Master Tse’s Wing Chun Note #156

Holding on to a Seniors Hand

A lot of people when they are doing Chi Sau黐手with someone who is more senior than them, like to grab and hold onto the seniors hand. This is a bad habit and all bad habits die hard. We must not get into bad habit when doing Chi Sau when either attacking or defending. We should be able to change in any situations and change them from bad situations to ones that are good for us. We should follow the flow of Chi Sau and even if we get hit, we must find the solution so that next time we can avoid it before being hit. To do this relaxation is the key.

A lot of juniors are afraid to get hit and so they grab hold of the senior’s hand with their stronger hand, which is usually their right as most people are right handed and this is also the hand they hit with most of the time. Holding onto someone’s hand means you are actually afraid and have become tense. This means you already fail. You should be confident and relax and then you can read the opponent’s energy. If you hold onto the senior’s hand they will only attack you with their other hand and so eventually you have to let go otherwise you will get hit. Besides this, holding onto someone’s hand is the same as if they are holding on to your hand as they also have to let go before you they can do anything. You can hold someone’s hand, but when you do so it should be light and only for a short time. We do this just for attacking and to make our opponent uncomfortable and then we can take advantage of it.