Hi Jean-Louis,

>Wasn't Yip Man Bruce Lee's master?
Yes, but he left Hong Kong before finishing all the Wing Chun
sets. So the underpinnings of his style were Wing Chun, but
he borrowed and improvised extensively to create his eclectic
"Jun Fan", and later "Jeet Kun Do".

>I don't think the way external
>martial arts were practiced in ancient times was beneficial to
>health. They certainly became excellent fighters, but the trainings
>were too exhausting and, by stressing too much on power, they injured
>their joints. So, when they grow older, they usually turn to internal
>arts, not really because internal arts are more "advanced", but
>because they just have already inflicted too much harm to their body.

Wing Chun was invented by a woman. It is an extremely soft art.
Personally I would classify it as an internal art. Though the
traditional Chinese internal styles tend to get chauvanistic and
argue that Wing Chun is external. I started learning Wing Chun
recently after several years dabbling in the traditional internal
styles. In my beginner's opinion, Wing Chun is more internal than
external, at least Yip Man's lineage is.
I totally agree about your assessment of external arts though.


>BTW, Cheng-Man Ching was one of the first masters to reveal the real essence
>of Tai Chi, i.e. a real art of fighting (the techniques are not performed
>slowly, but with speed and power). But practicing that way too much is
>not necessarily beneficial to health.

Yeah, I wonder about that. People practicing Yang-style seem to emphasize
health, while people practicing Chen-style seem to emphasize combat.
My understanding is that these (and other styles of taichi) first ground you
in the neijia (internal strength) aspect (start by moving slowly and
 connectedly) before developing fajing, or external strength and power.
Therefore, if you study and practice Tai Chi "correctly", the neijia
underpinnings will improve your health. However, since the fajing aspect
is grounded in alignment and connectivity due to the long preceding
neijia period, it shouldn't be that detrimental to your health.

I would be interested in finding out how your raw diet has impacted
your practice of internal arts.

Thanks,

Roy