Following the explanation in part 1, this is part 2. We talked about the shape of the Ving Tsun stance. Here we talk about the centre axis.

The next movement is to draw a cross lower, then higher. People usually will guess, this is for blocking lower, then higher, yeah, well if you do that, it’s seriously against the principle of Ving Tsun, which is what this movement tells you about. Why is this movement telling you the centre axis? Some explanations say, yeah, this is the centre line we need to protect on our body, from head to groin, a physical line full of critical/weak points, are they correct? Yes, they are, but not fully correct. We need to defend weak points, but not only weak points; we also have a lot of weak points to defend. If we focus on blocking the way to weak points, we need to grow more arms to do so.

The central axis is not a 2D concept; it is more of a 3D one, it’s regarding our balance, our main weight. If we have balance, we can still attack and defend; if we lose balance, we can’t effectively do anything, make sense? So it’s pointless to discuss how to defend weak points, focus on attacking the opponent’s balance, and defend our own.

If you imagine, look from the top, our torso, or the whole body, is the centre of the circle, the line we draw is one point on the arc, connect them, and it is a radius. Ving Tsun first form little idea is based on when we are still stationary, face the opponent equally, a square, which we will talk about in the next few articles. So if we turn, the radius also changes, and is not the original one. That’s the idea of the central axis, it’s not a single line, it’s an infinite number of lines, it’s an abstract thing, not any physical part on/in our body, like I mentioned above, it’s about our balance, main weight. Something that can be approached from any angle, any path, we can attack to influence the opponent or be influenced.

Look from the side, the radius is the basic space/room, we need to keep and defend. It also defines the range that our two hands/arms are responsible for, which means, any higher, especially lower than this, we shouldn’t take care of them with two arms, like any punches and kicks.