Build your Kung Fu with private lessons
Why take private lessons in Moy Tung Ving Tsun (wing chun) Kung Fu? In Moy Tung Kung Fu regular training programs, the curriculum is delivered in a group class setting, with 1-2 hour classes held at regular times. As a student in one of these programs, you get the information you need to train productively. However, while the Ving Tsun system is simple, finding your way through it to gain proficiency, expertise and mastery is challenging. Private lessons can help you train more productively, helping you get the most from your kung fu training and life.
In this article:
Regular training programs
Private lessons as an introduction to Ving Tsun Kung Fu
The challenge of Ving Tsun training and the value of private lessons
Private lessons to clarify material
Private lessons to further your progress
Private lessons for inner circle members
Private lessons to get closer to the source of your Kung Fu
Private lessons with Grandmaster Moy Tung
1. Regular training programs
Moy Tung Kung Fu regular training programs are authentic Ving Tsun Kung Fu – a great education in a great deal of profound, complex, intellectual and physical information. In Moy Tung Kung Fu, nothing is removed from the Ving Tsun Kung Fu system, and nothing is added. We teach the complete system, the same way it was handed down to us.Fundamental details are taught and preserved in the Moy Tung lineage of Ving Tsun Kung Fu that are necessary to create the proper kung fu foundation for effective training and fighting, and to advance to the highest levels, even to mastery and perfection of the Ving Tsun system.
In regular Moy Tung Kung Fu training programs, you get a convenient schedule of classes, a safe place to train, people to practice with, all creating an environment conducive to learning. You’re given the instruction, direction and motivation you need to work hard and smart, in class and on your own. If you maintain a consistent class schedule and train on your own, your kung fu and fighting skill will grow tremendously by training hard in a regular training program. However, Ving Tsun Kung Fu isn’t easy to learn, even with all this help.
2. Private Training as an introduction to Ving Tsun (wing chun) Kung Fu
Regular Introductory Programs are semi-private lessons and teach the Moy Tung Kung Fu training principles and methods you need to start your training productively, with the right foundation. You may also use a private lesson as introduction to Ving Tsun Kung Fu, and get a full hour of personalized attention. Following your introduction to Ving Tsun, you may choose to enroll in a regular training program.
If group class training or schedules don’t work for you, you may be able to arrange a schedule of private lessons where you can work one-on-one with an experienced sifu or instructor, and also get plenty of material to practice on your own. Check with each individual Moy Tung-lineage branch school to find out that sifu’s availability.
3. The challenge of Ving Tsun training and the value of private lessons
The Ving Tsun system is simple to practice, but difficult to master. Some of the most effective training principles, details and methods may seem obscure, contradictory, confusing and/or elusive without the right instruction.
Private lessons are invaluable as a way of helping you train more effectively, deepening your understanding and accelerating your progress, whether you are a new or long-time student. If there are questions you’ve been wrestling with for some time or something in particular you want to work out or on with your sifu, a private lesson is a good time to do so.
Your instructor can also talk with you in greater depth, learn about your goals for training, and recommend details and exercises to work on. You’ll also have time for in-depth study of Ving Tsun’s system of two-person hands and feet training: Pak Sao through Chi Sao, Chi Gerk, My Sang Jong, practical applications, etc.
Touching hands with your sifu helps you know and understand the kung fu your learning, and its source – for you. A Moy Tung sifu has valuable information to share with you about Ving Tsun Kung Fu, and skills to demonstrate it.
If you are beginning in your kung fu training, a qualified sifu will help you find and stay on the right track. If you are refining advanced levels, a Moy Tung sifu can help you complete your training.
4. Private lessons to clarify material
If you’re already in a regular training program and finding the material challenging, confusing and frustrating - great, you’re challenging yourself, expanding your mind and your kung fu is growing. With hard training, you can make breakthroughs and get to higher levels of personal ability.
