question about WC from a non-practitioner

[Aiki Lee]

Hello Wing Chun peeps.

As a non WC person I found myself curious about a rather popular (and probably often misunderstood) concept.

I was looking through old threads and saw people mentioning "sticky hands". I don't know the proper Chinese term for the exercise, but I'm sure yall know what I'm refering to.

Anyway, I have always assumed that this particular practice was ment to increase tactile vision and drill in the principle of maintaining contact with the opponent, but along the way I read that this was not the reason for this practice.

As someone who doesn't practice CMA, I was wondering if someone could explain to me the purpose of "sticky hands".

Thanks!

 

[mook jong man]

Well human beings are funny things , they don't particularly like getting hit.
So when you do try to hit them they get most annoyed and do things like trying to hit you back , grab your arms , move away or block your strikes.

So chi sau provides a method where we can monitor and control the opponent , manipulate his balance , and remove or redirect any obstructions that he may place in the path of our striking.

Thats the main gist of it , but there are a whole host of other skills and attributes that are developed by its practice as well that are far too in depth for me to go into now.
But I'm sure various members of the brains trust on here , should be able to clarify things a bit further for you.

 

[geezer]

Hello Wing Chun peeps.
I was looking through old threads and saw people mentioning "sticky hands". I don't know the proper Chinese term for the exercise, but I'm sure yall know what I'm refering to.

Anyway, I have always assumed that this particular practice was ment to increase tactile vision and drill in the principle of maintaining contact with the opponent...

To answer you question: What Mook said. And yes "tactile vision" (the term is new to me, but seems apt) is part of it. When doing chi-sau you learn to read your opponent's energy and intentions through the feel of his arms as you contact them. If blindfolded, you would still know the position of his body, his weighting, the direction of his energy and so on just by feel. Now this is nothing mystical. Any good grappler develops a similar type of awareness.

But as Mook said there is a lot more to it... Here are a few random reflections. In WC we work to become very yielding and elastic so that we don't oppose our opponent's force. We move with the attacking force as it comes towards us and follow it back as it recedes. We seek to become relaxed and "springy" so that our energy always flows towards our opponent's center, and so if released from "sticking" our hands fly out striking our opponent like an unleashed spring. Eventually, high level practitioners train their whole body, hands, feet, trunk, stance and steps to work this way. Chi-sau is a whole body exercise.

Finally, it's not just about maintaining contact. Sticking can be incorrectly trained in an overly defensive manner. As I mentioned above, what occurs when stick is lost is just as important.... the instantaneous springing forward into a strike. It's useful to remeber that it isn't the sticking that hurts your opponent... it's the slipping free to strike!

 

[Aiki Lee]

Thanks for the replies!

So is it safe to assume that one of the principles taught through chi sau is similar to the principle of ju or aiki, if you are familiar with japanese terms? Or am I over simplifying things?

 

[Poor Uke]

Thanks for the replies!

So is it safe to assume that one of the principles taught through chi sau is similar to the principle of ju or aiki, if you are familiar with japanese terms? Or am I over simplifying things?

In a way yes and in a way no. It more about training reflax to particular contact IMO. Whilst blending and yeilding are a part of this so is the use of power.

Chi sau is the game of Wing Chun its an environment where attributes, tactics and techiniques can be practised and experimented with.

Chinaboxer would probably agree with you about the use of internal energy but I have a tendacy to see it all in a more western mechanical frame.