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Yee Gee Kim Yeung Ma is the basic foundation stance of Wing Chun.  This is the very first thing you learn on day one of class and if you fall in love with the art, something that you will spend the rest of your lifetime mastering.   The source of Wing Chun strength comes about from the stance, and since Wing Chun is an art that relies on the bare minimum of muscle, one must focus on perfecting this stance.  The basic goal for this stance is to develop how to find, control, maintain and overall be aware of one’s center.

As I slowly took a sip from my cup, I could feel  the warmth of drink start all the way from my tongue till it reached the bottom of my belly.   Macchiato-grande every morning, if only dad knew I was blowing my allowance on this instead of nutritional food at the cafeteria, he’d kill me.  But all Dad’s whether knowing or not, usually give their daughters that benefit of the doubt.   Cough.. Cough.....  Typical winters here in Chicago, cold and frigid and unforgiving to those with lesser means of transportation.  But there were no complaints coming from me this morning, it is what it is.   Winter is winter, and to expect it to be any lesser then that was foolish.   15 more minutes till the bus arrived, killing time was either done the typical jumping up and down to get blood flowing or the Wing Chun way.  

A quick peek to both sides, and I had the feeling I was going to be the only one this morning foolish enough to wait for the bus.  As Sifu had always told me, time regardless of the amount should be used wisely.  One of the rare times he didn’t sound like a fortune cookie and gave me the straight heads up.    

I had to get one more sip.  There was no way this Macchiato was gonna remain warm if I didn’t finish it on the spot.   The opening of the stance always consisted of 4 motions, and considering how hard the wind was blowing the snow, I figure I could get away with this at the bus stop without any witnesses spotting me.  Sifu had stressed upon the point never take for granted the 4 motions, each one, as with all things in Wing Chun served a purpose.  I have to admit, you would think these are one of those times I would break that rule, but I didn’t.

I finally got of the bus stop seat, and started using my boot to clear a tiny path for me to step in.   Man it was cold.  Finally, a path not that big, a mere 2 feet in diameter, but then again I was a mere 110 lbs, maybe 112 with all the snow on me.  Let’s see, let’s see... It was weird, while being with Sifu only 4 years, every time  I practiced by myself, it almost seemed like I could hear his voice echoing and his instructions.  I stood straight up, with both the heel of my boots touching each other and a small gap between both toes.  It took awhile to understand what Sifu had meant by standing straight up, but he really just meant to find a balance in all things that we do.  Had I done it on day one like I did military style, that was definitely incorrect, or I could’ve gone the route of my grandma and hunch over.  In the end, I had to discover the balance of both being relaxed and tensed.  You’d think that lesson would be earned after 1 day, but in all honesty I really think I just figured that out a couple of months ago.

I stood there perfectly straight, adjusting every new-ounce of motion in my body, till I finally felt I was most relaxed and had my center.  Natural, just stand natural, Sifu always said that was the goal, to find out what was natural for you and to make it feel that way without thought.  Ah, finally.  Stillness, great all this effort and I still haven’t done the first move and still no signs of life coming to the bus stop.

Okay, here goes, left over right and cross the arms.... flip and pull back.  I had made it a habit to do everything step by step, and at the same time repeat exactly what it was that I was doing and why.  I had always enjoyed the fact that Sifu never taught the class military style. The old gun-ho concept of just do it, never appealed to me, coz I always questioned why we did it.   Early on dad forced my brother and I to take Tae Kwon Do (it is our national art) and that was strictly by the book.  He’d kill me if he knew I was taking Wing Chun, but good grades allows for the leash to be loosened, and Wing Chun skills can be applied in more then just fighting.  Anyway, Sifu not only explained it but he seemed to enjoy going into basic and complex details as to each function of the art.   As far as I know, Sifu said that the cross of left over right was the only thing in Wing Chun that was one sided.  He stressed that it was simply done that way, so that you don’t crush the heart.  It is weird, but without that awareness,  I doubt I would’ve ever thought of that on my own.  The cross of the arms is something I’m sure most girls my size would dread, the last thing an asian girl needs to do is make herself look more flat, but the sinking in the chest and maintaining it in order to finish the first step, allowed me to move the center from being top heavy all the way to my belly.  Speaking of which, Macchiato-grande’s aren’t really the breakfast of champions, and I was feeling the ill-effect of not making breakfast my priority. 

