Beginners in NGK start their journey with 行功头, a name for a series of static postures that gives me a headache to translate. The word 行 can mean “to perform” while 功 can mean “work” and 头 in this context “beginning”. Thus, 行功头 can be translated to mean “to perform beginning work” or “exercises that a beginner must begin with” which is what they are.

My first teacher, Ah Leong, said that NGK (岳家拳) is from Emei and has the characteristics of internal and external. This means that one must be hard yet soft. At that time I didn’t really understand what he meant.

The practice of 行功头 meant to me these boring, at least I found them boring, series of postures that I have to hold with certain parts of the body tensed, then quickly relax before changing to the next posture, tensing the body and holding the posture.

Decades later when I learned from Master Cheong, he said to relax and hold the posture at a certain angle.

This month I had the privilege of picking a few valuable insights about 行功头 from another old timer of the art, L, someone who is a disciple of a contemporary of Master Cheong. This contemporary is in fact the son of Master Cheong’s teacher.

One insight that was mentioned reminded me of the principle of Heaven Earth Man (天地人) which in GM Wei’s Tai Chi is a method of unifying up the entire body. The other point was the use of the body’s core, basically, the dan tian area. I remembered this part from Ah Leong’s days. This is also reminiscent of the elastic waist (弹腰) power principle that I learned from one of the lesser known lineage of Ip Man Wing Chun.

The third insight I got through feel. L got into a stance and asked me to move him. He felt like an iron sphere in that he was strong and his centre could not be located to allow me to uproot him. At that moment I had a thought – 9 crooked pearls. L’s strong posture reminded me of the feel of my Tai Chi teacher’s posture. My Tai Chi teacher too had a strong posture but the feel was like a layer of thick cotton wrapped around a ball of steel.

When the essential body structure principles cultivated from 行功头 are put into the techniques they elevate and amplified the practitioner’s power. NGK techniques are fast and powerful, reminiscent of a cannon constantly charging and discharging, whilst propelled forward to mow down the opponent.

岳家拳 is one of the few Chinese styles that retain what I would term as the unique flavor of traditional kung fu. Those lucky enough to have a glimpse of this disappearing world would know what I mean. The culture is one thing, this aspect can be copied and replicated. What is difficult to replicate is the skill discovered, cultivated and utilized in a living art, passed from one generation to the next. You can only appreciate it when you have to jump through hoops to get it.