A few years before his death, Chu Shong Tin gave an interview where he outlined the progression of his teaching. He divided his career as a Sifu into three periods, each of which I was fortunate enough to experience over the thirty years that I trained with him.
The first period was naturally influenced by the way that Yip Man had taught him.
There was a strong emphasis on Chi Sau. My first trip to Hong Kong is filled with memories of being flung about effortlessly by his senior students; being trapped in a washing machine is a good description of that sensation. Playing Chi Sau with CST himself had a different feel; he would treat us more gently, but I felt even more helpless. His movements seem to repel and unbalance me with just the slightest touch. I never ever sensed that I had even a remote chance of landing a blow on him or resisting his movement. It felt magical in the literal sense of the word.
Later in his middle period he focussed more on teaching us to perform the movements of the Wing Chun forms, with a particular emphasis on Siu Nim Tau. Chu Shong Tin would prod and caress our muscles to relax them. He seemed to be able to reach into our joints and manipulate them so that we moved correctly. We would then try to infuse our Chi Sau with this new sense of body movement.
In the last ten years or so of his life Chu Shong Tin changed his teaching method dramatically. Realising that his students could not perform at the level he did, he brought us back to the most basic of fundamentals in internal arts. We were taught standing meditation in order to activate the Nim Tau Point in our brains. For me, this period was the most demanding, thrilling and life-changing. If I had not experienced this last stage I would be a different person to the present day me.
At the time when Chu Shong Tin was shifting to teaching standing meditation, about nine or ten students who had been training under me decided to move to Hong Kong to train directly under the source of the knowledge that I had been passing on. I was sorry to lose them but felt some compensation in the fact that I had managed to spark their interest in this wonderful Sifu to the point that they would rearrange their lives to study under him. When they asked Chu Shong Tin for permission to train with him he replied that they could come, but they must understand that for the first twelve months or so they would be required to work on just standing meditation. Not even form would be taught. Unfazed, off they went!
The ones that I was closest to such as Nima King kindly kept me informed with how Chu Shong Tin was instructing them to ‘raise their spines’. Supplemented by trips to Hong Kong I continued with my efforts to follow his programme. Initially no-one was able to do this feat of raising the spine to activate the Nim Tau Point. On my first visit since starting to train in this way Chu Shong Tin informed me in his usual brutally honest way that I had been practicing incorrectly and my spine was now out of alignment. He told me that I might find it very difficult to achieve my goal because of the kinks I had put into my back. I was shattered but carried on with new instructions from my teacher and no other choice but to try again. Six months later I returned and Chu Shong Tin informed me in a surprised tone that I had managed to straighten my spine and was at least at a reasonable starting point.
I returned home again and continued training. My sense of being left behind surged when I heard that one by one a few of my old students were now able to raise their spines with Chu Shong Tin’s help. I was happy for them, but also jealous of these people who had once been my pupils. I felt like the guy who missed the best party ever. All I could do was carry on.
On the next trip my life changed. At Nima’s suggestion, for the first time in many years I had taken a week off from training. This had been a precursor with some of the few people who had achieved success. I was visiting Japan during that week and managed to quell my constant urge to practice Wing Chun till I reached Hong Kong.
From the moment I walked into CST’s school I knew something was up. He had always given me plenty of attention, but this time was different. As I took up my standing posture he came over immediately and started to make adjustments. Over the six hours of training apart from a break for dinner, Chu Shong Tin focussed his attention almost entirely on me. After about three hours I began to worry that the other students would resent me taking up his time. However they did not seem to mind. My next worry was that Chu Shong Tin would give up and say that he had tried but I was just not up to it. As I said, brutal honesty was his forte!
Then, before I noticed any change myself, Chu Shong Tin, began to speak a little more urgently and then with some excitement. As I wondered what he was on about I noticed something happening in my body that I had not experienced before. I felt a sensation of rising in my spine. I seemed to be getting taller. The feeling was a little scary because it did not appear to be under my influence. This absence of control can be felt when one gets goose bumps or the sensation of hair rising on the back of the neck. However, to me the most apt if somewhat awkward analogy is when a male attains an erection. Men will understand that this comes about once a certain thought and state occurs in the brain. It happens in its own time and is entirely different from everyday body movement. I have yet to find an explanation as fitting that I can relate to my female students, so to avoid sounding creepy, I just talk about goose bumps.
As my spine continued to rise I felt a gentle pressure like a finger pressing from underneath to the top of my skull where CST had said the Nim Tau Point was located. At that moment Chu Shong Tin’s voice seemed to become triumphant.
My mental state was also altered. It may have been due to the drama of the moment or other factors but I had a strong sense of observing myself. I felt outside my body, as if I was watching myself undergo a significant change. I still feel that is the case.
Chu Shong Tin then asked a senior student to grab my arm and told me to just move. I moved my arm towards the student and he was sent skittering away. For the first time in my life I understood that effortless power is literally effortless! I repeated this with other students who all bounced off in the way they usually only did with CST. My state of mind was more confused than exultant. The experience was dream-like. As a finale Chu Shong Tin asked a student to try to move my head by bracing one hand against my shoulder and pulling on the side of my head with the other. He could not move me and weirdly I could feel almost no pressure despite him obviously using a lot of force.
CST nodded with satisfaction and the other students in the class gathered around to congratulate me. I was still not feeling normal. The deep level of relaxation shook me and left me feeling vulnerable. Emotion welled up inside me and I excused myself to stand for a few minutes in the hallway outside the school in order to get myself together. After a while I returned still feeling that I was on the other side of where I had been in my life up to that point.
Since that day I have been consumed by a wish to attain and control the state of being Chu Shong Tin lifted me to. I cannot do the things I did then at will. A certain degree has remained and occasionally I surprise myself with the power of my movements, but still I cannot do anything like the feats that CST could raise me to. He is no longer here so all that is left is to keep trying.
Almost five years since his passing I still miss him terribly, but as that sense of loss eases with time my feeling of gratitude to Chu Shong Tin grows. I cannot explain the experience I went through on that day years ago, but its effect remains.
~ Mark Spence