The 21 Hands of Wing Chun

For everyone who has been working on hand positions and movements this week, here are the 21 hands of wing chun. Remember not to think too literally - don't think about how it looks, think about how it feels. 21 Hands of Wing Chun

Positions:

Vertical Controls: 1. Spade (chang sau) energy inwards along the triangle 2. Butterfly (dip sau) energy outwards towards outer gate 3. Guard (wu sau) energy downwards and backwards at the same time

Horizontal Controls: 4. Bar (lan sau) energy through the forearm slightly towards the outer gate 5. Wing (bong sau) energy through the elbow towards the opponent’s centre 6. Dispersing (tan sau) energy in a curved arc towards the outer gate

Relative controls: 7. Pinning (gum sau) energy through the arm away from your centre 8. Hook (fook sau) energy through the elbow away from you opponent’s centre 9. Wrist (ding sau) energy “clamps” between your hand and forearm to grip opponent

Movements:

Displacements: 10. Thrusting (bil sau) elbow displaces forwards 11. Receiving (jip sau) elbow displaces backwards 12. Lifting (tok sau) elbow displaces upwards 13. Slapping (pak sau) elbow displaces sideways inwards

Hinges: 14. Jerking (jut sau) hinging of the wrist 15. Whisking (fak sau) a straightening of the elbow and arm moving in a straight line 16. Searching (mun sau) a straightening of the elbow by a chopping arcing motion

Rotations: 17. Cutting (gaan sau) a rotation of the elbow 18. Circling (heun sau) a rotation of the wrist 19. Freeing (tut sau) a rotation of the elbow and wrist 20. Sinking (jum sau) rotating the shoulder inwards 21. Detaining (kau sau) a corkscrew rotation of the shoulder, elbow and wrist outwards