Yay! Let us rant!!

We’ve all been that vitriolic child at some point. Perhaps we were bad and mom took away our toy? Perhaps grandpa did something for our protection…perhaps we merely disagreed with someone else’s point of view? It happens, and it can set on quite suddenly…

I was recently on the receiving end of an extremely spirited dissident expressing his on-line disagreement about the nature of implication vs assumption where I was called things such as Git, smug, and a smug git. The funny thing is that I’ve been this guy…a long time ago.

Unable to control my fury at other people’s opinions and unable to recognise my foolishness, I would lash out and aggressively ‘correct’ other people’s opinions. 

It took a long time, a goodly many friends, and a great teacher to help me realise just how much of my energy I was wasting on details that didn’t matter.

They didn’t go out of their way to do this though. It was more of a subconscious dissertation…or perhaps just their calming influence. They have families, some have children, all of them jobs that pull in an income to keep the wolves away, and a few who count students who value his time. They're not superheroes, but they’ve got things working just enough on the side of right that it makes you wonder what they’re up too and how to emulate them. 

I guess you could say there’s enough experience to escape idol worship and borrow positive behaviours…and slowly build on them.

It was after my aforementioned “git-smuggery” that It hit me. I’d transitioned from one to the other. Now I was the one looking at an online “tanty” with toys flying through the air, and a saliva encrusted pacifier hitting me in my figurative nose with a sense of the desperate angst focussed on me. As i tried to calm the situation everything I shared was taken out of context. I certainly wasn’t the only person involved, and surprisingly there was quite a supportive, and reasonable, crowd involved. The more reasonable the statement was, the less reasonable was the response. It was one of those episodes.

It wasn’t that I was smug, I don’t believe I was. It wasn’t that I was a git, I’m certainly not a git. I’ve been an ass, a dick, and I’m certainly a great big hulking Cunt. But I’m no smug-git. I’ve been fighting my now battles and demons too long for smuggery. 

And it made me think further.

This online chap stated he was “defending” a school, sifu, or some other dogmatic aspect of Wingchunnery, without doing so well. No one was attacking, just pointing out their opinions.

In my head it became less a battle of who’s right or wrong, and more a catalyst for my asking two questions. Namely, a) why would anyone give another’s opinion so much credence? and b) is it our place to defend Sifu or Kwoon?

When dealing with opinions, be it online or off, one has to take into account the source of that particular opinion and what may have gone into the creation of said opinion. 

We know that it is categorically impossible to know another persons thoughts, though we can make a few assumptions thanks to experience and familiarity. However when you’re faced off against an avatar and a versatile keyboard…its a less tangible experience. If that makes sense.

The only thing we can be confident of is the meaning of words within the context of the subject. In an online forum you can’t be 100% sure about the emotion behind any opinion, regardless of the endless sea of emoji’s you can use. 

This being the case, how can you argue detail x and get upset about it? You have no emotional connection to the discussion except that which you bring with you. Any Joe Bloogheimsmithberg can form an opinion, but only You can allow this opinion weight and substance. Right? Why should we give this opinion so much power over our emotional state. Why allow ourselves to throw that switch from calm to exotically irate? Its something to think about isn’t it?

when we face our opponent we’re fully focused on them and our immediate surrounds. We keep everything in check and allow our minds into that relaxed-control, minimising our anticipation of specifics and merely being ready. Can’t we take this control out of our art and into our lives?

This makes me think further about our rights and expectations as a student. Have you ever defending your WC lineage against opinions of another? 

I know I have. I can only call my old kwoon a cult. It involved believing our teacher without proof or justification, our teacher discouraging us from training outside our kwoon and testing our skills. And if that wasn’t enough, we were encouraged to argue online and to defend Sifu while being told that the entire world knew that we were the best fighters, and that we were taught by the worlds best WC exponent. Sadly its a drink a little too tall to stomach. Oh yeah…and there was the exorbitant tithing. Er, I mean fees.

It’s great being out of there and being able to freely discuss any aspect I think I might understand. 

Should not a schools reputation prove for itself that opinions and arguments against it are flawed or otherwise?

I should not have to defend my Sifu. But I still get an urge to…don’t you?

