Thank you for teaching me. As your oldest youngest student I just wanted to let you know how I am doing. It could encourage another geeser to join up. I fell against a 90 degree corner in my house. I hit at the end of the fall, about a foot of the ground. Assuming the basic position, I found that I could manage the pain, and I did not wind up in a hospital bed like any other 60 year old guy would have. When I work out, my dogs become strangely estatic and frolic at my feet while I do my routines. I think that this is a reflection of the state of mind that wing chun puts me in. I now jump about one and one half times higher if not twice as high as any other time in my life. There are other benefits too that I have received that I cannot get into now.
See ya, Tony
"Passion For Wing Chun"
Sifu - Your recent visit the Placerville Chapter was VERY MUCH appreciated. Through your direction, we where able to highlight areas that need attention in our training regiment. Each time we get an opportunity to train with you, it is a huge help in getting us focused. Your passion for Wing Chun and dynamic training method is very contagious.
Our goal between now and your next visit it to be proficient in the bridges and twelve combination. We will look forward to your next visit in the spring.
Sincerely, Martin P. King -CEO Legacy Chillers
"Thanks A Million"
The internet's been down for a little while, but I've been meaning to go about saying thank you. A couple of weeks ago, I was walking on a hand rail on a bridge, any how, something landed straight into my eye... one bad step lead to another, and I fell off the bridge. When I landed, I did so with my hip square on a rock. Anyhow, by the time I had limped my way home, I had a spectacular black and purple spot of approximately a 6 inch diameter. Basically, my hip had swollen to the point where it looked like there was half a soft ball sticking out of the side of my leg. Gnarly. Being in a foreign country, I figured the hospital couldn't do much of anything for me, and frankly, I didn't want to think about what they would even propose, so I did the only thing I've been told would work for anything like this. After doing about 3 hours of intensive "Sil Lum Tao treatment" the swelling almost completely went away. The next day, I did the same three hours just concentrating on the injury, in addition to the regular routine, and the blackness was completely gone by the next morning. Scratched skin remained as an annoyance for about a week and a half then after, but... I've got to say... not that I ever wasn't before... but I'm definitely a believer now.
Thanks a million, and may Wing Chun continue to bless you!
-Mike
"An Excellent Foundation"
I would like to thank you for your recent training visit to Placerville. As you are aware, I am starting over again after a twenty year detour from my Wing Chun training. Experiencing your recent sessions with our chapter filled a lot of training gaps and I feel that I now have an excellent foundation to build on. Your passion for Wing Chun is contagious and I am seeing even more intensity in our training sessions since your visit. I am very happy (and proud) to be part of Wing Chun Club and look forward to training hard and most of all, your next visit. Keep up the great work!
Martin from Placerville
"A Gift For Generations to Come"
I have had the opportunity to train with sifu Z for several months while in Hawaii. Sifu Z shed a whole new light upon my previous knowledge of the Wing Chun system. He revealed many of the myths of Kung Fu training and better yet revealed even more secrets. Sifu has brought my fighting skills to a whole new level and I am much more confident as a private instructor here in my home town. Overall I paid $540 (in 2000) over a 9 month period for group classes. I would have easily paid double that amount and gotten half the instruction at any other school.
I would refer sifu Z to anyone that wants to become incredibly strong in a short period of time. His martial art philosophy is inspiring and contagious. Sifu Z gave me a gift that will inspire and enrich my life and the lives of my family and friends for generations to come. Thank you sifu.
Steve from Georgia
"Stronger In All Aspects Of Life"
The training I have received thus far from Sifu Z in the Wing Chun system has been a monumental experience in developing a solid ground in which to live my life from. I have been training for just over a year quite steadily and I feel his training everyday making me stronger in all aspects of my life. The trust I am developing in this system is getting stronger day after day. I highly urge anyone to come experience this unique training if you are looking to enhance your everyday life. I am just beginning to realize how amazing it is to be a part of the Wing Chun experience and am grateful for Sifu Z’s guidance.
Danial from Arcata
"Reconnecting to The Root of the Wing Chun System"
My husband and I plan on starting a WC club in Golden Colorado, but first I had to fulfill the desire to reconnect with my WC roots. In July of 2005 I attend my first WC session with Sifu Z. Immediately I connected with the powerful WC system. My beliefs merged with the lessons I gained from my training, and at last I did not have to stand alone in my beliefs. Wing Chun has since become my support and solid substantiated explanation and guide to the world around me.
Traveling to Arcata brought me back to center, and gave me a new jumping off place. There is now no doubt in my mind that I have always, and will always continue to maximize my progress in WC by training with and teaching others. I was afraid that my WC was not good enough to lead classes, but now I truly realize that the best way for me to proliferate my training is to teach others, as I learn the most when I instruct.
Feeling sorry for ones self, is pitiful, and poison to ones progress. Question everything and doubt not what can be proven through the application of Wing Chun. These lessons fill my heart with gratitude and want me to thank profoundly the members of the Humboldt Wing Chun Academy for having me, and reminding me of the awesome support offered by all our WC brothers and sisters to every member.
See you all soon!
Lucinda from Golden Colorado
"A Dynamic Display of Wing Chun"
The seminar was nothing short of amazing.I don't expect people to understand or believe what Wing Chun can do for you.I was fortunate to feel a 1 inch punch to the chest from sifu Z. Luckily his hand was in the way to take most of the power. I am starting to believe certain myths about wing chun.I did not believe instructor Ben when he told me that a wing chun form can give you amazing power throughout the body. Well I was wrong.