The second motion always was difficult for me, for whatever reason, but I bent my knees slightly and tucked in my hips.  I think the difficulty for me was the actual tucking  the hips in.  When Sifu actually demonstrated it, you can literally feel the L4 and L5 stick out a mile away.  He mentioned to me, with more time and practice I could achieve the same result, so yes there was hope for the future, even if it was a fool’s hope.   When I first started studying with Sifu, he placed such a great emphasis on structure.  But when you first here that, it really does mean nothing to you.  But, the 2nd motion, had everything to do with straightening out the spine, this emphasis or focus, was always present in all that we do in the stance.   I always had found the 3rd motion amusing, usually when everyone does this in class, you’ve got a handful of people opening up their legs, and the next thing you know they got their butt sticking out.  But as Sifu had said, do the entire YGKYM, and pretend you’ve got a glass of water on your head, no matter which of the four motions that you do in order to open the stance, never spill that water.  The third motion, even with all its amusement that it caused in class, was more of a future development for doing the Wing Chun front kick.  A lesson I soon learned quickly, is that lesson’s Sifu gives only scratches the surface, and its our job to dig even deeper.

Finally the last motion, opening up and ending up pigeon toed.  I know Sifu says technically their are only 4 motions to open up the YGKYM, I often wonder if he should be more specific and say that there are 4 major motions and a ton of minor adjustments.   After I finished the 4 motions, I literally had a check list of mental notes in my head, just to make sure that I was at the very least, doing the YGKYM remotely correct.

After the 4 steps, Sifu would often mention 2 of the major things to play around with to see if you actually did have your center.  The most major of it, was basically another case of you stretching your spine, so that your vertex would point up to the heavens, while your cocyx would tuck in to allow for that full stretch.  The second thing was simply a case of shifting the weight slightly just to see if maybe by chance you had either too much on the ball of the foot or on the heel.  Either way, the goal was to make sure the foot was flat and the weight was easily distributed throughout.  I can remember it just like yesterday, when Sifu first showed me the YGKYM, it look awkward and felt weak, but 4 years later it feels strong and the effects I’ve used in other things like sports seem unmeasurable.  But still, just like everyone else whose studied with Sifu, I know it, or I think I know what I know about it, but when compared to his stance, I have to admit, I know so little.

Ki- jian, Ki -jian.......... I heard my name muffled through snow, as one of my friends started trudging through it.  Well at least I got to practice 10 minutes, crap... my macchiato’s cold.

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Close Up

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General Description

How to YGKYM

Attention to detail Lvl 1

Back in the days (exeperience )

Teachers Notes

Teachers Notes

Teachers Notes

When I first started teaching, I was so quick to correct the student after a mere couple of seconds of playing around with the stance.  The fact is knowing the wrong’s is just as important to helping him figure out how to do it correctly.  So, when you do show the stance and gave him the necessary information to practice it, sit back and shut up for awhile and let him experiment.  Understand that this is day one, even if you shower him/her with all this wealth of information, it literally will go through one ear and out the other.  Less is better on day one, and the main goal is allow them to feel what it means to actually have the center.    So for example, I’d make the student open the stance, then I’d push to see if they have their center, and then walk away.  See if they can in fact try to hold it for 3 to 5 minute increments.  Allow them to take their necessary break, repeat the process but put variation in it as well.  So, make them open the stance, let them find their own center, have them sit out the stance for a pinch, and then come in and help them find their center.  In time as a teacher you’ll know when you should come in to help or sit back and let them struggle.

The best tip I can give regarding the 4 steps to open YGKYM, is feed the student just enough so that they can eat.  Thus, only if they ask for more then give it to them.  Allot of times, depending on your level of teaching, you may have tons and tons of information to share with the student.  But over feeding can also lead to more confusion.  As an example, in step 1 simply state what they have to do to complete the task.  If they then ask, what is the purpose of it, then answer.  I’ve always gone by the following of Sifu, that students ask the right questions when they are ready for more to digest.

When your a beginning teacher, the best advice Sifu said, was to always teach the truth.  So, there maybe be times where you come upon a question which you may not be able to answer.  Sometimes, you can get the answer by either feeling the answer through doing the motion.  However, if that fails, then do not be afraid to say that you don’t know .

