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The Wing Chun Sensory Homunculus

The Sensory Homunculus is concerned with interpreting the sensations that it gets from the nervous system – signals from around the body feeding back to the brain to allow it to coordinate its activity in relation to what is going on around it.  This includes coordinated body movement to avoid obstacles, understanding how heavy objects are in order to move them around and how quickly objects are moving in order to catch them.

It is no surprise, therefore, that the sense-organs are represented much larger in the Homunculus.  

In the figure above we see that the eyes, ears, nose, lips, tongue, hands, feet and sexual organs are oversized compared to the rest of the body.  In particular, the hands and mouth are areas that have significant representation mapped out in the brain.

This Sensory area is about developing increased perception and awareness of how to use the body to perform activities effectively.   For example, in Archery the Archer will develop an awareness of how to draw and release the bow effectively through the muscles in their hands, arms and backs along with sensitivity on their fingers.  Additionally, they also develop an understanding of how a side-wind will affect the flight of the arrow.  This marks a professional standard where they have mastered their body to deliver a technique to the highest standard within the context of the external environment.  The same is necessary for the mastery of Wing Chun Kung Fu.

In the figure below the areas of sensation used by the advanced Wing Chun practitioner are shown. 

Reference to sexual organs have been removed in the model as these are not relevant to the practice of Wing Chun.  And, although the complex range of sense of touch in the hands and mouth is not something used in Wing Chun fighting these are still present in the mappings of the brain, so these are still represented.  As such, in looking at this new model the reader is required to assume the existing standard mappings remain in place with the addition of, or modification to those required for the developed of the advanced Wing Chun skills and abilities.

6 Major Joints

The obvious addition here is the ‘Grotesque creature’ has had a poodle make-over with 6 key bulging areas in the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists.  These are highlighted through the lighting effect on the Sensory Homunculus model below.

Refining the physiology in Wing Chun extends much deeper than the six major joints typically referred to as the critical elements involved in Wing Chun – namely, the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists.  However, these are the key joints and are a good starting place to begin to understand the reconfiguration of the structure to deliver and receive force.

The key thing to understand here is that the first stage of transition is to step back from using muscle alone, and instead move to a more natural position where we can allow the natural structure of our bodies to work.   Where muscle force is used, this is counter-productive to the way our bodies naturally work most efficiently. 

The process of moving to relaxed structure is therefore one of actively identifying tension in the different areas within our bodies and, slowly but surely, striping this out.  For example, tension will invariably be found in the fist, in the forearm and shoulder, effectively locking the arm up and stopping this from moving through its whole range of motion in a relaxed way.  It is not possible just to strip something out from the body – instead, it is a case of using the natural skeletal structure, the joints, tendons and ligaments in place of holding tension in muscles.

Within Wing Chun there is the guiding principle Lik Chong Gerk Jang Sang.  Translated roughly from Cantonese this means ‘Power originates from the heals’ – meaning the ability to create structural power through the alignment of the 6 major joints.

I cover this in detail in other articles, including the following visualisation showing these six points on an image of Yip Man and the Cantonese terms used to describe key skills and abilities the developing Wing Chun student must master.

This includes, for example, the concept of Lut Sau Jic Ching, translated as “Forward springing force” where the advanced Wing Chun practitioner is able cultivate a forwarding energy that is loaded into the body from the weight of gravity into the relaxed structure, and amplified by an incoming pressure from the opponent into the ‘suspension springs’ created in the body – both in the arms and the legs – that result in the body becoming spring-loaded force into the opponent. 

Importantly, these 6 points form together as a whole-body energy through using them in a structured way.  This structure is created using the strength of triangular structure – tetrahedrons created in the lower body and in the upper body which are joined through the central pelvis area.

Lower-body Joints

The lower triangular structure is described in Cantonese through the concept of Lok Ma, translated as “Lowering Horse”.  This refers to the structural integrity created in the lower part of the body by the use of the pelvis, the knees, and the ankles.  These are highlighted through the lighting effect on the Sensory Homunculus model below.

This structure is shown anatomically in the diagram below.

