The BMA Spirit

You will find in this article a small compilation of ideas and words from Wong Shun Leung and Helio Gracie.

This article has been written to show how these greats masters were so close in their martial arts approach despite the fact that they had not practice the same discipline.

For us, it demonstrate that Wing Chun Kung Fu or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are just “doors” which drive us to the same matrix of concepts. So it mean that we can explore it by one of them, and that’s not forbidden to take an another door to get a better understanding of the concepts.

“Don’t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory.” Bruce Lee

———–

Wong : “I prefer to wait and let the other guy hit first. If you let him hit you, then he tells you what he is going to do.”

(About counter attack) “…I prefer counter attack because there is less chance of making a mistake. They hit first, and you counter.”

 Helio : ” The attacker always takes a chance to be countered. With a good defence you relax more in a fight and see things that otherwise may go unnoticed. He is the one making mistakes and you are the one ready to capitalize on any mistakes that he makes.”

 ———–

Wong:  “When Wing Chun practitioners go to fight and are defeated then the mentality is not think that the other person is better than himself. Instead he needs to ask himself what were his mistakes to invite the attack. This is the kind of positive thinking which any fighter must possess.”

 Helio : “I wanted to see how he was going to beat me.”

———–

Wong : “After I learnt the skills of Wing Chun from Yip Man I often had the opportunity to test them.”

 Helio : “I test myself and test my techniques.”

———–

 Wong : “Some students still put too much emphasis on pre-set combinations. Quite often the students already have this idea from books, magazines and by talking to friends. They don’t understand how to apply the concepts of Ving Tsun. This means that the students are concentrating too much on the individual technique rather than seeing the whole situation. They cannot appreciate the theory which would suggest a technique.”

 Helio: “Individual submission techniques are only single pieces of a bigger puzzle. Single techniques are not isolated events; rather, they occur as a result of an action from your opponent during the course of a fight.”

———–

 Wong: “you must train hard to just develop the self confidence to enter such a match. You must, by way of your self confidence,” know that you can win.”

 Helio: “I knew I wasn’t going to lose and that was based on the fact that I wanted not to lose.”

———–

Wong : “We also train in a realistic manner by allowing our opponents the freedom to attack at will. In this way we have an infinite supply of situations by which our opponents can check and test our technique.”

 Helio : “As you master speed and technique against a willing partner, have him increase the difficulty in his defense in small increments until you are able to execute the move against him even when he is resisting.”

———–

Wong : “Some have too much movement when they defend.”

Helio:  “Since the defense has a timing advantage, anytime you are able to find the slightest short cut you will gain a great edge.”

———–

Wong:  ” if you perform this movement correctly, you will have the proper structure and use of force for Applying a Tan sau and punch defence. For example, none of the strong students at the seminar could prevent Master Tsui Sheung Tin from lifting his Tan sau up. With the Tan sau he could unbalance anyone. With the Fook sau and Bong sau he could do the same thing. When someone gave Master Tsui Sheung Tin a heavy punch, he Applied an effortless uplifting Tan sau from the crossed hand position, to really whack that person’s force away. The person was really shocked by the explosive force. (Note don’t interpret this as Master Tsui Sheung Tin advocating hitting force away. He was just illustrating the strength of proper structure.)”

Helio: ” I developed a system of leverages that works for anyone. No one can take my arm if I have the proper leverage. The power of leverages is different than muscle power.”

———–

Wong : ” Become the master of the art, not its slave !”

 Helio: (about him) Great Master Helio continued to modify the system. Every time he was faced with a new difficulty, he had to adapt and improve; and this still goes on today.

“You must learn to adapt to an ever changing sequence of movements. Expand your thoughts with the new found knowledge to create your own path and your own game”

———–

 Wong: (about him) Where as some Champions fight for glory; one gets the feeling that to Wong Shun Leung fighting was a scientific experiment. He simply wanted to know how good he was and how he could improve his Wing Chun.

 Helio : ” Train without worrying, you shouldn’t worry about competition, about becoming a fighter or even becoming good at Jiu-Jitsu.”

