All-out fighting isn’t a game. We know that. We get frustrated because we sense that the sporting options available to us, even at their best, are merely close to the truth but not the whole truth. Two men bursting through your door, and having to fight at close-range, in an entryway, isn’t going to be a boxing match. We know that and yet the methods that profess to prepare us for real-world violence lack the “pressure testing” we need to develop reflexes we can count on. This is where Chi-sao, the genius of Wing Chun, comes in. Chi-sao is the means we use to make sure we can perform at close-range. When done right it’s the drill that brings the amazing system of Wing Chun to life.
Now, obviously, it’s no more possible to fully teach Chi-sao through a book than it is to teach you to drive in the same manner. What we can do, however, is dispel the myths that destroy the drill’s efficacy and point you in the right direction. Ideas have consequences and in his latest book, Sifu Jason Korol takes you on an incredible tour of Wing Chun’s signature exercise and shows you the heart and soul of Wing Chun’s heart and soul. With his usual dosage of common-sense philosophy and occasional bursts of humor, Sifu Jason provides a step-by-step process of Chi-sao so that you have a clear understanding of it at last. No more half-truths and frustration. No more hyper-traditionalism or too much sport leakage. You’ll learn:
- The core concepts and goal
- The fundamental structures and positions
- The basics of the drill
- Progressive training procedures so as to avoid stagnation
- Basic and advanced attacks
- How to exert great force and power while remaining relaxed
- How to use your enemy’s force against him
- What real infighting and grappling truly are
- How to use the lessons of Chi-sao against non-Wing Chun fighters
- Real grappling in a world of hard objects, weapons, and multiple opponents!!
Packed with tons of photos, you’ll see Wing Chun and Chi-sao in a way you haven’t seen it before.
From the book:
“Real Wing Chun is a system of mind-body. It’s a frightful tool and yet an exquisite one too; both shank and scalpel. A fearful and wonderfully made systematic that awes the mind and protects the body! The genius of Wing Chun is seen ever so clearly in Chi-sao - it’s a marvelous thing of sweet paradoxes that develops amazing power and speed upon a foundation of relaxation and logical structure. It’s simple, yet comprehensive. It’s furiously aggressive and yet calm and composed; it’s deadly and serene. Indeed, there’s nothing else like it and it’s the glue that binds together this great system.”
“Chi-sao isn’t fighting. Rather, it’s about developing and making precise certain reflexes needed to be successful at close-range in that veritable no-man’s land between full-on striking and wrestling. Like a scrimmage in war, a live-fire drill where the participants exchange eye-gouges, elbows, hits to the neck, throat, and jaw, is as safe as driving with your eyes closed (though, in all honesty, that couldn’t impair the drivers in my area more than they already are…just saying).
Chi-sao is a war-game. It’s a pressure-test in which we take the structures developed in the empty hand forms and learn how they’re applied. Chi-sao, done right, saves us from too much guessing. It’s a laboratory and classroom. It’s philosophical - a conceptual bridge between the purely theoretical and the potential of the application systematic taught and implied in the forms. It’s also stunningly practical - honing our skill to apply both the lat sau jik chung and lin siu daai da concepts of Wing Chun. We’re taught to attack aggressively when there’s an opening (the former) but to do so with defensive control (the latter concept). It’s in Chi-sao drilling that this is best experienced.”
