Knowledge of Science can be useful to a Kung Fu Man 04
The first article in this series made the claim that knowledge of science could be useful to a kung fu man. The science of Physics, Engineering, and Trigonometry, were emphasized as areas of study that would provide the most benefit to a kung fu man.
A simple definition of each of those areas of science was provided, and the term “kung fu man” was defined as meaning “any person engaged in any kind of hand to hand or weapon combat system”.
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The second article in this series talked about “forces”, as they are defined in the science of physics. A force in physics is defined as “anything that can cause a mass to accelerate”. It was also stated that forces are invisible, and because forces are
invisible, they are depicted in the science of physics by an arrow called a vector.
The third article in the series was based on a widely known and discussed kung fu style called Wing Chun. The third video stated that Wing Chun is claimed to be a kung fu style that is based on science, but that those claims are not accepted by everyone.
The third article stated that the Wing Chun system consists of three main forms. The forms in the order they are taught, are the Siu Nim Tau form, the Chum Kiu form, and the Biu Tze form. The Siu Nim Tau form is commonly translated into english as “little idea form”.
The following picture shows a computer model in the Siu Nim Tau stance. The picture shows the front view, a profile view, and an angled side view.
It was noted that when a human body is in the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, triangles are created at various parts of the body as shown in the next picture.
The science of Trigonometry is concerned with the properties and characteristics of triangles. The third article speculated that a person who learned Trigonometry, and applied that knowledge to the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau form, might be able to figure out why the Siu Nim Tau form was designed the way that it was.
This fourth article in the series is going to begin, by addressing a common reaction to the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance.
One of the most frequent comments made about the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance as shown in the example picture, is that it would be useless for fighting. The opinion is that the body looks extremely unstable in that stance, and that a fighter would have trouble moving from that stance.
Because the initial reaction to the Siu Nim Tau stance is that it is unstable and difficult to move from, the conclusion to that initial reaction is that the Wing Chun fighting system must not be any good, and the Siu Nim Tau stance is useless.
The problem with that conclusion, is that it is based on a faulty assumption. That opinion is based on the assumption that the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance as shown in the example picture, is used as a stance to fight from.
According to this author though, that assumption is wrong. According to this author, the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance as shown in the example picture, is not meant to be used as a stance to fight from.
According to this author, one of the purposes of the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance shown in the example picture, is to properly align the body of the practitioner.
There is no way to verify that claim, because the people who created Wing Chun have been dead for hundreds of years. They cannot be asked if alignment of the body was one of the purposes behind the design of the Siu Nim Tau stance. The only way to prove the validity of the author’s claim, is to consider the author’s line of reasoning, and then decide if the conclusions the author has made seem valid.
The discussion will begin, by treating the author’s claim that the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance is designed to properly align the human body, as if it is true.
Why would the proper alignment of the body be so important to the creators of the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, that one of the goals of one of only three forms in the entire Wing Chun system, was the proper alignment of the body?
The answer to that question, is that a human body that is properly aligned, will be highly efficient in transferring the forces defined by the science of physics. A properly aligned human body will be highly efficient in transferring forces both within the body, and in transferring forces from the body to some object outside of the body.
Why would efficiency in transferring forces within the body, or from the body to some object outside of the body, be so important to a fighter that the creators of the Wing Chun system, would design one of only three total forms in their entire fighting system, to work on the proper alignment of the body?
Assume that a human body produces X amount of power. The human being who has produced X amount of power, wants to take that complete X amount of power, and transfer it to their opponents face.
For the purposes of this video, the X amount of power produced by a human body will be treated as if it is a ball that is created in the stomach. If the human body producing X amount of power in the stomach, wants to slap another person in the face with the complete X amount of power, the power must move from their stomach up to their hand with 100% efficiency, as demonstrated in the next picture
For 100% of the power produced in the stomach to move up to the hand and into the the face of the other person, the body of the person producing the power must be properly aligned.
If a human body is not aligned, then power cannot be transferred within the body with 100% efficiency. Some of the power will be drained away by the misaligned body.
For example. Even though a person with a misaligned body generated 100% of their power in their stomach, and they mentally desire to deliver all 100% of that power to the face of another person with a slap, maybe only 80% of that power will be delivered to the face of the other person. The other 20% of the power was drained away inside of the misaligned, and therefore inefficient body.
Now that one explanation has been provided for why the alignment of the human body would be important enough, that the creators
of the Wing Chun system would design one of only three forms in their entire fighting style, to work on the proper alignment of the body, the next step in the discussion can be taken.
