she quan

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Shaolin Kung Fu Academy
The Legend of the Ghost Spear Fishers
Somewhere in the world, some years ago or so, was a medium sized fishing village that was somewhat prosperous as they had rich fishing grounds and occasional pearl oysters for trading. This made the village stand out and seem relatively prosperous. Although not an easy life, it was also not too difficult and relatively peaceful.
There came time of a great war in the land and many people were touched by this including this village. It's sons and young fathers were conscripted into the local Lords army's leaving the village only with the very young, women and the very old. Life was much harder but not impossible. But it was also unprotected.
Towards the end of the war, the village was set upon by deserters; those who were running away from the war and stumbled across this defenseless fishing village. They saw it as a good and easy place to hide until things settled down. The village was not totally unused to deserters and people fleeing the war. They usually did not mind to help the people as long as they continued along their way. This time though, the amount of soldiers that came would have been even difficult to deal with if the whole village would have been there. Now with only the older & the younger and women, the armed soldiers took over the village and made themselves comfortable.
The deserters were not nice people and this seemed like a good place to wait out the war. With no resistance possible, the deserters made themselves comfortable, taking full control of the village and people. After weeks of abuse, rapes and killing, the town elders saw that they needed to do something, but what?
With the increased mouths to feed, most of the village, except for a few of the youngest and some women (who were being held captive) went out fishing. This was not good for the older people, but it was good for planing and deciding without being heard or seen by the invaders. They devised a subtle plan, based on local legend and the usual fear of the occult of the time, that they hoped would rid them of their tormentors. All that was needed now is for the deserters to get drunk again, one night. They did not have long to wait when again, the deserters, now also taken to highway robbery to get drink and loot, got drunk again. The villagers plan sprung into action.
In the early morning, when the spring mist started flowing in from the see, all the villagers whitened themselves and their equipment with flower; some painted their faces and spear tips red with chicken blood and then they all made their way to the waters edge. With fishing spears, sharpened sticks, wooden forks, all whitened to blend into the mist, they walked back towards the village under the cover of the early morning fog. Using a fish-bone music instrument to create an eerie wail, they approached the village unseen, but not unnoticed. The rolling fog, the eerie sound, the befuddled alcohol misted minds, lack of sleep made all the deserters see ghosts in the mist. Although the villagers Weapons were not made to kill, the fishing spear did puncture clothing and skin to cause pain, pricks with sharp sticks to exposed skin and whacks with shovels and sticks, coupled with a hit and run, back into the mist tactic, totally confused and panicked the invaders. The occasional red-blood-faced screaming apparition appearing from the mist, giving a solid whack on the head and dissapearing was just too much. The deserters ran, and ran.
When, as usual, the mist lifted later that morning, there were only the villagers left. No one had been killed, not even any of the invaders. This was not within the villagers to kill. But all invaders had run away, confused, bleeding and totally scared (as wild stories later from nearby villages and towns came back to the ears of the villagers). The invaders left all their belongings behind. Although not a compensation for all the pain, damage & grief, a small bonus in Weaponry, materials and loot helped the villagers to get over most the pain. As a bonus, the village gained a reputation for being haunted and protected by the Spirits of their Dead Ancestors. This was an additional protection and reduced the vulnerability of the villagers to similar events.

http://www.shaolin.com.au/Ghost.html


The Snakes Stylist
To be a Snake Stylist you need to be strong and flexible, not the strength of a solid gym workout, but the strength of an enduring grappler. You also need to love knowledge, books, stored information and the usage of the experienced. You will find pleasure in confirming what you have learned more than using it. You will really like to find another bit of information that adds to your collection of Martial Knowledge. And you will like it for the fact not for what it can do for you.

Shaolin Snake Forms
Snake Forms (Patterns, Routines, Kata . . .) are very complex and have a greater depth of information in them than any other form; thus there are only a few and they are difficult to learn and even more so to master:

White Snake Form
The Coiling Snake (34 points, walking the circle)
Ghost Spear

http://chinese-kung-fu.com/shaolin-snake-style-features-and-training-skills/

Snake Style would seek to be fit, flexible, enduring and flexible again and is well suited to strong but gentle persons.

