I have little time for debates as to what is the most probable historiography for the development and emergence of wing chun. It is indeed an interesting topic but I find it foolish to devote a great amount of emotional energy into such debates.

I met with my previous Sifu not too long ago and we talked about teaching method and at what point to introduce the idea of 'bows' or reference points for the various joints of the body. Contrary to popular belief those ideas are in Ip Man wing chun and something that I have heard and seen passed on by those good folks at the VTAA in HK, as well as through their representatives in the UK. I put it to him that one can accelerate very quickly the development of a given student by introducing the idea of 'bows' at an early stage, that is in lesson one.

His reply to me was "Paddington, it is just too complex and we prefer to teach about triangles. They are really simple so why confuse matters with introducing a 'high level concept'?". My reply was that the idea of a triangle is actually more abstract and requires a visual reference and often students can be seen distorting their shapes as they move about to 'see' triangles in their structures or indirectly, via the use of a mirror.

We both agreed that one of the hardest things for a beginner to come to terms with was relaxation, structure and alignment and I pointed out that by introducing the idea of the 'bows' first, one introduces focus for the mind when it comes to relaxation. It is one thing to tell someone to relax and another to point out where they need to relax.

I argued that the idea of the 'bows' is actually a lower order concept as it relies on sensation and feeling and discovering the body. One can focus or have intent at each of the 'bows' and attempt relaxation through each of them sequentially. What is more when one looks and experiments with the alignment of bows, inasmuch as achieving good structure, the mind's focus and intent is further refined to those muscle groupings responsible and it makes it easier for students to attain the required relaxation and body sensations, to achieve good structure and actually 'feel through their bones and joints', jin flow.

Having recently taken on a few students I experimented with delivering the basics as my previous Sifu had done with some of them and with the others, I used the idea of the bows and more meditative exercises to enhance relaxation and body sensation first. In my overly small and unrepresentative sample I found that those I took through the second path were able to progress more quickly.

I could continue to sing the merits of Hendrik's contributions from a pedagogical perspective or even prove to you mathematically and with physics using real data, why he is right on so many other points. However, I think I will save that for an article or a small book. I am not claiming to be a Sifu nor am I saying that Hendrik's way is the best way just that for me and a few of my students, it works.

I feel that people are giving Hendrik too much of a hard time and have not really experimented with what he suggests. Hendrik has spent a lot of time responding to my questions and even responded by making videos that directly addressed said questions. He even helped me overcome some injuries. He has never asked me for money nor asked anything of me in return but yet continued to give so freely, even when I disagreed with some of the decisions he has made. It is for these reasons that I find it hard to believe his sole intent is financial or malicious, despite the accusations of late.

Ciao.