———–

 Wong: “I would like to say that many styles ask men to imitate animal positions. Humans don’t have the ability to imitate some positions. For example some animals can leap around from here to there quite easily because they have long tails to help them maintain balance. We humans don’t have such a tail to aid us and so some techniques may not be natural. Therefore when someone asks me what animal style Ving Tsun is I could say “Human style”. We use the weapons which nature has given to us for the best of our ability.”

 Helio: ” I am always looking to use and apply the leverages that are built into our own body. Once you know what they are and how to use them then you have the essence of what I teach.”

To be continued…

Citations from web articles and books. (many thanks to contributors !)

“The personal development…”

As the final component of the triptych [Mind-Body-Environment] composing the system on which the BASE method intervenes, the practitioner’s mental will also be the subject of a particular attention.

In this regard, it’s about emphasizing the technical mechanisms, conscious and unconscious alike, which are used in a given context. The point is also about checking if they are suitable with the person’s target. Indeed, most of the time we’re not aware of the fact that some “mental strategies”, reasoning or “inner representations” deserve to be “updated”, for not being relevant enough anymore towards a given situation.

In this view, the contexts suggested by the BASE method appear to be true “self-experiment places”. Focuses spontaneously happen there, a better handling of one’s emotions by a self-acceptance phenomenon is gradually setting up, as well as the beginning of the exploration of new ways to face situations with a “strong instinctive stimulation” ( for instance a physical attack).

The resulting benefits are huge enough to develop the self intelligence and to improve in serenity and clear-headedness in many fields.

The practitioner’s mental is a key in the martial arts. In all of its fundamental exercises, the BMA defines specific directions on the mental process which accompanies a given work. Thus, the developing of the self intelligence can be shown for example in:

• a better handling of one’s training ; the practitioner trains instead of spending his time resisting…
• a better listening which increases the speed acquisition of the information
• a greater serenity to prepare for big events (e.g. competitions)
• the growth of the “mental flow” which directly influences the technical flow.
• etc…

“Knowledge is rumour until it gets in the muscle…” – Guinean saying.

The body is considered by many traditions as the place where knowledge is confirmed, embodied or rejected. Unfortunately, this function is more and more neglected in favour of other uses like the aesthetic or the performance.

This tendency to superficiality, or even to a greater virtualization, moves us away from this space which integrates the knowledge useful to our development.

Thus, it’s more than necessary to balance this tendency thanks to an approach where the “physical body” would have its prevailing position back.

By stressing on the development of the body intelligence through fundamental exercises with a martial orientation, the BASE method gives back to the physical body its function of validating the teaching. Consequently, it will facilitate the integration of new acquisitions which will enable us to adapt faced to the ordeals encountered in life.

The work of the body intelligence within the BMA method will bring, among others, to the practitioner:

• an enrichment of his body scheme for righter and more efficient moves, with more respect towards his anatomy.
• the discovery of his physical abilities in a new context (e.g. ground fighting)
• the understanding of how to draw his strength so as to increase the power of his moves, while avoiding the harmful side effects such as stiffness
• the development of a powerful auto-feedback to make his training more productive.
• etc…

“Balance between the Yin and Yang at the heart of the practise…”

We live through our relations. They are the ones which define us and the way we’re going to establish them will directly have an impact on the benefits of an exchange.
The relational intelligence echoes to the knack of creating relationships which will enable an enriching return.

Therefore, the BASE method suggests a number of approaches, like the notion of working with complementary opposition, aiming at developing creativity in this field, at facilitating the quality of exchanges between partners in particular and at giving birth to a collective intelligence, born out of the diversity of each one within a group.