Our teachers have experience to call on, and we have a healthy source of knowledge in them. Our experiences in class and training is wonderful, otherwise we wouldn’t be back right?

Then why do we get an urge to get all, “my dad can beat your dad!”, about it?

More than likely we’ll make ourselves sound foolish, and potentially add a distasteful sheen to our teachers name. In this scenario our enthusiasm to protect our teachers reputation creates the need for defence. Utter foolish. 

Besides, if they really have an issue with my (our) teacher(s)…they obviously haven’t met them.

Of course that’s assuming our teacher is a good, well-balanced person.

If not then you have my pity. I’ve been there and kept myself there by will alone. “The way I’m treated is worth it because of what I’m learning…”, I was all about that mumbo-jumbo at one time.

We need to encourage each other to train outside our kwoon, to test our training with real world applications, and to keep physics in the fore of my mind when trying to improve my understanding of our system. Or at least as best we can.

I refuse to be the WC’er that “Swat’s at flies”…I want to be (to borrow a Dr Who term, and show my inner-nerd) the On-Coming Storm, unstoppable and cataclysmically destructive. It can only be my choice to become so. Its my obligation to myself to ensure everything is on the level and to do something about it if it isn’t.

Isn’t this right? 

Mine is the calm centre. Its the centre I chase. Each of your movements is another opportunity. I’m going to meet you and escort you out. You’re welcome, please come again.

Suffice to say, I refuse to give weight to an individual’s opinion when they don’t have all components of the equation. I refuse because just I don’t care. It’s just too much effort waging your war for you. I’ll keep an open mind and weigh each statement against what I know about you, then I’ll test it, and if it’s found wanting…I’ll discard it. If it’s great, I’ll ask to borrow it.

Don’t feel bad, I expect you to do the same for the things that I say. What do you know about me? Who else agrees with me?

Who cares? 

My opinions are built upon a foundation of familial love, teenage angst, adult depression, and a fascination with Ving Tsun. Everything I share has legitimacy for me. I suggest you take it all with a grain of salt.

Debating on the internet is awesome…arguing is not.

What's our responsibility in the classroom?

Last night I was privileged enough to experience a fellow students getting-it-right moment.
And you know what it was with? Bong Sao. Bloody Bong Sao.
I have a dislike/hate/have-to-appreciate-it relationship with Bong Sao. I find the current incarnation that I'm learning, to be very difficult to get right.
I also love that moment when I get it right. Or when i get something else right, like maintaining control of the centre, having only enough forward intention to register when my opponent moves...but not enough to telegraph my intentions.
What I love more is watching a brother/sister struggling with something and then having that aha! moment. Sure its not perfectly executed, but their ability to execute the manoeuvre increases and they learn faster. You see this light break through the frustration and my heart does a little jump. I'm sure dopamine is flowing through me now. Its a little wonder that I get to experience.

And this reminds me...I know my responsibilities to myself, but what's my responsibility to my brothers and sisters in class?
Truth be told...I'm more responsible for them, than myself.

It's my place to help them become as good as possible.
It's my place to encourage them.
It's my place to support them.

And my reasons are all selfish.

I love seeing my friends and kung fu whanau (maori word for family) improve. The moment they get better, the more they can push me. The more of my 'tells' i can share with them, the more they'll help me disguise them and close the openings i provide. One such is that an injury has left me finding it difficult to get my left elbow close to my body. In chi sao this can allow folk to get through my defence. I've been covering this but utilising my footwork to compensate. It's no ideal situation but what are you gonna do? So i point it out, I ask them to keep it in mind so that they press me. The make it hard. I'll share any trick i know...because its the unknown that tests us all.

We're a fairly lax group. We don't bow as we enter the kwoon, we don't bow to each other, and we don't supplicate to our class leader. However we look each other in the eye, we shake hands, and we're honest with each other.
In class I had a misunderstanding with another student. It almost turned into a passive-aggressive argument about how we don't care so we can move on. Instead, i pulled us back and we addressed the issue. It was purely a misunderstanding about something we'd misheard, with us both being at fault. And because we addressed this, talked it through, and continued with the drill....we moved forward. We improved what we were doing while improving our relationship.

