The importance of correct positioning

by Rien Bul

To make your techniques work it is imperative to understand the importance of correct positioning. It is one of the major features of our style wich make it possible to overcome force without the use of excessive muscular strength.

It has been said that a complete Gung Fu style contains both "hard" and "soft" techniques. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. The people who say such things lack the knowledge to make an “internal” style work. Therefore they think it is all just a theory that can’t be made to work in actual combat. In Weng Shun Kuen this knowledge is lost to all but a few lineages. Also, there are those styles that promise their students they will learn how to control and defeat an opponent who is physically bigger and stronger then themselves and can’t deliver the goods in the end. This doesn’t help the "soft" styles’ credibility either. But in fact it isn’t mysterious at all and not as hard to learn as one might think it is. You just have to understand the way it works.

When under attack, a Weng Shun Kuen man slaps away whatever is coming at him, using the Man Sao ("Attacking the attack"). Then he positions his body behind his technique to strengthen it. This is accomplished by pointing the centerline at he point of contact (see illustrations). This way very little muscle power is needed to control the opponent. To be able to pull all of this off fluently one needs a good control of his Footwork.