Upper-body Joints

The upper triangular structure is described in Cantonese through the concept of Tie Seung San, translated as “Uplifting upper body”.  This sense of lifting the upper body is captured as a sum of several parts, which includes a number of the individual structural elements – specifically, Dung Tao (“Uplifting Head”), Ting Bok (“Expanding Chest”), Ting Yiu (“To straighten back”), Tei Gong (“To make solid”) and Lok Bok – Dropping shoulder.  The six joints involved in these are highlighted through the lighting effect on the Sensory Homunculus model below.

It is important to remember that this figure does not represent additional muscle, rather additional sensory awareness, and control of those parts of the body.  In the advanced Wing Chun practitioner’s mind these areas include a heightened mindfulness in ‘setting up’ the structure.  This is a feeling of alignment, stabilisation, isolation of the limbs under the weight of gravity, creating a balanced, whole body, spring-force extending from the ground through the six joints up into the hands) forming a whole body structure. 

Additionally, these joints represent areas of mindful focus on “feeling” incoming force from an attacker into the body across the limbs within the triangulation structure.   This allows the advanced Wing Chun practitioner to understand their structural integrity and, when this is compromised, allowing this structure to transform to deflect incoming force – for example, from the basic Yee Gee Kim Yeung Ma (forward facing) stance into the Jor Ma (side facing) stance.

Indeed, a key part of this mindfulness is ensuring the correct use of muscle, or the complete relaxation or absence of use – such as in Lok Bok or “Dropping shoulder” where it is critical for the advanced student to have relaxed structure and isolation to allow for Mai Jang – the ‘forwarding’ of the elbows inward and forward to create the triangular pyramid structure.

It is this sensory awareness that allows the advanced practitioner to feel the correct position to get into for the optimal, relaxed, structural integrity.  This develops a feeling of a central core – as if a pole was pushed up the anus, through the straightened spine, up the straight neck through the head to the very centre at the top of the skull.

This collection of Cantonese concepts are visualised in the Wing Chun Sensory Homunculus using the lighting effects to show the mindful ‘straightening’ of the upper body connected to the waist.

This area is not as developed as that on the Motor Homunculus, which requires the development of deep spine muscles and the key role of the erector spinae muscles bridging the lower and upper back with the neck.

It is useful to visual the concept of Ting Yui – to straighten the back.  The actual straightening is showing in the anatomical diagram below – where flattening the lumber area of the spine is achieved by stacking the vertebrae, which happens in the same action as Tei Going (the tilting of the pelvis).

Joining Upper and Lower body

The process of forming the lower-body and upper body-structure must brought together to allow for these two structures to work together in whole-body application.  Having the ability to create the individual components is the first step.  Being able to combine them through the connecting element of the pelvis area is a key other one.  Having the mindfulness to keep this applied during movement and, especially during fighting is important.  Otherwise, the whole relaxed structure of the stance breaks down.

A key part of using this space is the use of the correct muscles, which we will cover in looking at the Motor Homunculus.  Within the Sensory Homunculus, the key is to understand the principles described above and be able to “feel” the straightening of the ‘core’ of the body and have a mindful awareness of the relaxed structure in the upper and lower body, unified through the waist and grounded through the forwarding ‘spring’ of this structure set against the weight of gravity and any incoming force from the opponent.  

We have highlighted in both the upper- and lower-body Homunculus pictures how these connect individually.  In the Sensory Homunculus below we highlight using the lighting techniques the upper- and lower-body elements with the pelvis area being the unifying element that brings these together.

  

Here we see the upper-body elements marked in red and the lower-body elements marked in green.  The larger white lighting in the waist area shows this as the central unifying element.  In the advanced Wing Chun practitioner, all these points will be continuously “felt” and mindful sensory feed-back reported to the brain to ensure this correct whole-body alignment.

Forearms and Lower-Leg Sensitivity

In addition to the internal mindful awareness of the use of muscles, tendons and joints a further key sensitivity is required to be developed in Wing Chun.  Indeed, through the use of ‘sensitivity’ training in Chi Sau, the developing student needs to develop what we can call ‘skin memory’ – like muscle memory, which is the deep learning that allows muscles to function without the delay of having to think about them through the pre-frontal cortex.

