Anybody familiar with Tid Sin Kuen/iron wire form?

It is a strange form from the perspective of an outsider who is not educated in the concepts that it is built upon. Visually it appears to use a lot of tension in the movement, which look to be fairly abstract and without obvious combat applications. That abstraction does not bother me, as Chinese forms are sometimes built that way to develop other aspects that are not always direct combat interpretation.

What is most odd, to most people, is the vocalizations that go with the movement. There are several and at times it can sound like laughter and it is done loud and projected. The first time I saw the form demonstrated was some 25 years ago in San Francisco, by Y.C. Wong. I found it so odd, and given my own introverted personality I actually felt that if I ever trained Hung Ga, maybe I would just skip that form. And at that time I was dating a woman who had a deep interest in Hung Ga.

I’ve heard that people who dedicate themselves to this kind of training with the tension, run the risk of developing heart disease and high blood pressure and don’t always live a long life. There is at least a recognition among the Hung Ga folks that it needs to be done properly or you can be injured by it. I do not know what skills or attributes or conditioning the form intends to develop, nor how well it does so.
 
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I found a video clip of Y.C. Wong doing the form.


I think that in Western society, practicing this form with vocalization out in a city park someplace would get some funny looks by passers-by. Not that that should govern one’s training.
 
A long while back had a friend who practiced hung gar .....he once showed me some of his practice of it..There are sounds associated with it..

Seemed a lot like some of the Sanchin (äø‰ęˆ¦), practices some Japanese and Korean styles used
 
It is a strange form from the perspective of an outsider who is not educated in the concepts that it is built upon. Visually it appears to use a lot of tension in the movement, which look to be fairly abstract and without obvious combat applications. That abstraction does not bother me, as Chinese forms are sometimes built that way to develop other aspects that are not always direct combat interpretation.

What is most odd, to most people, is the vocalizations that go with the movement. There are several and at times it can sound like laughter and it is done loud and projected. The first time I saw the form demonstrated was some 25 years ago in San Francisco, by Y.C. Wong. I found it so odd, and given my own introverted personality I actually felt that if I ever trained Hung Ga, maybe I would just skip that form. And at that time I was dating a woman who had a deep interest in Hung Ga.

I’ve heard that people who dedicate themselves to this kind of training with the tension, run the risk of developing heart disease and high blood pressure and don’t always live a long life. There is at least a recognition among the Hung Ga folks that it needs to be done properly or you can be injured by it. I do not know what skills or attributes or conditioning the form intends to develop, nor how well it does so.
You are saying out loud most of what I know and have been told. It is an external/internal fortifying form meant for self development. The sounds correspond to stimulating different organs meridians and places in the body. It is part of our system as James Wing Woo was a Hung Gar student in Canton China in the 1930s. I did not learn it, but saw long term older students perform it in Sigungs Kwoon in Hollywood. One of the students that took over that gym was a student there for 45 years and is teaching me the form but I do have concerns about it because despite knowing the form my Sifu hesitated to teach it because he said, ā€œLam Sai Wing Kung fooed himself to death practicing these thingsā€. I never learned the whole thing then because my Sifu died. Nevertheless, I am intrigued and was curious if anyone with experience would chime in. It’s certainly nuanced and unusual in that it is the only internal form like it in an otherwise strictly hard external style. Some of the motions that are coordinated with the sounds are likewise unusual… it’s an interesting rabbit hole.
 
A long while back had a friend who practiced hung gar .....he once showed me some of his practice of it..There are sounds associated with it..

Seemed a lot like some of the Sanchin (äø‰ęˆ¦), practices some Japanese and Korean styles used
My concern is mostly incorrect pronunciation and or incorrect coordination. My understanding is that incorrect practice can cause illness of a sort.
 
I've don't know the form but from what I saw there are some things in it that I have use in training other forms.

I don't do alot of tension training and to be honest I think I have too much tension. I'm often trying to relax the body. There are benefits to the training but only if you are planning to use hung gar techniques in fighting or sparring. Other than that there's really no need to build power and strength in that manner

Training it to pass it on is probably the most use people get out of it.
 
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