We're obligated to be honest with each other for our own advancement. How can you respect someone who won't engage with the difficult. WE ARE WING CHUN!!! We don't go back. Adversity is where we burn away the flowery bullshit and are left with the bones of a dangerous set of concepts.
The moment we're too caught up with politics, egos and kowtowing to learn is the moment that your WC has reverted to the cult mentality so prevalent amongst teachers and classes. Are we here to learn, or here to kiss ass? Everyone has a right to an opinion...but no one has a right to tell me I'm wrong without showing me why.

Despite not knowing many, I still feel kinship with anyone learning WC and I want the best for them. Sadly I'm not sure they want the best for themselves.

<Edit: I've been kindly pointed towards some resources for improving my blog. I'm no writer, and I actually like rambling, but I'll take it on board and work on improving. Keep the advice coming!!>

It's supposed to be an interactive adventure right?

Not too long ago our school hosted a weekend long seminar with our esteemed Teacher. He's our Sifu and our teacher's Sifu...I forget the traditional term, but we respect him. He's shown us so much that its literally been information overload. This is probably the same for each of you and your teacher respectively. Our teacher is, of course, better because he's ours. <Note the sarcasm, and the allusion to prevalent belief systems within the greater Wing Chun world. eg. "My dad can smash your dad!!", as you run away crying.>

Seriously though, he does invite questions and testing. He encourages us to test ourselves, what he teaches us, and to take nothing for granted. We're all human, and thus...probably very flawed.
This, and the effectiveness of his demonstrations, are attributes which have won my respect.

This isn't about the Seminar however.
This is about an aspect of the learning process withing the greater WC schools, which I've been a part of, and which I still see from others.
In a sense its pointless programming with no expectation for right, or wrong.

Let me set the scene...our weekend adventure had 20 odd students from two different schools. Ours...and 2 of theirs. I respect their teacher for letting them attend, and I respect them for giving it a go. One of them was even from my old LMK school, we didn't know each other but I recognised the footwork and such. He was in for a big surprise, and potentially turned his WC world on its ear, lol.
One of ours in particular came from a Chu Shong Tin lineage and had been learning down country, and we two had an interesting experience which astounded and surprised me at the same time.

We were going through a variation of the pak sao drill, (i'm assuming that all systems have some sort of repeatable pattern used for teaching pak sao. the technique isn't important here), and to be honest...I was a bit perplexed, which was in turn perplexing for my partner, lets call him Grant.
The main intention was to let us see where our pak's should be, why it should be there, and to have some thought towards real life application...within reason of course.
Grant had this...small-dog-being-held-over-water thing going on.
Such as:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSiC7KLiBZI

So we try to train for realistic application as much as possible considering the class environment, and we're none of us masters. As such we stagger our applications/attacks. We try to avoid establishing a rhythm. I guess the idea is that we are actively engaged in each encounter, and not falling into a pre-programmed routine by assuming the same sort of punch comes at me at the same speed, in the same fashion the whole time.

As soon as I threw a single punch, he would start throwing out his pak's even if I didn't have a punch, like that lil dawg above the water automatically doing his lil dawgy-paddle...nawwww, so cute.
But not in class. Yes, the chain punch can be effective, but it isn't some magic talisman that ensures success. If Grant was to try throwing these things at a boxer...well, I'm confident the boxer would have the upper hand.
My perception of WC is that...we meet what comes in. If it's not coming in, it should be retreating. So I'll follow it in.If these things aren't happening, then I'm not fighting. Worst case scenario is that I misjudge and need to defend against my opponents attack with one of my own. I can't do this if I restrict myself into programming a technique, rather than a concept.
By my definition a technique is a move you practice, the concept is the reason why the technique will work. Remove the concept from the technique...and....well, you're just swotting flies. Right?

What I'm trying to get at is that when I pointed out the staggered timing application to Grant, his face took on this, "wtf? why isn't this working? i used to OWN with this technique", sort of face.
It was a little sad. Not pathetic sad...more, a heart-breaking sort of sad.
I changed one aspect of training, and he wasn't used to it, and so he couldn't function. It would've ruined his day if I'd kept on like that, so I didn't...he's a nice guy, what can I say? Rather than point out this brain-fart/dis-functionality thing he had going...I just went along with his speed and he relaxed. He was happy, and that was fine.
But.
How can you have faith in a system that becomes next-to-useless if you change a single element?
The physics should never change. The physical laws of nature are immutable!

