But such an exaggerated posture can build rigidity and tension, restrict breathing and lung capacity, and expose the collarbone and the shoulder joint to breakage and dislocation. Also practised by some branches of Wing Chun, it does not fit well with the Ving Chun principal of "natural human body movement". A natural posture is your key to power and mobility.

Your structure is determined by your posture. Poor posture becomes poor structure. There is nothing to be gained from corrupting your posture and misaligning your spine. Maintain an upright posture.

Nothing is lost by maintaining an upright posture. Your spine is supported by anti-gravity muscles that keep you upright. Your spine is the structural core of your body. It is your power centre. Maintaining the natural curvature of your spine is the key to redirecting force, absorbing force, and transferring force to other parts of your body.

So while we might gain inspiration from the movements of animals and birds or some mythical creature, your Ving Chun posture and movements should be based on the physiology of the body you were born with.

An elastic body! A body with spring! A body that feels alive! Rather than attempt to adopt postures that a contortionist would struggle with, simply present the chest then relax and sink the upper back, shoulders, chest and elbows, while gently lifting the perineum.

Which brings us to the second Kuen Kit on our list;

2/ To maintain good balance of strength, grip the ground with the toes. No! No! No! Another import from Shaolin kungfu. Think about it:

(a) Try to "grip the ground" through a pair of kungfu shoes, Nike's, or New Rocks with a three-inch sole. Can't be done.

(b) Attempting to "grip the ground" with your toes creates tension in the muscles of the feet, ankles and the calf muscles, culminating in a rigid posture that will make you less stable and not at all well-balanced from a Wing Chun perspective.

(c) Conservation of Energy is a Ving Chun principle. Building up tension and rigidity trying to "grip the ground" does the opposite. It burns up energy. 

(d) Relaxation. Since one purpose of Siu Nim Tao is to develop power through relaxation as well as to conserve energy, what sense does it make to create tension?

When standing naturally ones bodyweight is spread evenly between three points of each foot. The heel, on the ball of the foot just behind the big toe, and on the ball of the foot just behind the little toe. Think of the triangle formed by those three points on each foot as the base of twin pyramids which support your entire bodyweight. Two concave pyramidal arches which put the spring in your step.

When curling up the toes in that futile attempt to grab the ground not only do you build up tension and rigidity and burn up energy, you compromise the natural spring in your step which in turn affects your balance, mobility and flexibility.

Instead, you should keep your feet naturally relaxed, flat, and pressed evenly (through the three points of each triangle) against the ground, your body weight evenly distributed over both feet. Now imagine that you are pushing the ground away from underneath you as you gently lift the perineum and elongate your spine as if it is extending through the top of your head.