Applications in “Ng Lun Ma”.

Written by Sifu Lane Louie

Within all Choy Lee Fut forms are various and sometimes “hidden applications” “Ng Lun Ma” teaches the practitioner of choy lee fut some of the fundamentals of ‘blocking’, “counter-attacking’,‘evading’ and to a lesser amount some basic “trapping”.

The first of the applications taken from the “Ng Lun Ma” form are a series of to blocks using the “chern, poon kiu , chaan jeung”  techniques. “chern is an outwards circular block which emanates from the “on guard position”. the outer most forearm is moved in an arc from the “rest” position” to a position just past the centreline of the body. The choy lee fut practitioner starts in a “seping ma”(level horse stance) with the inner hand/fist guarding the face (this hand is usually held higher) , and the outer hand held a little lower. It is important to ensure that the shoulders  are in one line with the body centreline 90 degress to the plane of the feet. As described above, in using the “chern” technique, the lower hand sweeps through an arc covering the face and stops its sweep just past the centrline forming a “fu jow” or tiger claw. As the lower outer hand moves upwards and outwards, the hand guarding the face drops down to cover the lower rib cage just below the armpit, again forming a ”fu jow “ or tiger claw. To counter a second ‘punch’, from this position, the lower hand slides under the front forearm tranforming from a “fu jow” to a “yeung kiu” or mirror palm. The front or outer hand stops below the elbow in a “fu jow” (tiger claw). The stance also changes  from “seping ma” (level horse) to “je ng ma” (gripping stance). The final block of this combination is the “poon kiu”. What this entails is that the “yeung kiu” palm folds back in towards the body and then pushes outwards, the lower “fu jow” retracts to the right hand side ear, at this point the upper part of the torso is twisted as far as humanly possible so that the waist acts as a wound up spring. Then the final movement “chaan jeung”is able to be executed by stepping forwards with the front foot into a “seping ma” stance and thrusting  the right palm from the ear. the power from the waist is important as well as the correct alignment of the shoulders to ensure all the power is transmitted in a linear direction. The “poon kiu” hand comes to rest in a “fu jow” or tiger claw position below the armpit guarding the ribs.

 “Larp jup da num” is the second of the applications taken from the “Ng Lun Ma” form. To perform this technique correctly, the body centreline must be parallel with the feet and the hands again held in the “on guard” position as described above. The  stance for this application is “je ng ma”.  What is important in this series of techniques is that the rear hand moves first by ‘grabbing’ the opponents forearm or wrist and controlls the opponent by bringing the wrist/forearm to ones waist. This technique is called “larp kiu”, the other hand then circles downward in a technique called “jup” which is similar to an ”arm bar”. To use the  “larp , jup’ technique correctly, it is important that once one has successfully grabbed an opponent, one must “sink” down in the “je ng ma “stance . Following completion of the above techniques, one can then move forward 90 degrees, placing the front knee behind the opponents knee, thus further “controlling” him and finally executing the “da num” technique which is a horizontal slice across the throat.

The final set of applications from the “ng lun ma” form is known as “chern, poon kiu , fu jow” chaan jeung”.  The “chern technique has been described above only this time it is performed on the left hand side of the body. Following on  from the “chern” technique, the “poon kiu” technique differs in that  the outermost “fu jow” circles  outwards past the centreline to protect the kidney area from a penetrating kick before re-centering, the lower “fu jow” retracts to the right hand side ear. All this is done in a “tun ma” stance which is an evolvement of the “seping ma” stance with the weight biased toward the hind leg which again is compressed like a spring.  In this position with the body acting like a ‘coiled spring’, one can unleash the power , by stepping forward with the left foot, and  executing a “fu jow” technique  followed by the “chaan  jeung “ technique. The “fu jow “ technique is delivered using a “je ng ma” stance  with the heel of the palm striking first followed up with the raking action of the “fu jow”. This is usually executed in a downwards motion . The “chaan jeung” technique is quickly followed up by transitioning from a “je ng ma” stance to a “tu ma” stance (which is a “seping ma” stance with the weight bias towards the front). Again the “chhan jeung “ technique is delivered with a horizontal palm.

To practise all of the above techniques correctly , one must also learn to harness the “qi”. What is meant by this is that there are a number of sounds “uttered” in association with the execution of various techniques. It is important that a “qualified” instructor be sought out to be able to train these techniques correctly and also to learn “breath control” to avoid injury to the internal organs.