I don't know. I may have it wrong, but again...we must apply ourselves. This stuff isn't hard.
When you get down to it...Wing Chun, in all of its spelling variation, is simple and easy.
The hard part is allowing ourselves to put away old programming and expectation. Our bodies would move naturally through the 3 forms if we weren't locked up in our heads, in our bodies that spend 6 hours a day sitting.

It's funny...I've always been told to not over-think WC. And yet we can't understand it until we've used our analytical aspects. Perhaps I could change the over-thinking comment to something like, "try to think of this in a different context than you're used to." Or something even better. You tell me!

How realistic are our 'real-life' applications?

Training again last night! It went much better thank you.

Tonight was interesting for its variation away from our typical classes. It opened up with a 'what-if' scenario. At first I though it a bit of a one-in-a-million scenario until everyone voiced that something similar had happened to them.

The scenario: Road rage in a carpark.
While you're exiting and locking your vehicle an aggressive individual strides up actively, arms pumping as if they're power-walking around 'the bays' and their face having left Red behind in favor of a raging purple.

It seems we've all been in a situation where, in the process of obtaining a carpark, we've inadvertently (or not so inadvertently) done something that has caused a person to experience rage. Perhaps you had the right of way but the other person had been waiting for quite a few minutes and you just happened to be the catalyst for rage. The cause of these situations sits purely in your own hands, where as having someone attack in a carpark can seem out of your hands, but if you're prepared you could save yourself expense, damage and embarrassment. (Embarrassment being the least of your concerns, and something to consider once the situation has been dealt with).

So what do you do if, while you're parking your car, Señor Rage-On decides he's going to attack you and show you what-for?
Firstly, keep in mind that the behavior of Señor Rage-On is en par with a bully and their mentality. It's about feeling in power and having people react to you. The more fear and dismay the bully sees on their victims faces, the greater their personal pleasure.

In real-life it can be shocking and disconcerting. Your first reaction is usually something akin to, "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?" Quickly followed by, " why are they pushing me and swearing?

If you hear/see them approaching you, you have an opportunity to access the situation and act accordingly.
Get into a fight-preparatory position.
Put something in between the two of you such as a car, a shopping trolley, a group of people, anything physical that will delay their reaching you. The longer you stay away from them the LONGER YOU STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!

The best defence is distance.
The second best defence against is bridging the gap in both the physical and psychological sense.

Potential Scenario: The aggressor approaches you in the carpark for whatever reason. They're screaming blue-hell at you, calling you names to a degree where expletives are the gel that holds the tirade together. What do you do?

The moment you emulate their momentum, meaning the moment you start back-peddling and retreating, you are at a disadvantage.
You may not know what's on the ground behind your feet.
The stepping back is usually accompanied by a look of terror, or dismay, which will have the aggressor half barred up and his internal process checking system is telling him to "move forward! This chump will fall!"
This is the physical side. Accompanying this is the psychological aspect, which initially is designed (these days) for flight...not fight, and this is your instant terror. The psychological side, at least in your head, will slow your reactions. It will lock up your muscles, or at least slow them, and you will be on the defensive retreat.

My approach is to mirror.
Which is to reflect their instigation of aggression with aggression.
To those not used to it, this can seem like a bad idea as often I've noticed people think this will lead to an actual fight. I've found this to rarely be the case.
A bully does not expect resistance and thus falls into a typical behavior with a sense of, 'this has always worked before, I'll do it again'.
By initiating aggression you can break the aggressors programming, causing him to activate his brain and hopefully influencing his behavior with an ounce of logic. Such as, 'ah fuck...they're not backing down, what do i do now? I don't actually want to fight', giving you a great opportunity to subdue the aggressor either physically or verbally etc. This would be when there's still space between the two of you and there's time and opportunity for a thought to enter their head.