Shaolin Snake Style is one of Wisdom, Knowledge, Precision, Experience and Clarity. The Snake stylists likes to know that what they are doing is well proven, ordered, with purpose and wise. It is not a style of defence but more a style of bring order, calm and wisdom. The Snake Stylist is predominantly a grappler, capture, hold and control, capture, hold and throw, capture and takedown, capture and go-down, capture and incapacitate. It is a style of order and control not of random strikes; it is a style of power without violence, speed without hast and knowledge without dominance. The Snake Stylist is one of creating order, peace and safety.

The Snake Style is well suited to strong but gentle persons; ones that prefer not to use sudden violence as a means of defence. it is a style that prefers to entangle an attacker, make them overextend themselves, then capture, arrest and force submission. This style is best suited for controlled one-on-one situations as it requires skill, precision and full attention. If there are multiple attackers and the Snake Stylist finds them selves harassed, they will use their striking skills to create and opportunity for their main skill of capturing.

The Snakes Defence
Not being there, where the attacker thought them to be a second ago. Not like the Crane in great leaps and bounds but like a Snake just twisting, ducking, bobbing, turning out of the way. The Snake Stylist moves like a Snake, as if lacking bones, slippery and sinuous. The Snake Stylists main defence is the flexibility, weave-ability, subtle avoidance and very occasional, distracting strikes. As the Snake Stylist you would know of hundreds of maneuvers, combinations and methods of avoiding, controlling and submitting your attacker. You would be like a Chess Master and have studied all that there is to know for your type of personality, body type and strength and then you would work on perfecting it with an energy bordering on obsessions. For if anything, Snake Stylist may seem or even be Obsessive-Compulsive inclined, incessant and even inflexible in many aspects of thinking ( seeming balance with the Snakes Stylists incredible physical flexibility).

The Snakes Attack
The Snake does not attack. It reacts when attacked, it may even get the opponent to attack, but a Snake Stylist does not attack. A Snake always has their enemy come to them, on their terms when the Snake is ready for them. It may again, occasionally strike without warning but as such, it is not an attacking style. Sometimes it may look like the Snake is attacking but it is not (according to it), it just feels that the attacker has encroached on it’s space or safety.

The Snakes Strategy
The Snake Stylist has no own strategy but every strategy can become a Snake Strategy. Again, a good comparison is a Chess Master. Every move possible in Chess has been discovered, documented and used; a Snake Stylist would rather spend the time learning every possible Snake maneuver rather than some fruitless trial-and-error game. It would search out person who have been successful in the art and it would seek to understand, emulate and possibly even improve (although, without admitting to this).

The Snakes Training
Physically the Snake would seek to be fit, flexible, enduring and flexible again. Strength would also be important as would looks. Of all the Animal Stylists, the Snakes tend towards physical vanity without ever admitting to it and dressing down to avoid being called a peacock. Yet, the Physical prowess and ability as their presence and looks are of some importance to them. In addition, Snake Stylist would need to be quick of body, hand and foot, well coordinated and able to twist around an attacker. Precision is also very important to find those important pressure points. Mentally, the Snake Stylist would need to specialize (at least initially). As a proper Snake Stylist you would choose either the Healing and Pressure Points (Dim Mak), Physical Strength, Grappling & Joint Locking Knowledge or Speed, Precision and Vital Point (Poison Hand) skills.