Exercise

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Teachers Notes

The reality of things is that anytime the student is standing he or she is practicing the stance whether they are aware of it or not.   As a teacher, your job is to help them get to door, and the rest is up to them.  Often times, you will need to repeat yourself like a broken record to fix your stance, stay 50/50, keep shoulder width apart like a parent talking to a teenage kid.  But, sometimes words are not necessarily the best remedy for understanding the wrong.   Try getting into a habit of allowing the student to feel their errors, and reach that level of “awareness.”  Only then, can they take one level and move to the next.  You must remember you as the teacher can never do it for them, but simply aide them in the process.  And as a final note, that path to reach one student may not necessarily be the same path for the other student to understand the process.  Every student is different, and a good teacher may even have to create a new process in order to help the student learn the lesson.  Once you can do that and mold drills at your command, you truly have then grown.

The best tip I can give regarding the 4 steps to open YGKYM, is feed the student just enough so that they can eat.  Thus, only if they ask for more then give it to them.  Allot of times, depending on your level of teaching, you may have tons and tons of information to share with the student.  But over feeding can also lead to more confusion.  As an example, in step 1 simply state what they have to do to complete the task.  If they then ask, what is the purpose of it, then answer.  I’ve always gone by the following of Sifu, that students ask the right questions when they are ready for more to digest.

Total # of exercises = 3  The exercise is also place in order of importance.

Each exercise also gives a suggested duration of time to practice it as well as the frequency in a week.

YGKYM

SLT 1 - Sup Jee Sau
STL 2 - Kwan Sau

SLT 3 - Punch - open - huen - closed

SLT 4 - Punch - open - huen - closed

LEFT SIDE

SLT 5 - Tan Sau

SLT 6 - Wu Sau

SLT 7 - Fok Sau

SLT 8 - Flip Tan Sau

SLT 9 - Wu Sau

SLT 10 - Fok Sau
SLT 11 - Flip Tan Sau
SLT 12 - Wu Sau

SLT 13 - Fok Sau

SLT 14 - Flip Tan Sau

SLT 15 - Wu Sau

SLT 16 - Pak Sau

SLT 17 - Palm

RIGHT SIDE

SLT 18 - Tan Sau

SLT 19 - Wu Sau

SLT 20 - Fok Sau

SLT 21 - Flip Tan Sau

SLT 22 - Wu Sau

SLT 23 - Fok Sau
SLT 24 - Flip Tan Sau
SLT 25 - Wu Sau

SLT 26 - Fok Sau

SLT 27 - Flip Tan Sau

SLT 28 - Wu Sau

SLT 29 - Pak Sau

SLT 30 - Palm

SLT 31 - Lft Gum Sau

SLT 32 - Rt - GUm Sau

SLT 33 - How Jeong
SLT 34 - Chin Jeong

SLT 35 - Lan Sau Lft over Rt
SLT 36 - Fun Sau
SLT 37 - Lan Sau Rt over Lft
SLT 38 - Lop Sau
SLT 39 - Double Tan sau
SLT 40 - Jut Sau
SLT 41 - Bue Sau
SLT 42 - Haan Jut Sau
SLT 43 - Double punch lft over rt
SLT 44 - Double punch rt over lft
SLT 45 - Haan
SLT 46 - Ding

SLT 47 - Lft Kow Sau
SLT 48 - Lft Outside Jut
SLT 49 - Lft Chan Jeong
SLT 50 - Rt Kow Sau
SLT 51 - Rt Outside Jut
SLT 52 - Lft Chan Jeong
SLT 53 - Lft Tan Sau
SLT 54 - Lft Gaan Sau
SLT 55 - Lft Tan Sau
SLT 56 - Lft Huen Sau
SLT 57 - Chan Dai Jeong
SLT 58 - Rt Tan Sau
SLT 59 - Rt Gaan Sau
SLT 60 - Rt Tan Sau
SLT 61 - Rt Huen Ssau
SLT 62 - Rt Chan Dai Jeong
SLT 63 - Lft Bong Sau
SLT 64 - Lft Tan Sau
SLT 65 - Lft Pau Sau
SLT 66 - Rt Bong Sau
SLT 67 - Rt Tan Sau
SLT 68 - Rt Pau Sau
SLT 69 - Tuit Sau right over left
SLT 70 - Tuit Sau left over right
SLT 71 - Tuit Sau right over left
SLT 72 - Lft side punch
SLT 73 - Rt Side punch
SLT 74 - Lft side punch rt pull back and lft circle and close

Step left to right and push hands down.