In the case where they get close enough so that  you only notice them as they, or just as they, push you. Lets ignore for the moment that you should've been aware of your environment and heard the yahoo strolling up spout expletives.
As they push you you need to defuse the force of the push so that you're not off balance, and you're ready to react.
If you retreat too much you will give your opponent too much room to gain a comfortable position and keep you in a reactionary position.
The moment they touch you it's on. They've assaulted you. After the fact you can decide whether they were really going to potentially hurt you. But in that moment you don't know what they know, what skills they have, what their ultimate intention is, or even what they're on.
Until you know better, your life is on the line. This doesn't mean to kill your opponent, it means saving yourself.

1. Be prepared
2. We aren't Tae Kwon Do. When we're attacked our response is to attack. The best defense against a punch is to punch back. In this case this means to react in a fashion which disrupts your opponents intent/programming, and putting yourself on better footing. An analogy for this may be to 'gain the high ground', or a better defensive position.
3. End it as soon as poosible. You don't want to tire yourself out, and if you don't see any it doesn't mean the aggressor doesn't have compatriots about. Finish each interaction asap and prepare for the next.
4. Use only the force required. If the aggressor is all talk, fine. Ideal. Call the cops, security, other Joe Public's, anything. If they continue to attack you, take them down. Control the situation and have the cops take care of them. If they pull a knife, get the fuck out of there...you're standing by a car, get in it. Get on it. Get around it. Shout.

In class it went a little different.
Some few students were feeling funny about 'acting' in front of their classmates. This harkens back to the concept of actively engaging in the encounter, applying yourself to the training to hopefully be better prepared.
It can be difficult when 'expecting' the attack, however in that moment there's still a surge of adrenalin, and regardless of how "the-shit" you feel, you always end up looking odd.
I advanced on the aggressor to push them away when they attacked. This left him on bad footing, and on the retreat. However I was unbalanced and instantly angry. Add an angry, "Fuck off!!" certainly helped put the bully/attacker on the back foot, And gave me a greater feeling of control, despite being out of control.

The world is getting bigger.The total pool from which stats are gathered is getting greater.
In a small village the likelihood of being attacked may be 0.07% (an arbitrary value I've made up to make a point), or 7 chances out of 100 people. This seems remarkably small, and may entail all variations of aggression from harsh words to full on physical attacks.
However, in a world of 7 billion people, this leaves 490,000,000 potential events. That's enough potential events to make me weary.
On top of that, if you consider the potential for specific situations...such as, the more you visit parking lots, the more likely you are to have an encounter. The more you're in the city on a friday night, out drinking with friends, the greater the potential for running into drunk aggressive carry-on.

My mission statement: It will change.

Let me start off by stating that I am no master. I'm not even overly dedicated.
I'm an over-weight half-caste male with experience in 3 lineages of Wing Chun and I've had as hard a road as most others that find their way to martial arts.
Something happened when I was younger which damaged me, and I looked for solace in lessons of fighting under a teacher who wasn't in control of all his faculties.

I've had fights in my past, but I'm no street-fighter.
I have depressive bouts, medical issues, and every once in a while I'll glean something profound from my environment.
Mostly, I lack conviction. I lack control.

I'm beginning this blog to prove to myself that I can apply my thought to something and carry it through. And to try to fall back in love with Wing Chun, or in my current incarnation...Ving Tsun.
Don't get caught up on the spelling, despite how it looks Wing Chun and Ving Tsun sound the same when you say them, they're just written differently. This is what I've been told...and I am not a student of Cantonese, or any other Chinese language. Like a typical student I believe my teachers and what they have told me. That's just how it is.

Why are you doing Ving Tsun?

If I could get more girls to participate in Ving Tsun I would.
The Wong system is the only system I've experienced that gives girls, and women, the best perception of an actual violent interaction, within the VT universe.

I've seen girls and women of all ages enthusiastically kicking in Tae Kwon Do, breaking boards in Karate, 'rolling' in BJJ, and somersaulting in Capoeira...in all of them they're succeeding.
In New Zealand I've been disappointed. This can't be a reflection of all WC schools in NZ, I've visited very few...and yet all I've seen is a big pile of meh.

Why is this? I'm sincerely interested.

The link below states some pretty horrifying statistics.

https://womensrefuge.org.nz/WR/Domestic-violence/Statistics.htm

Firstly, I don't know enough about the do's and dont's of such a terrible subject. There are people better suited to discussing this, with greater perspectives of the issues involved and more than likely these same people will be less likely to come up with a knee-jerk reaction.