However, to help yourself gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Moy Tung Kung Fu, and work through these challenges more rapidly and productively, consider adding private lessons to your training regimen. Your sifu may have already recommended these, but you don’t have to wait for them to offer – let them know you’re interested, and find out their availability.In a strictly academic education, tutors are often called upon to help students grasp material and make progress. When physical, mental, character and academic education are combined, as they are in the martial art of Ving Tsun Kung Fu, tutoring makes even more sense.
5. Private lessons to further your progress
If you’re training hard and making great progress, and expertise and mastery are your goal – not just effective self-defense and a good kung fu foundation – then private lessons on a regular schedule will help you get there. With your strong kung fu foundation and dedication, the information received in private lessons will be even more useful to you, and you will understand it at a greater depth.
You will be able to do higher level training by training with someone whose kung fu is at a much higher level. You will get more from your regular training program by applying what you get from private lessons, advancing more rapidly with an even stronger foundation. You will be more able to do higher-level training in the most productive way possible.
6. Private lessons for inner circle members
If you’ve joined your Sifu’s inner circle, then it makes even more sense to see your Sifu on a regular basis for dedicated, quality, one-on-one time specifically for you to focus on your own kung fu training with the personal direction and support of your sifu. If you already have a close personal relationship with your sifu, then you know how Kung Fu is passed on informally, in casual conversation and by living the kung fu life.
This is true, but it’s also true that, even with a years-long close relationship, purposefully taking the time, making the effort and spending the money on an official private lesson for your kung fu will contribute significantly to your development. The private time of a Moy Tung sifu isn’t cheap, but if you’ve made the decision to become a personal student of your sifu, you know this time and money is a serious investment in your kung fu and your future that gives back now and pays dividends.
7. Private lessons to get closer to the source of your kung fu
In a private lesson, you’ll get dedicated time with the sifu of your school (or Grandmaster Moy Tung). You can ask questions and listen to what they have to say you personally. You can play kung fu with someone who has a lot of kung fu to share. You will benefit from touching their hands and experiencing their energy, centerline and horse – their Ving Tsun technique and form. You will gain from their insight and advice on improving your practice and achieving your own kung fu goals.
Private lessons are an appropriate, respectful and honorable way to build a more productive relationship with your sifu. You’ll get to know your sifu (or sigung, etc.) better as a person, seeing them more clearly both as human and as a sifu of kung fu, a master and teacher, the ‘father’ of your kung fu. They are the source of the Ving Tsun Kung Fu you’re learning, and, because they’re human like you, you can observe them, listen to them and talk with them. You can study who they are, what they do and say, and apply what you learn to your own practice, discovering pure Ving Tsun for yourself, in yourself.
8. Private lessons with Grandmaster Moy Tung
In addition to your own sifu, you may have the opportunity for private lessons with Grandmaster Moy Tung, in Richmond, VA, or in your hometown when he visits for workshops. Booking a session is contingent upon approval by Moy Tung, and his availability while in Richmond, VA or on the road is limited.His time and insight are invaluable and worth making an effort to make a lesson happen.
Grandmaster Moy Tung has over thirty years experience teaching Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu, and he is teaching three generations of sifus in the lineage under him. If you have the opportunity to learn directly from him, take advantage of it. It’s the kind of kung fu training and life experience you can’t get just anywhere, and the chance doesn’t always present itself.
At this time, Moy Tung is accepting a limited number of new direct students through the regular training programs in Richmond, VA. Since 1997, he has focused primarily on teaching the sifus and instructors under him, who are responsible for teaching in the branches and regular student programs under him.
This opportunity to learn directly from a Ving Tsun grandmaster with his level of experience may not be available for long. So, if you are interested in learning directly from one of the foremost living exponents of Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu, this is the time. Contact the Richmond Moy Yat Kung Fu Academy for more information.
To arrange a private lesson with Grandmaster Moy Tung, contact info@kungfurichmond.com or 804-497-7555.