1st Section

2nd Section

3rd Section

2) Sections

3) 1 only -

1) traditional 2000 -

1. -Why do you do the 1st section slow?
   

2. -Like all the forms in Wing Chun, the 1st section is the most important in the entire form.  However, to be even more specific the part where you work on the development of the mother motions of tan, wu (bong sau), and fok sau is the area that you do really, really slow.  Mother motions represent the entire hand families of all the techniques that you do in Wing Chun.  So that means, any technique done on the thumbs side, belongs in the tan family, pinky side belongs in the bong sau family, and palm involves the fok sau family.  Thus, when you do the mother motions of tan, wu, and fok slow your learning how to hold the structures of all 3 techniques from beginning to end fully relaxed, and making sure that you separate hand structure from the body structure when doing it.
   

1. -How does doing the form relate to fighting?
   

2. -The form defines motion of the technique that you’ll be doing in fighting.  If you can’t do the motion correctly in the form, don’t expect to be able to apply that technique correctly when your in a fight. - Why do you do the mother motions several times over?
   
   -  Imagine that you have a piece of tape stuck onto a book page.  If you took that tape and ripped it off immediately more then likely you’ll rip the page.  However, if you spend your time, and slowly remove the tape, so gently and controlled, you’ll be able to remove the tape without damaging the book page.  Same concept when doing the mother motions, do it fast in the beginning, you won’t recognize whether or not your tight or using muscle in order to do the techniques, take your time you can feel the tiniest changes in muscle tension and if you make a mistake quickly recognize that and make the proper adjustments.
   

- What are you developing in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd section?
- As stated before the 1st section’s main development are the 3 mother motions.  In the 2nd section your developing 2 hands working at the same time in every position possible.  And the third section concentrates on connecting power between 2 hands.  If you look a little deeper you’ll notice that hand power can only travel in 2 directions, both hands going forward or one hand going forward and the other going back.   Each one of these concepts are related to either the 2nd or 3rd section of SLT.

1. -How come you don’t move in this form?
   

2. -Hand structure has to be done with the body supporting itself.  Imagine if i asked you in the beginning to learn how to eat while moving around. Totally impossible to develop that, when your a little kid.  That’s why you start off in a high chair, locked in place so your hands can coordinate with your mouth to get the job done.  Thus learning to hold your hand structure and your body structure while appearing to be simple, is quite a difficult process to learn.
   

3. -
   

4. -What’s the significance of 108?
   

5. -Jao is a healing ointment if you have a soreness or bruising on your hand or other parts of your body.  Typically I would say you don’ t need any jao if your merely tapping at the wall bag.  Unfortunately though, Sifu is unable to make anymore Jao due to one of the ingredients needed is difficult to obtain.  If however you do have soreness, rest and you can also substitute vinegar on your hands and gently massage it on the sore parts.
   
   

6. -Is our form modified from the orignal way yipman did it?
   

7. -There really is no such thing as the original way of things.  Its like saying, is today’s english language the same as it was 100 years ago, or for that matter 10 years ago.  New words, new phrases, new forms of communicating are constantly evolving. 
   
   

8. -What is the mental development in doing the form?
   

9. -
   
   

10. -How did Sifu’s form evolve from how he was originally taught?
    

11. -You see subtle hints in Sifu’s evolution of his SLT, from the addition of the double punch, haan jut, outside jut, and tan sau flip after the fok sau.  Originally they tan flip after the fok sau was how Sifu was taught from Master Ho, eventually Yipman decided to change this back to just wu sau, but Sifu felt the need to develop this motion and kept the original way he was taught for this particular section.
    

12. -
    
    

13. -How should one breath in the form?
    

14. -Like in all things that we do in Wing Chun be natural.
    
    

15. -How long should I do the form and how often?
    

16. -There’s never a set amount that one should do this and that.  Obviously, if you’ve got spare time then do it, if you only got 5 minutes on a busy day, then that’s better then not doing it at all.  On the other hand, if you’ve got 20 minutes, that’s even better.
    
    

17. -Why are forms so important?
    

18. - In the end, the form is your instruction manual on how the techniques motion should be done correctly.  Typical mentality is to get right to the fun, without reading the instruction manual.
    

1. -
   

2. -
   
   

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