Students in a Mount Penn school
which teaches wing chun--a kung fu
martial art form--learn to defend
themselves so they do not have to
fight.

By Susan C. Stein
Eagle/Times

Randy Koller and his kung fu students spend hours
practicing fighting techniques in the traditional wing
chun martial arts system to learn how not to fight.

"Wing chun is not about fighting," said Koller, the Sifu
(teacher in Chinese) and owner of the Eastern Arts and
Holistic Health Academy of Mount Penn.

"We learn to defend ourselves and to fight so that we don't have to fight," he said about the teachings of wing chun.

"It is a true combat system geared for the street and was created to maim or kill an opponent within seconds," he said. "If we had
to fight we would, but it is something to be avoided at all costs."

Wing chun is about self-development and reaching the highest levels of self-actualization in the physical, mental and spiritual spheres
of existence, Koller said.

"These elements transcend you to a higher level of life," he said. "It is a way of life.

"Self-awareness, self-respect and a duty to serve should be the goal in the life of every martial artist."

A wing chun martial artist uses other people's energy (their chi) against them, according to Koller.

"We are redirecting, releasing, going around or following their energy if it moves backward," he said.

It uses simplicity, directness, speed and techniques rather than physical strength to respond to the attack, Koller explained, which is
why a smaller person can develop his soft force against the hard energy of a larger opponent.

"We use the yin with the yang," he said, "the hardness with the softness, speed with patience, strength with weakness.

"Foot work is a major priority in the wing chun system. Our footwork is very mobile and rooted to the earth at the same time.
This stabilizes, gives tremendous balance and helps us feel an opponent's energy when we make contact."

The movements of wing chun are similar to the style of fighting featured in the academy-nominated movie "Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon" with Michelle Yeoh, but without all the gravity-defying twirling, flying and soaring movements.

It is also the kung fu system Bruce Lee studied for five years before he became a movie star. In his movies, Lee uses his own
martial arts system (jeet kune do) a combination of several martial arts systems including karate, jujitsu and savate
(a French-style foot fighting).

Lee studied under Yip Man, a wing chun grandmaster, who brought the martial art out of China and into Hong Kong in 1949.

It is believed that wing chun was actually developed in southern China about 300 years ago by a woman -- a Buddhist nun who was
a master of the Shaolin kung fu system.

It is written she named the new martial arts system after her first student, a woman named Yim Wing Chun (meaning "beautiful
springtime").

Koller, 49, of Reading began his fascination with wing chun about 11 years ago while he was studying karate and jeet kune do.

After reading about wing chun in a kung fu magazine, he took a trip to see a demonstration at a school in Collingdale, Delaware
County.

His studies began at the Collingdale school until his teacher moved to Florida and he switched to a facility in New York City.
He traveled back and forth to New York for more than four years to learn the traditional form under Sifu Sonny Whitmore.

Koller now holds a 10th level gold sash -- the highest level an instructor can achieve in the wing chun kung fu system.

Before opening his own wing chun school almost six years ago, Koller was employed as a mental health therapist with the Berks
County Intermediate Unit where he worked with "at risk" adolescents.

The Eastern Arts and Holistic Health Academy is the only traditional wing chun program in Pennsylvania with an active core of about
60 men, women and children ranging in age from 10 to 55, according to Koller.

Seven classes of wing chun are taught by Koller weekly, as well as four classes in tai chi chuan. He also gives private lessons.

Bill Morgan of Pottsville, who has been studying with Koller for four years, finds that wing chun brings you "face-to-face with yourself." "When you're facing your opponent, you're facing yourself," Morgan said. "In kung fu, you're not exploiting your opponent, you're facing your own fears and your own challenges."

For Brian Druzba, 22, of Pennside, who holds a black sash after six years of training, wing chun offers challenges which can take a
lifetime to learn.

"I don't see myself reaching the top of the mountain," he said as an analogy to explain the vast teachings of the martial art form.

Pete Ryan, 49, of Douglassville practices wing chun with his daughters, Mallory, 14, and Jill, 21, at the Mount Penn school.

Even though he studied other martial art forms off and on for more than 20 years, he finds wing chun offers an "overwhelming"
self-defense.

"The defense is very direct, quick and deadly," he said.

Bryan Koller (not related to Randy Koller), a former body builder, found he didn't need to be strong to advance in wing chun,
and may even need to work harder to remain loose instead of using his strength.

"I have to relax my body, shoulders and mind to create fluid motions," said the 36-year-old Reading resident.

"This is the hardest system I've come across, but it does work," he said. "There is a lot to this. There is so much to learn here."

Wing chun is both challenging and frustrating for David Sustello, 46, of Shillington, who has found, through his three years of training,
that the kung fu system can only be learned through time.

"It is a process that lasts a lifetime," he said.