line theory

The horizontal lines:

1. brow line        (aka biu line or 3rd eye chakra)
2. chin line         (aka throat chakra)
3. heart line        (solar plexus chakra)
4. belly button line       (sacral chakra)

the vertical lines:

1. frontal centerline (and back centerline too!)
2. left and right side lines

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[ Explanation for vertical lines ]

(left and right sidelines)

The left and right side lines are a barrier.  Your arms are not allowed to expand beyond.  There are exception to this rule, but whenever the arms go out of bounds, they must go back in immediately!

Image a 2-d plane intersecting both shoulders and both ankles.  The external intersections are where the sidelines exist.  This implies that the width of the side line changes throughout the body.  The head area is the distance between each ear.  Everything below the next is as wide as the shoulders.

(frontal centerline)

imagine a 2-d plane that intersects your sternum, belly button, and vertabre.    The external intersections should be protected at all costs.   you must prevent attackers from creating an attack that travels along the center line.  

When you attack, you must extend the 2d plane into your opponent.  The places that it intersect is where you should be attacking.  We shall call this the "projected centerline" which is similar to a bullseye.  If you don't know what to do...or if you can't see the attack, then take a risk and aim at the projected centerline.  ideally, it is a punch aimed at your opponents brow line.

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[ Explanation for horizontal lines ]

Understanding these lines is important for knowing what moves to make.

Combined with the vertical lines, it creates 6 sections.  An attack on a specific section requires a specific block.

• Between brow line and chin line
• tok sau (iff your opponent is attacking center to center)
• straight punch to his brow line (iff your opponent is attacking shoulder to center)
• wu tau (iff your opponent is attacking with round attacks like hooks or swings)
• between chin line and heart line
• tan sau
• pak sau
• fook sau
• lan sau
• gan sau
• huen sau
• jut sau
• jaum sau
• fak sau
• gum sau
• kwan sau
• between heart line and sacral line
• gan sau
• straigh punch to brow line
• straight kick to anywhere

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[concluding notes]

Your hands should never go higher than the brow line and never go lower then your belly button.

Your hands should almost never go outside the shoulder lines.

double tok sau application

The double tok sau is a good counter to a strangle.  If he uses both hands, you can use a double tok sau.  If he uses on hand you can do a single tok sau.

Unfortunately, a double tok sau is not very effective against a  double punch.  I've encountered  a master that tried to teach me this, but when ever I try to think about it logically, I feel as though i'm helping him to extend the punch to my face.

The master showed me that the punch would not hit him, but that was because I was simple standing too far away from him, so even if he didn't block my punch would not have reached him anyways.  Obviously this was a demo and instruction, so it would be inappropriate to hit him.

So how do I know that the dbl tok vs dbl punch application is junk?  Simple, my hands finished extending before his block arrived.

THERE are exceptions to my claim....

if the attacker punches above your chin, then using the tok sau to counter a punch is appropriate.

If it is below the chin then a tok sau is inappropriate.  The tok sau would only help redirect the punch to your face.  You are better off using a pak sau for this region.


Without further ado, this link will show you how to use the double tok sau against a strangle.  I have first hand experience that the tok sau works in this condition.

http://youtu.be/EnEYX6cxMJU