The way the fighter considers his relationship with his training partners highly conditions the quality of his work. By working on his relational intelligence as the BMA advocates it, he can envisage:

• some constructive sparring matches where everyone gives of their best while facilitating the work setting of each other.
• an adapted adjustment of the attitudes of every one depending on each other’s necessities which will let appear an optimum synergy of work based on a mutual enrichment.
• the setting up of a powerful group synergy within the framework of a club which will accelerate the integration of the techniques within the group.
• etc…
  

“Being both disciple and master of one’s environment…”

The quality of an environment directly affects on how life will develop. Taking this essential fact into account, the BASE method looked very early into the different types of environment which were likely to ensure the development of specific skills.

By offering specific physical and psychological frameworks in the fundamental exercises suggested by the method, it will be then possible to facilitate the development of a person’s resources necessary to go beyond his limits while respecting his ecology.

As the contextual intelligence grows, the ability to read and to adapt according to the variations of the environmental conditions grows the same, enabling a greater fluency in the handling of the unexpected.

As part of the BMA, the training contexts have been carefully chosen within specific exercises, called “fundamental exercises”, to enable the growth of the contextual intelligence and to work on themes such as:

• the handling of stress and strain
• the strengthening of the fulcra
• the development of the “overall body awareness”, a skill which enables being aware of the whole controlling or attacking points
• the fluency of the transitions
  etc…
  

“There is no favorable wind for that he is missing…” – Seneca.

It is the ‘first’ intelligence because that’s the one which creates reality.

The strategic intelligence is the ability to clarify a target and then to select and to structure the matching resources, lining them up in a suitable way as steps which will lead to the achievement of the target at issue.
To make the setting of an appropriate alignment easier, the BASE method will endeavour to favour an improvement in mindsets for the person involved in the evolution process.

There are revealed, among other things, the thinking through concepts which enables a better creativity in action, as well as the paradoxical approach which delivers a new angle to tackle a given challenge.

Finally, the strategic intelligence is recognising the unsuitability of a strategy and transforming this one into something more appropriate…

The importance of the strategic intelligence within a martial exchange is quite easy to understand. Thanks to the BMA, the learner will become familiar with different strategies through practise. There are numerous benefits out of this exploration, such as:

• a broader mind faced to the challenges inherent in the martial exchange. As a more important strategic basis gives more options, it will lead the learner to understand rather than to dread…
• a greater fluency in the technical transitions linked to a greater understanding of the rules governing a given technique.
• a greater sense of freedom towards technique, which will trigger off a greater creativity during the fight so as to adapt it, if necessary.
• Etc…
  

The whole core skills are divided into 10 fields of expertise. The practitioner will then be able to work on one or on several fields according to the BMA method.

The whole core skills are divided into fields of expertise. The practitioner will be able to work on one or on several fields according to the BMA method. Here is a brief description of each of these fields.

Experimentation at the heart of the method…
Since what is in question here is integrating skills and not contenting oneself with a mere theoretical talk, the BMA is a method which only makes sense within practice, in particular with the Core Systems practice. This practice will be done following precise modalities, in keeping with the founding intelligences of the BASE method.

Thanks to this process, there is progressive awareness of one’s misses and of the necessity to remedy to them using the powerful mediator which is incarnated by the body.

By this means, it will be possible to reach the critical threshold of comprehension when the core skill is fully integrated by the learner.
The practitioner can lean upon this process to continue his evolution and to draw from the whole of the fundamental exercises, depending on his needs, to keep on awakening to the different aspects of a martial practice…

The two Core Systems are the core of the BMA. They’re composed of Core Drills whose goal is developing the awareness of the importance of the Core Skills for a martial arts practitioner.

These core drills can be self-sufficient to develop the fundamental skills which are aimed at by the practitioner. Still, the practitioner can also choose to complete his training by exercises which would be more related to the practised system or practised style. As the awareness of the studied skill is “activated”, it could then be transposed more easily to the targeted discipline.

Stand-Up Core System: this fundamental system groups together the core drills which will develop the fundamental skills necessary to the handling of a stand-up martial exchange. This system will thus cover the fields of the striking, of the clinch and of the takedown actions.

Ground fighting Core System: this fundamental system groups together the core drills which will develop the fundamental skills necessary to the handling of a ground fighting martial exchange.