Chu Shong Tin method

Parky

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I just wanted to post a comment. I started Wing Chun in 1994. My original teacher was, Huie Wing Keung who was a student of Jimmy Chan. Jimmy was a student of Chu Shong Tin prior to 1970. I trained with my first teacher for 5 years. I left him and worked briefly with many other teachers looking for something better than what I originally learned. What I originally learned was NO REFLECTION of what Chu Shong Tin was doing.

I was exposed to allot of WC that was no better than what I had originally learned. But then I met a few teachers who had some good kung fu. And then I met Marty Anderson. Marty was the first westerner to train in Hong Kong with CST from 1970-1980. CST had to ask a, still living, Ip Man for permission to train this westerner. Marty was leagues beyond anyone I had previously met in Wing Chun. He could toss you around like you were a 6 year old and you could see it was effortless to him. I only got to train with him about 3 times privately. I learned enough to be able to recognize really outstanding WC. Then I was out of WC for several years.

In this last year I finally had time to start training again...and that meant trying to find a good teacher. Marty isn't interested in teaching anymore so what to do. I was most interested in the CST method because of Marty. I had the opportunity recently to work with John Kaufman. John teaches the CST method in Hong Kong. He flew to the US to work with me for over a week. John's teaching boils down to learning to relax the body onto your Center of Mass, internally connecting the arms and legs with the Center of Mass and moving Effortlessly with great power from your Center of Mass. Working with John was reminiscent of working with Marty. John is shockingly powerful!

I'm not posting this to say this method is better than others, or John Kaufman is the best WC teacher ever. I'm posting this because I had an outstanding learning experience and my understanding has grown exponentially. And if there are folks on this forum who have an interest in the Chu Shong Tin approach to WC, I'm here to say John Kaufman is an excellent teacher, in my humble opinion, and he would definitely be worth contacting. Cheers!
 

Flying Crane

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Finding a good teacher who can help you understand what really matters is a rare thing, and makes all the difference.
 

kakkattekoi

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finding a good sifu to follow is very hard
especially when most of them are now turning to a business or care making money more than teaching the real stuff

at least thats the case in hk

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Parky

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Many won't ever find that outstanding teacher because of an unwillingness to be open minded, or because of the inconvenience of having to travel great distances for good instruction. The lure of marketing can also be very distracting. And often times how do you gauge who has the goods and who doesn't? So many choices, so many different ways of expressing WC. Sometimes it's about dumb luck and experiencing someone very powerful by chance...having those eyes opened wide. The best teachers I have met and worked with don't have a big name or a big following. The things is, I don't feel like the stuff I have learned recently can really be passed on to the masses anyway because it's not about techniques, drills, memorization. It's about internal condition. It's a very intimate and personal expression of movement and power from the inside outward. You are right...(no matter what flavor of WC strikes your fancy)...finding a good sifu is very hard!
 

ShortBridge

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Thanks for sharing this. I'm happy that you've had these opportunities. It is rare to find someone with really good kung fu and when you do, what a blessing it is be able to learn from them.
 

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