I do not subscribe to the idea of over stating a claim. If Wing Chun's value was simply for cultural enrichment or a hobby it would be fallacious to claim it were capable of more. And to be blunt, many Wing Chun/Ving Tsun practitioners are for all intensive purposes hobbyists. There is no shame in this as long as you are not claiming otherwise.
Mental illness is a major epidemic in America. It is also an illness that receives the least amount of attention. It's estimated that 1 in 5 Americans are (or have been) mentally ill [read report]. This is exasperated by more numbers from the "religious" or "spiritual". Over 90% of Americans believe in God, Spirits or the Super Natural [read report]. Scientists and the medical community are now coming forward and revealing that religion and spiritual belief is a form of mass insanity.
Wing Chun as we practice it here at Wing Chun Club is uniquely suited to solve the problem of physical and mental illness. In extreme cases you can not deny medical and psychiatric care. But in the prevention stage or for those that are limited to self help; Wing Chun Club training has proven to be invaluable. I have to make this perfectly clear. I am not supporting “chi” or “traditional healing” claims made by many practitioners. I outwardly refute their validity.
Wing Chun is known world wide as an effective form of self defense. Again I would have to dispute how many approach our art and shamefully expect to do well in competitions such as the UFC. Some kwoons (schools) have even morphed into MMA style training foolishly thinking it will improve their Wing Chun.
So what is the solution? Humans achieve their greatest potential by freeing themselves of fear based decision making. Guns are a great tool as an “equalizer” but limited to their over-all success and practicality. Other martial arts have proved to be great sporting outlets and perhaps even beneficial in certain self defense sinarios. But the great claim of uniting mind and body in a sustainable manner goes to our form of Wing Chun. I don’t make this claim lightly and I welcome scrutiny.
If you look at mental illness (or even many physical illnesses) as a disconnect of your brains ability to make the body behave in a beneficial manner to ones self: we can see our system of Wing Chun as a structural model of integrity laying a path to recovery and refinement. Are there other “models of integrity” that would work? Perhaps. But I am unaware of anyone that has made such fantastic claims as I have and stand willing to provide living proof.
No doubt many in our community will be offended by my assertions. But for those of you around the world that agree and understand the healing potential of our art; please contact me.