I'm only airing my opinions, based on limited experience and knowledge. I have seen violence against women.
I don't want to trivialise anyone's experiences.
In fact it isn't even really that only women are at risk. Because they're not. Our children are. Our men  are. It isn't a gender specific issue.
But I love my mum. Before I was born my mum traveled the world, had experiences, met strangers...and could've been put into a situation such as might be shown by those stats. Beyond this, their value as people can't be quantified...and I think this lets a lot of us forget that. Despite our technological advances we're potentially <insert timely generalization>  more endangered by each other than ever.

We're no longer savages running through field and forest.
We're no longer tribal hominids hunting mountain and jungle.

The likelihood that you'll be attacked on the street is probably low. You'll probably never experience the violence. You're probably fine.
The less prepared you are, the more likely you are to be hurt. There's no point in carrying a weapon, as they're apparently more likely to be taken and used on you. So what's the solution?

Preparation. Learn yourself something. It doesn't have to be VT, however I am quite biased towards it.
Train for application. Worry about internal stuff in your own time, when you're safe. Get used to being punched in the face, to falling over, to rough terrain. Get used to a realistic use of force in an attack.
Understand that real life will never be like the class room. The ideal punch will rarely allow you to deflect and diffuse. Assume you're going to get hit. I once had my teeth put through my lip when I was attacked at high school and it took me a few minutes to realise what was going on. That gave my attacker time to get away and afterwards I felt useless, damaged and broken. Sure I had a hole in my lip, but it was the gaping wound in my self-esteem that concerned me the most. Being hobbled by fear is sux.

I was brought up to think of women as weak and needing a man to look after them...this is what school taught me. My mother taught me about strength, drive, and ultimately that my life is my own. She's a hero to me. I'd like to believe I respect women, however I'm not perfect and I have my moments of capitulating to the stereo type and wanting to be the White Knight.

Boys are encouraged towards rough'n'tumble.
Girls and women should be encouraged to get into martial arts for personal protection. 'Should' is a dirty word...who am I to tell you what to do?

I'm someone who's been attacked.
I'm someone who only gets picked on by stronger opponents.
I've been the one who didn't expect to be physically hurt and was.
I. Am. Experience.

Learn to become the shield.

How do You show respect?

So training didn't go so well.
I blew my shoulder against another lad. We're both quite strong and we're trying to reach the correct position for our training during Chi Sao drills. This often an issue I've noticed.

There's an ideal position for each person to get the best result out of the execution of a 'manoeuvre'. In this scenario you're stopping your opponent from getting the stronger/dominant/controlling line, and thus you control your opponents centre. You're training toward our collective goal. Have the better line.
This is the limitation I find...Chi Sao isn't fighting. It's a training tool. As such you have to allow your opponent to win from time to time so they can see where they're best to position themselves, or you help them program poor positioning by not being accommodating. Basically being a dick.
For me, in Chi Sao, I find that having a Tan Sao at 90° (perpendicular) to my body gives me a good position, and a strong line. It allows me to to keep my elbow locked to my waist.
Doing this messes with my training partner though. My shoulders are about a metre wide, this means my partners fook sao is going to be pushed outwards into an uncomfortable position while trying to maintain a good attacking line. So Mr. Fook tries to compensate by winning back the centre. All of a sudden Mr. Fook's intention has the resultant force directed across his own body, not towards his partner. The forward intention mutates into this 'big-dickery' scenario.

Where in this practice does the co-operation come?
We've all had training partners that are co-operative, and partners who aren't. We deal with this.
This is often a great opportunity to verbally bridge the gap, talk to them, and try to come to an understanding. What if this doesn't work?

Do you learn anything from someone who refuses to co-operate? Does working with a 'solely self-interested' individual provide an opportunity for your improvement?
My temper often gets the better of me. I point out that I couldn't possibly learn x if they're going to behave y. Is this reasonable though?
Communicating with your partner is, in my conceited opinion, really important for both.
Each person should have an opportunity to command dominance, and to also be defeated.

This sort of brings forward another idea. At least it does within my internal cause and effect matrix.

