrem individuellen Kampfkunst-Werdegang begleiten zu können.

Vielen Dank für die herzlichen Glückwünsche, wir sehen uns bei der 10-Jahres-Feier…!

Sifu Alexander und Thomas,

im Namen des gesamten Ausbilderteams.