Wing Chun Kung Fu workshop (Budo International)

Budo International article on the Reading Academy Workshop in February 2002

Lucas Castrounis has established the Reading Academy in 1992 with very few students and, in the last four years, has become the only full time school in Berkshire. Lucas has completed the entire Wing Chun system at "The Basement" in London, under the personal guidance of Sifu Nino Bernardo and with help from the senior student practitioners at the Kwoon. Lucas feels honoured to have trained at that non-commercial school which had no need for uniforms and was not concerned with how quickly a student could move to the next form.

Over the last ten years, Lucas has established the Reading Academy with his aim being to continue the Basement style of teaching and encourage his students to see Wing Chun as more than just a system of fighting.

On February 2002, Lucas held a workshop at the Pulse 8 health and fitness club (Nirvana) Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire. Over fifty people attended the workshop including practitioners from "The Basement", "Reading Academy", "Oxford Wing Chun Keun", other martial arts styles and some with no knowledge of martial arts at all. Lucas started the workshop by explaining that the Wing Chun system contains three hand forms, wooden dummy, long pole and butterfly knives but the workshop would be based on the first (and most important) form Siu Nim Tao including its applications and Chi-Sao. As well as covering the fighting aspects, Lucas also placed emphasis on the health and fitness benefits of Wing Chun such as how it can help a person manage their day-to-day stress, and how to deal with their weaknesses and fears.

Lucas then introduced Eddie Yeun (teacher at Oxford Wing Chun Keun) and they covered the history of Wing Chun saying that there was no evidence confirming the existence of such figures as Ng Mui (the nun) and her sudent Yim Wing Chun. It is known that Wing Chun was first developed in the Siu Lim temple, then practised and developed in Futshan, China before it was banned for a long period of time. It then resurfaced in Hong Kong where Yip Man opened Wing Chun up to the public. Yip Man had various disciples including Sifu Wong Shun Leung who taught many others, including Bruce Lee and Sifu Nino Bernardo (who was the main representative of Wong in the UK during the 80s and one of the few that completed the system).

After the brief discussion of history, Lucas explained that Wing Chun Keun can be translated as "Eternal Spring Fist", "Beautiful Springtime", or "Forever Young". Wing Chun is a counter attack system which can be applied as a response to any physical assault and the principle of Wing Chun is "receive what comes, follow what goes and strike when there is emptiness - do not force!". The first form, Siu Nim Tao, which can be lit-erally translated as "new way program", involves the whole body and has may optical illusions. It conditions the lower body, particulary the hips and legs, even though you only see hand movements and develops a mind of emptiness. "We do not think about fighting while we do the form and we don't think about how to fight with it. We must see, feel and hear everything but never focus on any particular thing". The form clearly shows that Wing Chun is a scientific system based on body mechanics.

Then we moved on to Tan-Chi Sao (single sticky-hand) excercise which teaches another key Wing Chun concept - "wait, receive and counter" - followed by double sticky-hands excercise, steps (footwork) and Wing Chun straight punches and drills which combined the use of two hands, straight lines, footwork, kicks and locks.

Every practical element of the workshop was first demonstrated by Lucas with his students in a clear, detailed and well-explained fashion. After each demon-stration, everybody could be seen having fun, trying to make these elements work for them with assistance from Lucas and his more experienced students.

Lucas provided an excellent step by step explanation of Wing Chun which was simple to understand. People could be seen nodding enthusiastically as things started to make sense. Lucas' delivery was simple, down-to-earth and direct, with logical explanations for all aspects covered, leaving little room for misunderstanding. "Everything has to make sense" was a phrase the attendees heard a number of times throughout the workshop and, by the end, it did. The attendees had understood that Wing Chun is based on simplicity, directness and multiple, simultaneous activities and reaction in stressful situations rather than action. Wing Chun teaches you to react automatically using your fear. Fear is a phenomenal emotion which animals have which gives them the intelligence, strength, speed and courage for survival. Fear gives us cleverness and panic gives us speed. Lucas expressed it best when he said "It's not who hits first, it's who hits last.

The workshop ended with Chi-Sao (sticky-hands), whichis a way of putting yourself in a situation of stress and fear so that you can learn how to deal with it. Amazingly, this was achieved with no animosity or aggression which came as a pleasant surprise to those who had never done Wing Chun before.

Lucas was recently invited by BBC Radio Berkshire to talk about Wing Chun, where he emphasized not only the the fighting aspects of Wing Chun but also the other side-effects such as the health benefits of this phenomenal art. He stressed the importance of physical work, explaining that there were no short cuts to learning the system. Lucas went on to say that it would be better for a student to simply enjoy the experience, and trust that. In the process of completing the system, all the health, fitness and fighting aspects will be acheived. He has also appeared in several local papers saying that Wing Chun is for everyone and dismissed the idea that there are mystical aspects to Wing Chun.