What is the motivator here? Or more accurately put, where is your mind at the time, compared to your training partners mind?
I spend a lot of time away from class, and as a result I try to mentally apply the discipline I physically lack, throughout the day.
In the context of Bong Sao, I will spend moments throughout the day thinking of a slow-motion projection of the path my arm takes. When i react, perhaps to a surprise attack, am I expecting my elbow to make a straight(ish) line towards this surprise attack (such as a punch to the face)? Or am I going to allow my elbow to spiral out from my waist, limit my potential and speed, and aggravate my injury? I do this inside of class as well. I'm thinking 'cause & effect', what's causing my Bong to not work as well as it could?
I'm talking ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT.

Martial Arts aren't supposed to be about an esoteric hobby you tell your friends about to be that cool/alternative hippie loving, crystal-healing, "I TOUCHED MY CHI!!!" guy...or gal.
A lot of us get into it to protect ourselves. We're either afraid, hurt, or we're damaged in another way.
The rest are, I'd like to think, still genuinely interested...they just don't have our issues.

The class isn't for a learning process like we experienced when were going to school and had 30 other students overwhelming a frazzled teacher. It's for you to experiment with your sticking points, to get advice from your teacher, and maybe to learn something new.
An analogy popped up last night.
"Some people come to class and are essentially blackboards. The have the potential to record information for use later, however as soon as individuals leave the class, this board gets cleared and all that's left behind may be an impression or hint...but the body of the lesson is gone."
I've noticed that the ones who have difficulty are the ones that don't think too deeply about the 'motion', or analyse the trajectory of their intent. This goes for practiced martial artists and n00bs.
The importance of this intent, or conscious awareness, is huge.

Where is your intent? Or as the Pixies put it..."Where is my mind?"
Are you looking at this conditioning and concerning yourself with why it doesn't work? Is it you? Is it your training partner? Is it we both?
I don't accept that it's because I'm shit. Nor will I accept its because my partner is shit.
It doesn't work because I'm still learning it. It doesn't work because there's an aspect I haven't taken into account. It doesn't work because I'm too busy thinking about the move that's supposed to follow my Bong Sao.
It doesn't work because my mind isn't intent on what I'm doing. I'm either thinking of what I've done, what I'm going to do, or dinner, or b00bs, or not hurting my little training partner, or not being hurt by my strong/wiley/fast/smart/<insert positive description> partner.
The simple distinction is that if I clear my mind, concentrate on the moment, and actively engage myself within the moment I can then potentially walk away with a deeper understanding. I'm not even sure if I'm making sense here. Most likely I'm merely waffling on about a concept which is important, and trivializing it through my ignorance.

The first challenge is fighting complacency...

Tonight is training. And here's the funny thing...its hard to get there.
I'm confident it has something to do with my broken psyche...or I'm just lazy.
The motivation to get to class after an entire day of kissing ass and taking names...is a thin and tired thing.

I'm no natural at Kung Fu, but I've been familiarising myself with WC (regardless of incarnation) for around 15 years. If I applied myself I would pick it all up fairly quickly. In fact, I believe if ANYONE applies themselves actively, they'll succeed beyond their expectations. I've even seen it.

My teacher is my <insert chinese 'older brother' title>, and he's pretty good. Lets call him John.
We trained in Lo Man Kam together for quite a few years until his interaction with VT in melbourne began.
The top level students in our class had fairly large egos...hell, even the lower levels did. I was my probably the only one that gave John any competition. While he was better than me with his techniques, I was much more powerful...and my technique wasn't too bad. No one else in the class could get past my defense. This is, of course, where the ego steps in. I realise now that I would've been opened up, and ripped apart, if I'd gone up against any number of different WC proponents. Ours was an inbred system...we only fought each other. We couldn't evolve, only mutate.

Consider this...8+ years of training. We both had this...John came back from Melbourne with maybe 6 months worth of training and...well...he ripped me apart. My ego was so damaged by this encounter that I could barely bring myself to look John in the eye. He could see it too.
Luckily cost him nothing at all to not react like a Dick. He didn't lord it over me. I could see...regret(?) for me? He had the exact same situation happen to him in Melbourne, only the other guy was SO much better than him. I guess the closest comparison I could hesitate with is: Your mum always said how your toasted sandwiches were the best she'd ever tried. And yet your girlfriend is honest and tells you that...well...they're horrible. Heartbreak ensues.

