She Ying Kuen (Snake Style Form)

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Wed, February 10, 2010

She Ying Kuen (Snake Style Form)

Advanced Internal Set of the Sil-lum (Shaolin) System
by Wes Cameron

The spirit of the snake can best be described as one of temperance, alertness, concentration, patience and endurance. It quietly awaits its enemy or prey and when least expected will launch a single deadly strike to a vital point. When fighting for its life, the snake will deliver deadly strikes to several vital points, while subduing its foe with its body and tail.

The Snake Set teaches us patience sensitivity and pinpoint accuracy in striking. Snake style has long been shrouded in mystery and historically only taught to inner door disciples due to the deadliness of its techniques. Snake style does not deal in humaneness, it only deals with delivering quick, maiming or killing strikes. In the Snake Set, importance is placed on slow and deep diaphragmatic Buddhist breathing along with slow flowing, rippling movements which cultivate and store the Chi. Through time and patience the Snake Set works at developing the breath, or Chi, and bringing it to the finger tips.

The external characteristics of the Snake Set are physical suppleness and strikes using the finger tips to vital areas such as the throat and eyes. The snake will calmly await an attack and then, unlike the Crane which uses a hop to evade the attack, or the Tiger which smashes through the attack, the snake will simply rotate and lean the body out of the way of the attack. At the same time it will execute a counter attack with the finger tips to a vital point of the enemy. Spiritually, the Snake Set teaches patience, focus and rhythmic endurance.

Monk & Chiling Shaolin Snake Style, and Southern Styles
She Ying Kuen (Snake Style Form) is an advanced internal set of the Sil-lum system and is one of the five major animals studied and made famous by the monks of the Shaolin (Sil-lum) Temples. There are numerous systems both southern and northern that have snake sets included in their curriculum, but it is the southern styles that have made the snake set famous. There are even whole systems dedicated exclusively to the practice of snake style. Snake sets are found in such famous systems as Hung Gar, Ha Say Fu Hong Pai and Choy Lee Fut. Snake style techniques can also be found in other forms such as Bak Sil-lum (Northern Shaolin) and various animal sets.

Chi and Dim Mak
The Snake style, unlike the Tiger style, does not develop nor rely on the development and use of external power. The development of listening energy and swift and accurate strike is of paramount importance in the training regimen of the snake stylist. Listening energy is used to predict the movement of the adversary and flow with it to simultaneously defend and counterattack. Key words for the snake stylist are -- avoid, stick, flow, deceptive, accurate and vital points. Its non-reliance on power makes snake style ideal for women and those with slighter build. The snake style's use of listening, sticking and defending and attacking in one move makes it ideal for fighting in close quarters. Depending on the system, snake style either uses all fingers or just the index and middle fingers to strike vital acupuncture or Dim Mak points such Bladder 1 (inner eye corner), Conception Vessel 22 (pit of the throat), Stomach 9 (carotid artery) and the groin.

presure points Special Chi Kung (breath work) and Nei Gong (energy work) are incorporated into the Snake Set to bring Chi and internal energy to the finger tips. The Chi kung elements of snake set cultivates and stores the chi to develop internal energy in the lower Dan Tien or energy field located approximately two thirds inside the body from Conception Vessel 6 (located approximately 1.5 cun or Chinese bone inch below the belly button) and one third from Governing Vessel 4 (below the spinous process of the second Lumbar vertebrae).

Special Nei Gong exercises using the mind intent are incorporated into the Snake Set to guide the internal energy from the lower Dan Tien to the finger tips to deliver a deadly strike. In the beginning, special external exercises such as finger tip push ups and striking into a container of beans can be used to develop the external strength of the fingers. However these type of exercises are dispensed with once the snake stylist develops the chi and can lead it and the internal energy to the finger tips. To further cultivate and collect chi and internal energy in the lower Dan Tien, and to direct the internal energy to the finger tips, the snake style also uses stand alone Chi Kung and Nei Kung exercises as a supplement to the Snake Form.

Movement of the Snake
In the Snake Set the focus, besides on breathing and directing energy, is on suppleness and relaxation. Crucial areas of the body to cultivate these qualities in are the spine and ribs, the arms and the hips. In the Snake Set all movement is initiated from the ground up, but the most crucial area to focus on is a supple, relaxed spine and ribs through which the internal energy can spirally flow, speeded up and magnified through to the finger tips. This duplicates the movement of an actual snake where all movement originates from the muscles surrounding the spine and ribs. The arms are used for sensing and bridging to the opponent, while the fingers are used to strike to vital areas.

In Ha Say Fu Hong Pai system's snake set, the hands are held in the snake hand formation with the index and middle fingers extended and held together while the ring and baby fingers are curled into the palm and the thumb is bent and held against the side of the palm (other snake styles hold all the fingers extended together with the thumb bent against the side of the palm). The hands are held in opposing yin/yang positions to help balance the chi within the body; that is, when one hand is held with the palm facing up, the other hand is held with the palm facing down. Snake style is not a hard external style and thus its defensive maneuvers are more soft in nature. A typical defensive maneuver would be for the snake stylist to pick up a incoming punch with his forearm, and while sticking to the opponent's arm with his forearm, he would slightly redirect the opponents arm by using circular spiraling energy from his legs hips, waist and arm. Then the snake stylist would bridge the gap between his arm and the target and quickly strike a vital area such as the eye or throat.

About Wes Cameron :
Wes Cameron has taught Shaolin Martial Arts for over Twenty years in Winnipeg, MB. Canada. Si Fu Cameron and his wife Jacky operate Shaolin West Kung Fu and he is the Si Fu for the Chinese Foods and Beverages Association, the Toisan Association and the Wpg. Branch of the Lee's Association, located at 213 Pacific Avenue in Winnipeg's China Town, where he teaches Sil-lum Black Tiger, Sil-lum Five Animals (Ha Say Fu Hong Pai), Northern Shaolin and and Southern Lion Dance.

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