Greetings everyone!
I am interested in Wing Chun, and setting out to learn it through self-study, research, and practice. I am sure that the words "self-study" raise a red flag among many practitioners of traditional martial arts, and I'm likely to receive the (usually sound) advice that one cannot learn martial arts without a qualified instructor. Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any practitioners, much less good instructors, of Wing Chun in my area (Mobile, AL), but I believe that with the right amount of study, research, attention to detail, and practice, and a resource such as this where I can ask questions and seek advice, that it is possible to learn on one's own.
My Experience, and Philosophy on Learning.
I'm quite used to studying and learning on my own, and I believe that I have gained very valuable experience in doing so. As such, I would like to introduce my past experience in learning things on my own, and perhaps get advice on how I can best apply this philosophy in pursuit of learning Wing Chun.
Learning Japanese
The most immediate and applicable experience I can think of to relate to studying martial arts is my experience in learning Japanese. The process of learning martial arts seems quite similar to that of learning a language; there are forms which equate to grammar and structure, techniques, movements, or ideas which equate to letters of the alphabet, or words, and there is practice and drill (for example, Chi Sau) in which we learn to string these words together into sentences. And as we might equate forms to be the practice of learning to write an alphabet, or words, we might equate the idea of precision and correct practice of those forms to practicing good pronunciation in speech, or proper stroke-order in learning to write Chinese characters. And finally, in time, and with enough practice, everything that you learn and drill must become second nature to you, and instictive. You will never be able to fluently speak a foreign language - it must be familiar to the point that it is no longer "foreign", and you are no longer thinking first in your native language, and then trying to translate those thoughts into your target language - the thoughts must flow out automatically in the target language. In the same way, I can imagine that to use martial arts in application, you must practice until they are instinctive, and flow out automatically.
I have been learning Japanese for about six years now, and have reached a respectable degree of fluency and literacy despite not living in Japan, and not attending classes or having a teacher. Learning has involved three processes; research/study, practice, and application.
1. Research and study is where I spent most of my time in the beginning. I found as many learning resources as I could: text books, dictionaries, forums, grammar guides, flash cards, etc., and learned as much as I could in regards to theory - basically, "what everything is", and "how everything should be."
2. The next process is practice. This involves forming good habits, and solidifying the concepts that you study in theory. You have to be aware of exactly what habits you are forming, and pay attention to detail so that you form good habits and not bad ones. In learning Japanese, I used any number of resources to practice. This can be anything from hand writing - practicing stroke order and balance, to practicing pronunciation - listening closely to native speakers, and imitating their pronunciation, to more passive practice such as reading and listening, or testing yourself with flashcards to solidify your memory of what you've already studied.
3. The last process is application, which kind of ties into "practice," but might better be described as "experience," and I believe is the most important. In terms of learning a language, this means actually using the language in the real world. Hold a conversation with a native speaker. Find a pen-pal. Read your Japanese friends' blogs. Write your own blog. Watch movies. Read books. Do internet searches in Japanese on subjects you're interested in. All of this sort of real-world experience is the most important part of making what you learn functional, and coming to really understand and be comfortable with it.
Learning Wing Chun
1. Beginning Wing Chun (Book)
2. Seminars by David Peterson on Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu, & Muk Yan Jong (Video)
3. Some old videos I found online by (/of) Moy Yat on various forms and drills, which appear to originally have been on VHS.
4. Another old video, originally VHS, which I found online, called "Basics of Wing Chun," by Duncan Leung.
5. These forums.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many good free resources on Wing Chun. If anyone knows of good additional learning resources, free or not, and whether websites, books, or videos, I would much appreciate some good recommendations. I am interested in any credible, more traditional forms of Wing Chun that follow the lineage of Leung Jan / Ip Man. I don't know much of the different styles and lineages to be honest, but I'd like to steer clear of the more controversial and "out there" ones, such as William Cheung's "Traditional Wing Chun."
On the second point - that of practice, will be a little bit more challenging. I believe that I can learn the forms on my own, as I have a pretty good habit of paying attention to form and detail. However, since I am learning on my own, practicing all of the drills in which I need a partner might be difficult. I have a few good friends who I can probably practice with sometimes, but I can definitely see a disadvantage to not having an instructor, or any proficient students to practice with. If anyone has any ideas, or advice here, please let me know.
The last part - that of application, seems as if it would be difficult even with a class and an instructor. Where as language is something that is easy to practice and apply in real life, martial arts is not so much, for obvious reasons. Again, I would like to hear everyone's advice on this point. How do you practice the application of Wing Chun, and what constitutes good practice or sparring, as opposed to the bad? I should note here that this is a hobby for me, and I don't really intend to become very proficient in fighting. However, at the same time, I would like to at least learn to apply the basics in self-defense, as this is the entire point of the art to begin with, and may be good to know some day.
So, that basically sums up my thoughts on learning, and how I hope to go about learning the basics of Wing Chun. I'm sure many of you have some very good advice and experience in regards to learning, so I would like to just put these questions out there:
1. What should my goals be?
2. What are some good resources I can use for self study?
3. How should I go about these three processes of learning? (study, practice, application)
4. I very seriously doubt there are any Wing Chun practitioners in my area, but if there are, how can I go about finding them? Does anyone know of someone in my area?
5. What should I consider when getting other people, whom I can practice with, involved, without it turning into a case of "the blind leading the blind?" - while I might be able to research and study the basics on my own, I don't think I would qualify to teach them.
I'll likely be asking all kinds of more specific questions about basic things which one would normally ask a teacher, but each of those is another thread and another time. For now, I appreciate any guidance and advice on these general issues.
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