Wing Chun Kung Fu
Awareness in motion
The art of sensitivity and the centreline
At Reconnect Project, Wing Chun is taught as a self-defence system and, at the same time, as a method of human development. It works under real pressure, and that is what makes it an honest field of observation.
Wing Chun works through economy of movement and structural efficiency. Through Chi Sao, the sticking-hands exercise, you develop a tactile sensitivity that lets you read the other person's direction and intention through contact, and respond without losing your own centre.
Beyond combat, this practice shows how each person reacts under pressure: who anticipates, who freezes, who acts out of discomfort rather than on information. You cannot see this through introspection, only with someone on the other side.
People come here who have never trained, who cannot picture themselves fighting anyone and who are wary of gyms. People also come who have trained before and felt that was not the way. The work is self-knowledge: refining sensitivity and bodily and intentional awareness, seeing how you react when the situation stops being comfortable. You find that out by doing it.
What you develop
- Sensitivity and adaptability
- Reading the other person through contact, adjusting without losing structure.
- Body awareness
- Mapping your own tension and recognising autopilot at work.
- Presence under pressure
- Telling a response to information apart from a reaction to discomfort.
- Economy of effort
- Using only the force needed, at the moment it is needed.
- Conflict management
- Neutralising aggression through structure and relaxation, rather than force.
- Physical condition
- Strength, agility and flexibility, according to each person's needs.
Training includes attention work and breath regulation before, during and after technical practice. Without this, training under pressure is tiring but teaches little.
How we train here
Training involves progressive exposure to real resistance. Without it you learn nothing that holds up under pressure.
But you are not under constant resistance: many cooperative drills build the bridge to it, and exposure grows at each person's pace.
Impact work is to the body, with protective gear whenever needed. Strikes to the head count on touch and stop there, because damage accumulates over years of exposure.
Intensity is named out loud before each round, on a three-level scale you learn in the first class. Nobody sets the level by their partner's ego.
On roles
I continue the lineage of Wong Shun Leung. I train at Wing Chun Porto with Sifu Lio Monk, who comes from Sifu Santi Pascual, with whom I have also trained several times. I am a practitioner with years of work behind me and my own approach to teaching, focused on sensitivity and adaptability rather than force.
I am also a therapist. I do not do therapy in class.
The attention and regulation work that appears in training is part of training: it helps you learn better and leave class regulated. Therapeutic work is a different context, with a different agreement and a different consent. If a student wants that work, we talk, but outside training.
Vision
In an interview on the Ecos de Sophia podcast (in Portuguese), I talked about how this martial art works as a tool for development and not only for combat.
The Philosophy of the Martial Art Wing ChunWorkshops
There will also be themed workshops. Wing Chun Porto organises them too, and we share events with each other.
Formats
Individual sessions
Training with progression adjusted to each practitioner's pace, needs and story. It starts with a session where we set foundations and goals. In person at the Centro de Desenvolvimento Humano or outdoors.
- Length
- 1 hour
- Price
- €25 per 1-hour session
Group programme, 12 weeks, in preparation
A closed course, one session a week, focused on the first form (Siu Nim Tau) and on the structure that supports everything else. Small group, no previous experience needed. The first edition will be a pilot.
- Price
- €15 per month
If you would like to join the waiting list, let me know.
Join the waiting list
Background
I have practised Chinese martial arts since 2009. I spent ten years in Traditional Wushu and Sanda at the Associação de Kung Fu do Minho, where I led more than 20 classes under supervision. Since 2019 I have trained at Wing Chun Porto and hold the brown belt (5th of 6 levels). I have taken part in several workshops and retreats with Sifu Santi Pascual and also study the online courses of Sifu Adam Chan and Sifu Nima King. I also practise Capoeira regularly and Parkour occasionally.