It took me 4 years to 'empty-my-cup', and even still I've got so many issues.
My two biggest hurdles were/are the weight proportion in my footwork. In LMK we were taught to keep your weight on the back foot, allowing the front foot to be almost empty. I believe this was so we could use the front foot to defend against kicks. There's a couple issues surrounding this, but I'll touch on that another time.
In VT I'm being taught to have a more fluid weight ratio. As I understand it, this is done to allow for greater/faster manoeuvrability. It also lays a foundation for being less "locked-up" in a particular stance. Sure, it may not allow for that 'first line of defence, kicky-kicky, shadow-kick", magic bullshit...but I've seen it work. And at this time, if someone tries to use their foot work against my Kauri-trunk legs (Kauri is a tree in NZ, the older ones are quite thick) then go ahead. I'll punch you in the nose. In theory.

My other big sticking point has been Bong Sao.

Here is a link to how I was taught to use Bong Sao.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MrKlmHVFkY

I mean no disrespect to Master Lo, nor to Sifu Cheng. I've met neither and I have heard both good and bad about them. The only perspective I have is as a student-of-a-Student of Bruce Cheng's who decided for himself, or was qualified by Bruce as, a Teacher in the Lo Man Kam system. It depends on who you believe...and there are enough childish/petty arguments on both sides for me to not even care thank you.
Despite all of the tooing and froing over who is right, and the internet penis measuring, the method demonstrated in the linked video, is the sole source for my blown-shoulders. I've got issues with my rotator cuffs because of that one technique. Sometimes I can't sleep on my side, and sometimes I can't lift my arm above shoulder height.
My limited understanding of WC suggests to me that the reason LMK uses, or merely teaches, this way of Bong Sao is due to his height. I could be wrong...I'm an initiate, a neophyte. A beginner. It's my PLACE to make assumptions and get things wrong. It is my privilege to not know any better.
The new way I've been learning to use Bong Sao has taken the full consignment of time AND is still difficult.
My perspective is that it's used almost as a last resort. Not like an Atomic bomb, or napalm, but more in an, "i didn't expect that to happen, I'd better throw sand in my opponents eyes," fashion. I perceive it as a technique, backed by a concept, which is required to defuse a particular situation...which, if used in the wrong place, will simply place the ball in your mouth and pull your pants down for you as the Gimp slowly approaches from behind. I assume you understand my implication?

The 4, or so, years is a long time in which to empty your head, just so you can battle your way to a meager understanding of ONLY two things. I say only because these were the hardest things for me to change, and then learn. These are what I've been concentrating on.
This doesn't take into account the difficulties with Jaam Sao, Larp Sao, Jaam Sao...hell, even Tan Sao. (Excuse the spelling...I'm not so good at it).
With larp sao I had to learn to stop grabbing. Over the years I'd built up a propensity to grab because I'm strong. Very strong. Now its used against me.

Tan Sao was taught to me as being the very first option I should rely on. This, and other things,helped me perfect the irrational technique. I'd 'chase-hands'. I'd detach my elbow from a height at which it can rely on by body to counter-act forces and act as a buffer. All that force would be sent directly into my shoulder, and often push me off balance. It was like a quick-centrifugal-sneeze involving all the speed, force and confusion of the aforementioned comparison.

If these two things have taught me anything, it's that to train within the confines of your own school is ok. To believe your lineage is the best is foolish.
In science one must work towards a goal using empirical evidence, repeatable exercises, and sound concepts.
When you make you further assume about the complexity of your style and the totality of its wisdom and effect...well...you join the cult. You delve into a religion as unhealthy as any in history, and put yourself into the hands of a snake-oil peddler.
Of all the styles I've tried, being only a handful I assure you, VT is one you must always take-to-the-streets to test. If it doesn't work for you, find out why. Talk about it. Get opinions. Form an opinion of your own. Then test it. Talk to your Sifu, and then test it.
Yes, Sifu is always right...you must always show Sifu respect. This is reasonable.
But Sifu should, in turn, respect that you're asking questions. Regardless of how stupid your theory may sound, you're asking questions. Its only a short stroll until you're asking the right questions.
So far, for me, this is the 'Wong' way.