The Snake Stylist
The ideal Snake Stylist is one who is truly awed by great achievements in it’s field of choice. They would have a great believe in the tried-and-proven rather than ‘fancy new stuff’. They may even have, to some degree, a touch of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder or similar that they would use to their advantage to become and expert in what they chose. A Hall mark of Snake Stylists is their apparent unhappiness with their own performance even when other salute them for their mastery. Snake Stylists, in many way may never be truly happy with their achievements, always believing that they can do better.

choi li fut snake

Sieh Ying Kuen
Choy Li Fut’s snake form is named sieh ying kuen (literally meaning “snake form”). While there are no closed-fists in sieh ying kuen, the term kuen (fist) also describes any hand form. Since the snake is one of the traditional Shaolin five animals, and this form uses only open hand techniques, it makes sense to call it the snake form.
There are three primary hand techniques in sieh ying kuen. One looks like a spear hand strike, and is called a “snake head” strike in sieh ying kuen. Another has the index and middle fingers extended into a pressure point and vital point strike configuration, and is known as the “snake’s tongue.” The most effective vital point strikes are to the opponent’s eyes, throat, solar plexus, armpit, floating ribs, groin, temple, and kidneys. The third hand technique has the snake stylist’s palm pointing downward, with the thumb separated and extending under the palm. This is chuin nau, or the “snake opening its mouth.”


YouTube - Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong - Choy Li Fut Snake -
There is also a horizontal forearm strike that resembles a snake swinging its tail and a downward blocking hand, called poon kiu, which is a circling motion that resembles a coiling snake. There are techniques that have one hand attacking and the other protecting near the chest and elbow, as well as actions with both hands either attacking or defending.
Sieh ying kuen also has some unique footwork and hand movements. One diagonal stepping motion looks like a snake slithering. There is a kneeling movement, called “twin snakes come out from the hole,” that can be interpreted as a snake head jab to pressure points in the opponent’s rib area, or for distance fighting, scooping up gravel to hrow in the enemy’s face




http://hungsingma.squarespace.com/tai-sifus-blog/tag/kwan-yin-palm

Sap

http://www.shaolin.com/StyleContent.aspx?Style=Snake
Southern Snake kung Fu
There is precious little written material available about the snake kung fu styles, although they are foundation sets in traditional Shaolin, family styles, and are incorporated in a host of peripheral schools such as Pa Kua and T'ai Ch'i Chuan. It is possibly because of the near-universal inclusion of snake techniques in Chinese and other styles that little specific attention has been paid to the style. In the Shaolin kung fu system, the snake's position between other styles (above Crane and Tiger and just below Mantis and Dragon) illustrates its intermediary nature. It is distinguished from the styles below it by the introduction of circular movement in its parries and attacks. This introduction of circles characterizes the transition to a higher style. The circles themselves can be compared to the dynamic of yang and yin in Taoism. Circular attacks (viewed as yin) are countered by direct attacks (yang). Similarly, straight techniques are countered by circular ones.

Snakes are conspicuous predators that have intrigued human beings for a long time. The snake’s biological diversity is also reflected in the style itself. Large snakes may constrict prey, preventing the rib cage from expanding to allow inhaling, causing death by asphyxiation (true, constrictors such as pythons may "crush" their prey, but only if the prey animal is strong enough to break its own bones while trying to inhale). Many small and colorful snakes have lethal venom, and to early human beings the mysterious death caused after a small bite was probably seen as nothing short of magic. Vipers inject venom into the bloodstream in order to kill prey. Cobras, on the other hand, use poison that affects the nervous system. Such creatures, then, combined elements worth including in a martial arts style.

Snake kung fu styles probably developed among the first codified martial arts creations. The emphasis on hitting weak points along the ch'i meridians suggests that such meridians and primal acupuncture had already been worked out. (It has been suggested by some practitioners of acupuncture that the meridian routes were mapped based on preferred sites for mosquito bites; many bites induce discomfort in distant parts of the body. Interesting idea...) The modern snake kung fu style is actually an amalgamation of older styles which have now died out. Its range of technique, however, reflects the influence of each of these three styles. Viper consisted of intimidating strikes that could inflict heavy psychological damage by drawing lots of blood without causing life-threatening damage. Its trademark was the tongue strike - two fingers aiming often at arteries and veins. Cobra, in contrast, did not emphasize highly recognizable or showy techniques but rather very serious strikes to nerves and pressure points. Its characteristic hand technique was an open hand with the thumb curled underneath in order to maintain dynamic tension. Python, in addition, relied on the leopard fist for its pinpoint strikes and included grappling. The two universal aspects of snake techniques are pin-point open-hand strikes and twisting arm postures to disguise one’s line of attack. Such movements are often seen in Wing Chun kung fu forms, as in the third, or Bil Jee, set, in which most of the hand techniques are snake-derived.