Duane from Placerville - Student
"A WING CHUN TESTAMONIAL"
I had the opportunity to meet Sifu Z when I was 19 years old. I had been on my own for several years but had just started to mature into an adult. Over the next several years I began a personal journey under the direct tutelage of Sifu Z. As Sifu stated those indeed where the days of hard knocks. I remember being black and blue after practice more then once. However, this was never done out of meanness but rather in a spirit of learning. Sifu’s simple yet VERY direct approach to Wing Chun enthralled me and I willingly devoted years of my life to training.
As I matured I moved away from Sifu and began my own life. I found that my Wing Chun training began to wane. Several years passed and although still healthy I began to experience the effects of my forsaken Wing Chun training. Things became unnecessarily difficult. I had many problems of a personal nature.
As if by magic - or perhaps fate my Sifu came back into my life almost one year ago. Through the force of his nature he once again woke up my desire for Wing Chun. Since that moment my training has resumed to the intensity and motivation it once had. And what do I find? My life now flows along with an ease that I find astonishing. Each day brings more rewards then the last.
Wing Chun changed my life, and not just a little. The effect was profound - still beyond my ability to fully comprehend. The art has made me who I am, and continues to fashion me into who I will be. This is what Wing Chun has done for me.
Ben from Placerville - US Postal Carrier
"Authentic Kung Fu Training"
Hello my name is Matt Macosko and I want to tell you why I think Sifu Z has improved my martial art and my health.
I have always been interested in martial arts as a kid, when kung fu movies were on all the time and so was the TV show with David Keradine. I also enjoyed the American martial arts movies with chuck Norris. I started in karate when I was in elementary school I think it was called Shun Ryun. It was pretty good for getting me coordinated in self defense at a young age, in junior high and high school I was in a few wrestling programs and got to compete with other schools. While I was in junior high I also studied Judo with a hue school in the city of San Fernando. After high school I studied Wing Chun, which is when I realized how the style worked and was able to understand the basic principles. My Sifu at the time had to move out of town so from there I started studying Okinawa Te. I really enjoyed taking this karate because I was able to practice my wing chun constantly with a real understanding of wing chun vs. Karate. Karate’s wasted movements made it a very easy for a Wing Chun practitioner to apply all of the skill needed to out match my opponents. Fifteen years later I am studying wing Chun and I love it. I moved to Humboldt a little over three years ago and when I found out that there was someone with credentials to teach this style I instantly signed up. I have now been training for over six months with Sifu Z and I feel I have become stronger and more experienced in the Art. I see the time my Sifu has put into training and studying this system and am happy to learn because I see and feel the results everyday...
Matt from Arcata - Business Owner
"A Well Rounded Program"
I started doing martial arts very early on, in about 2nd or 3rd grade. When I started attending HSU, I took up fencing, because it sounded like a good way to get some elective credits going. After a semester, what I had found was that while fencing, I wasn’t freaking out so much about it in class when people would fence with me, even though, they were pointing what would be, if not for the button on the tip of their swords, a lethal weapon straight at my heart. This reassurance that I was having was from the systematic defenses in the art of fencing. So long as I stayed in proper form, and stayed on top of what was going on, it would be difficult for the defenses to be penetrated, rendering me safe.
I started to wonder if I could find the same thing in a martial art, as I don’t always have a sword with me, and the chances of me getting into any sort of a mess involving another person having a sword seem a little far fetched in modern times. What I found when I started attending Humboldt Wing Chun academy in Arcata, was that exact same “so long as I have my hands in front of me, and keep to the system, I have good chances of survival.” What I didn’t expect, that actually has started to come true as well, is that the techniques that I learned in other martial arts can still be expressed, but in an even tighter and safer way because now I am starting to understand a system of safety and control in approaching another skilled person in a confrontational setting.
The lineage of a school was never something that concerned me; I don’t think that’s necessarily what makes a school great. You can have a great teacher, and a student could be lousy, but a lousy teacher can just about doom a dedicated pupil. However, neither is the case in this school, the lineage is directly from Yip Man through his diligent student, sifu Chris Chan, and finally to sifu Z, who has been in martial arts and became very well rounded from mma styles to jujitsu before finding Wing Chun about 15 years ago, to tie it all together. Wing Chun is frequently called the finishing school of the martial arts. It’s all becoming more and more clear to me just why that is, as I’m learning it. Perhaps it can help you in the same way, so come check it out!
Mike from Arcata - Traveler/Student
"A Change of Life"
Wing Chun as taught by Sifu Z has changed my life. In 2002, at the age of 23, I was fortunate to have been introduced to Sifu Z and the Wing Chun system. As a small woman, the typical fears imposed by society and our environment are intrusive. Fear of rape, abuse, sexual discrimination, and other violent acts against women. With Sifu Z’s encouragement and guidance, I learned early on in my training that everyone has the choice in life to take personal responsibility and it’s within my power not to be a victim of circumstance. More importantly, with Wing Chun I gained a lot more control on the self-imposed feelings of insecurity and negativity that caged my mind and physical being. The understanding of integrity I’ve developed has given me a confidence that I only dreamt of. This has led to a magnetism that has opened up endless opportunities around me and given me good health, grounding, self awareness, and hunger for constant growth.
In over six years of time, I’ve witnessed countless others drastically change their lives and “awaken” through training with Sifu Z. His classes are a blend of intense physical and mental training mixed with Wing Chun philosophy, applicable in self-defense as well as all other areas of life. He has incredible insight fused in his teaching style and a keen ability to recognize each individual’s personal needs as well as the needs of the group as a whole. The life stories he has to share about his experiences in fighting, training, and hard work are fascinating to listen to and ultimately a testament to the gifts he has to share with the world. He has a talent, not only in his ability as an outstanding martial artist, but also in his ability to teach others around him and help them find the path to what they seek, through Wing Chun. Sifu Z is a valuable resource to building strong, healthy communities and proliferating TRUE freedom.
Noelle from Hawaii - Office Manager