In particular this refers to ability of the advanced Wing Chun practitioner to extend their structural defence (i.e. Mann Sau and Wu Sau arms in the Guard position) and to be able to understand the force and direction of an incoming attack across this ‘bridge’.  Crossing the bridge is a term used within Wing Chun that refers to having created these tetrahedron structures as these provide a barrier that blocks the direct line of attack of the opponent, instead giving the Wing Chun practitioner control of this – referred to as the “centreline advantage”.  This means that an opponent either has to attack around this structure which is a slower path (allowing the Wing Chun practitioner a straight path access into them) or make contact with this structure.

As a close-range fighting technique, making this contact is a key part of the fighting style and developing this ability to ‘read’ the opponent and the incoming attack through the arms and legs is fundamental.  As mentioned above, part of reading the opponent comes through the six joints, the other key element comes from feeling the direction and incoming force onto the forearms and lower legs in particular. 

Specific training to develop this sensitivity in the forearms is developed through Chi-Sau, translated roughly from Cantonese as “sticky arms” as this is about maintaining the contact with the opponent in order to read and control them.  In the Sensory Homunculus below highlighting this area through lighting effects, we see the forearms are much larger than in the original Homunculus.

Given the size of the hands and the increased size attributed to the wrist as one of the main six joints, this does not seem overly represented.  However, it most definitely is an area that undergoes considerable training and reprogramming in the brain mappings to develop this required level of “feeling” to control the opponent.

Indeed, this sensitivity develops to such an extent that it becomes like a sixth sense.  Indeed, it becomes so important within in-fighting that it becomes more important than the use of the eyes.  This is why advanced students will practice blind-fold drills and then sparring.

The same is true for the lower tetrahedral structure, with advanced training for this sensitivity in the legs called Chi Gerk, translated roughly from Cantonese as “sticky legs”.  In the Sensory Homunculus below highlighting this area through lighting effects, we see the lower legs are much larger than in the original Homunculus.

Again, these do not stand out obviously in the context of the increase size of the feet, ankles and knees which are also much more developed in the Wing Chun Practitioner.

Visual Sense

Although developing the sixth-sense awareness of “sticky” arms/legs is a key part of advanced Wing Chun skills, developing an advanced use of perception through the eyes is also critical. 

The eyes in the original Homunculus are larger than in the normal human to recognise the relative mapping used for this important sensory area, which is fundamental to allow us as humans to move around in our environment and interaction with things and people within this.  The eyes in the Wing Chun Homunculus are intentionally not noticeably different from the original, but it is important to understand that the development required here is not driven from a “more” requirement, but instead from a “different” usage one.

Humans have 2 basic visual fields, the foveal focus where we see detail and our peripheral vision field where we detect movement.   The fine detail field is small and used primarily for fine motor skills, reading etc.  This engages the pre-frontal cortex which means we actively “think” about these activities.  Alternatively, the peripheral vision field is large and is linked to our ability to get information about quick moving objects we need to avoid and automatically blink our eyes or move out of the way.  This field of vision does not require us to “think” about this action and rather than engaging the pre-frontal cortex it works through the parietal lobe which handles information “sensory”.

It was this area of training that Bruce Lee developed from Wing Chun to a more focused application in Jeet Kune Do.   This focuses on the “intercepting” – the importance of working outside the ‘bridging range’ but attacking the incoming attack.    Watching any Bruce Lee film, you will quickly see his advanced ability to stop an incoming attack almost as soon as it is launched.   This skill is made possible from developing the peripheral vision.

A key concept in most martial arts is “look at nothing, see everything”.  Rather than following the opponents hands with your eyes, and then being distracted from an attack from the feet it means learning to let go of the usual use of the foveal focus and instead learning to observe an opponent’s total body movement through the peripheral vision field.

In The Wing Chun Homunculus Part 3 we explore the Wing Chun Motor Homunculus.

Copyright @ Craig Sands