The next logical question to ask would be “What is it about the design of the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, that makes it more useful in properly aligning the human body, than some other kind of stance?”.
One of the things about the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, that makes it more useful in properly aligning the human skeleton than some other kind of stance, is that the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance puts the legs into the shape of triangles.
The proper alignment of a triangle is easy to determine, compared to determining the proper alignment of some other more complex shape. So determining the proper alignment of the legs in a triangle shape, would be easier than determining the proper alignment of the legs in some other shape.
The next picture shows the front view of a skeleton with the legs in the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance. The triangles formed by the upper and lower legs are highlighted in yellow. That picture represents a skeleton with proper alignment.
A vertical center line separating the skeleton into identical right and left halves is then added to the picture.
The triangles on each side of the center line are identical. It was stated above that this skeleton is a properly aligned skeleton, so any human body in the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, in which a line drawn down the center of the body cut each leg triangle into identical right and left leg triangles, would meet the definition of a properly aligned human body.
The next picture shows both knees moved to the left, with the upper and lower leg triangles again highlighted in yellow.
A vertical center line separating the skeleton into identical right and left halves is then added to the picture.
It is obvious that the triangles on the right and left sides of the line are not identical. Because the line drawn down the center of the body cuts the leg triangles into different sized right and left leg triangles, this body does not meet the definition of a properly aligned body.
Because misalignment of the legs in the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance is so easy to determine, by a simple visual inspection of the leg triangles, the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance is superior to a normal stance, for determining whether or not a particular human body is in proper alignment.
A Wing Chun student can look at their own legs in the Siu Nim Tau stance, and easily determine by the triangles formed by their legs, whether or not their body is properly aligned. An instructor could look at the triangles formed by the legs of a student in the Siu Nim Tau stance, and easily determine whether or not the student needed to be corrected to properly align their body.
According to this author’s limited knowledge, fighting arts like boxing or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, because of their lack of form training like the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau form, make no attempt to either guage whether the body of a student is properly aligned, nor do they have specific methods to correct the body of a student that is not properly aligned.
That lack of concern with the alignment of the body in fighting arts like the ones mentioned, imply that a student of those fighting systems could become very skilled in the moves of those fighting systems, but they would still not be a good fighter. Those fighters might only be 80% as good as they could be, because their body is only 80% as aligned as it should be, which means they can only use 80% of their true power.
The use of the triangles formed by the legs of a human body in the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, to help with properly aligning that body by using visual inspection of the leg triangles, is actually a rather unimportant way, in which the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance is more useful in properly aligning the human body than some other stance.
Although what has been said about the usefulness of visual inspection of the leg triangles is valid, this author would probably agree with someone, that wanted to claim that the visual inspection of the leg triangle explanation, is purposeful misdirection to confuse people.
According to this author, there are other much more complicated reasons for why the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, is more beneficial in aligning the human body than some other stance.
Those more complicated reasons are what might be considered “high level kung fu secrets” by some people. Which is why some people might feel, that it was necessary to misdirect outsiders away from these “high level kung fu secrets”, with a valid but relatively unimportant reason, for why the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance is more beneficial in aligning the human body than some other stance.
The main points in this article can be summed up as follows.
This article claimed that the theoretically correct Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, is not a stance that a Wing Chun kung fu man uses to fight from. This article claimed that one of the reasons behind the design and practice of the theoretically correct
Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, is to properly align the human body.
The article stated that the reason that proper alignment of the body was important to the designers of the Wing Chun kung fu system, and to any kung fu man in general, is because the alignment of the body is directly related to the efficiency with which a kung fu man, can deliver the power he generates to his chosen target.
The more aligned the body is, the more efficiently the power a kung fu man generates will be delivered to a target. The less aligned the body is, the less efficiently the power a kung fu man generates will be delivered to a target.
The concepts of power and efficiency are both concepts that are described by the science of Physics. A kung fu man who wanted a more complete understanding of what power is and how it behaves, and what efficiency is and the relationship between power and efficiency, would need to study the science of Physics.
This article also discussed triangles. The triangles formed by the human body in the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance were pointed out, and a way to use those triangles to determine the alignment or misalignment of the human body was discussed.
A kung fu man who was interested in a more complete understanding, of the triangles formed by the legs of the human body in the Wing Chun Siu Nim Tau stance, would need to study the science of Trigonometry.
The material presented in this article supports the theme of this entire series of articles. Knowledge of science can be useful to a Kung Fu man.