Most snake kung fu practitioners use an upright, mobile stance and rely less on horse-stance than most other styles. The mobile stance allows for rapid advances and sidestepping footwork. Additionally, snake stylists don't trade blows, or "tough-out" attacks. Using fast, alternating hand jabs, the practitioner drills at an opponent, sidesteps counterattacks, and drives home his attack. There are some stylistic variations, such as one Fukien-based style that employs low sweeps (and is thus an exception to the general rule of sweeps being confined to Northern styles).

It is this adherence to unassuming stances and rapid attack that make snake such a deceptively simple-looking kung fu style. Snake stylists are taught to spring from rest posture to full attack; there are no preparatory stances or "threatening" gestures. If attacked, the snake stylist bobs and weaves, looking much like anyone else, until an opening presents itself. The strikes then fly quickly, in succession, hitting the same opening over and over. Should the attacker block one of these snake-strikes, the snake changes targets and continues its barrage. Kicks are low, snappy, and aimed at the shins, knee, or top of foot.

http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_6320106_kung-fu-snake_style-techniques.html
Distinguished by circular movement when delivering parries and attacks, kung fu snake style employs an upright, mobile stance as opposed to the horse stance used by most other styles. This mobile stance enables quick advances and sidestepping. Since snake stylists are taught to spring from rest to full attack, they do not use preparatory stances. Snake stylists rely on rapid, alternating jabs as well as bobbing and weaving to evade counterattacks.

Shaolin Snake Style
Unlike other animal techniques (crane, leopard, tiger and dragon), the snake style does not use hard punching techniques. When attacking, the snake stylist aims for an opponent's vulnerable spots---e.g., eyes, throat and groin. Fingertips and palms strike with penetrating force. This technique requires "ting" or listening energy and is developed via "sticking hands" and other exercises. While the tiger style employs noisy exhales to frighten opponents, the snake style tries to neutralize an enemy's attack with a minimum of puffery. It emphasizes rhythmic breathing and the simultaneous use of strikes and blocks.

Snake Fist (She Quan)
While its origins are unknown, this style has evolved into two schools---one from Southern China and the other from a Shaolin temple. Both employ similar fighting techniques. For example, the fighter mimics a snake's suppleness to initiate attack. The fist represents the snake's head, fingers form into a snake's tongue and legs move like a snake's tail. Both schools emphasize the use of finger strikes to the opponent's eyes and other pressure points as well as speed.

Southern Snake Style
A relatively young style that dates back to the late 1800s, the Southern snake style uses classical Shaolin techniques with hard punches mixed with fluid Wing Chun movements. The Southern style employs a more open, upright stance. In contrast to the more balanced mix of punches, joint locks and holds seen in other styles, the Southern style focuses only on a variety of punches.

Python Style
This style leverages joint locks, throws and immobilizations to take down an opponent. With a focus on feints, the fighter learns not just strikes but techniques to mask which strike or joint lock is being thrown.

White Snake (Bai She Tu Xin)
Fingers recreate the forked shape of the snake's tongue. The index and middle fingers extend while the remaining fingers are folded into the palm. This strike targets the eyes or other soft parts of an enemy.

Snake Comes Out of Its Hole (Qing She Chu Dong)
Fingers squeeze together to form the shape of a cobra's head and then strike. The move can also be inverted or reversed to block a strike to the throat or eyes. Stylists strike with a bent elbow.

Water Snake Swims to Surface (Shui She Shang An)
An inverted technique that strikes at pressure points around the throat and armpits.



Read more: Kung Fu Snake-Style Techniques | eHow.co.uk http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_6320106_kung-fu-snake_style-techniques.html#ixzz1F3Hab8rt