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Channel your inner Ip Man: we review a Wing Chun class

Max Zhang (right) and Tony Jaa in a still from ‘Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy’. Wing Chun helps develop better reflexes and coordination.

What it is: Wing Chun at Mindful Wing Chun, Central, Hong Kong

How it works: Wing Chun is a type of Chinese martial art that focuses on self-defence – it has been made popular through the Ip Man movies, and was a significant influence on Bruce Lee’s martial arts career.

But on a deeper level, Wing Chun provides training for the mind as well as the body.

Like yoga, it can become a lifestyle if practised consistently. While one class won’t bring any lasting benefits, give it the justice it deserves – try it out and speak to seasoned practitioners for information and inspiration.

What we love: Wing Chun aims for overall mind-body awareness, helps develop better reflexes and coordination, and trains your mind to react to stress factors with grace and ease.

By training your body, you can train your mind, and through training your mind, you are able to live with disciplined grace.

We begin the class with gentle mobility exercises and guidance on the Wing Chun stance.

The class I attend has only six students. Those with experience are paired off with each other as they continue developing their skills, while newcomers work together to grasp the fundamentals.

This includes working on our stance, as well as trying some dynamic attacking and self-defence moves.

Our instructor Sebastian, who has been practising for 19 years and has spent 12 years teaching Wing Chun, breaks down each move in an easy-to-understand manner.

That said, you really need to focus to properly perform the moves.

Students and staff alike are friendly and encouraging, which creates the ideal atmosphere to let expectations go and egos drop while learning something new.

Things to note: There is a lot of partner work involved, so if you are not prepared to touch a stranger, bring a friend.

Mindful Wing Chun also runs special classes for children. We are lucky enough to catch one of these, and it warms our hearts to see the discipline that the art has clearly ingrained in them.

Conclusion: We leave the studio with more questions than we could ever imagine and we’re told this is normal: even after practising for more than a decade, the instructors themselves are constantly learning and exploring.

There’s a certain beauty to the expression of self in Wing Chun and this first class only grazes the surface of the philosophy behind the lifestyle.

If you’re busy and stressed (and let’s face it, in Hong Kong, who isn’t?), Wing Chun is worth a try. However, it requires patience, commitment and dedication; Sebastian estimates it might take between one and three months of consistent practice to experience the benefits.

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First Person

The Chinese martial art is all about training the mind as well as the body, as Leanne Douglas finds out during a class at the Mindful Wing Chun studio in Central