Leung Sheung's Five Core Elements
Wing Chun Illustrated|Issue No. 49, 2019

FROM DAY ONE, Master Leung Sheung’s “Five Core Elements” have been at the root of my Wing Chun training with Sifu Ben Der, the founder of San JoseWing Chun.

Sifu Harinder Singh
Leung Sheung's Five Core Elements

The “Five Elements”, or “Five PosturalReminders”, focus your awareness towards the Internalaspects of the original art, and are installed through rigorous drilling of the forms, Feeding Hand exercises and Chi Sao practice.

“You must eat the bitter, to taste the sweetness”, says Sifu Ben Der with a smile, as he leads me through a gruelling two-hour training session. In the first 60 minutes, he focused my attention to strictly adhere to the five elements as I slowly rep out the forms. The next 60 minutes he turned my attention towards Don Chi Sao, Lop Sao, Poon Sao, Feeding Hand drills and Chi Sao, while carefully watching and correcting my structure, and hand positions.

After over a decade of rolling hands with my Sifu, who is 78 years young, I am left thoroughly exhausted and he doesn’t even break a sweat. I am always amazed by his ability to easily uproot and outlast me by always staying relaxed, focused and structurally aligned. The good news is that it is not magic, the secret is in Leung Sheung’s “Five Core Elements” of body structure and energetic alignment.

Master Leung Sheung was already an accomplished Kung Fu Master in both Dragon Style and Choy Li Fut before he became Grandmaster Ip Man’s first Wing Chun disciple in Hong Kong. His foundational teachings were designed to enhance the students “Core” Structure, hand position, and relaxation to generate “Functional Energy”. The “Five Core Elements” are a set of five postural reminders that aid in developing proper body mechanics, focus the mind, and cultivate Internal Energy.

Here are the five postural reminders:

This story is from the Issue No. 49, 2019 edition of Wing Chun Illustrated.

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This story is from the Issue No. 49, 2019 edition of Wing Chun Illustrated.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.