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Summary: Learn the history of five animal forms shaolin kung fu in this free martial arts instruction video from our Marital Arts expert.
Views: 4,154 | Tags: tips, videos, training, self, defense, techniques, martial, arts, crane, kung, fu, classes, style, animal, southern, shaolin, kungfu, martialarts, forms, gung, tiger, snake, five, xiaolin, leopard, dragon
About the Expert
Adam Bowling Instructor Adam Bowling trained under Sifu Ken Lewis and earned the rank of Lao Shi in Four Winds Kung Fu. He felt the call to give back to the community. He ... read more
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Questions & AnswersHi I'm Adam Bowling. I'm representing the Christian Martial Arts Center Association. On behalf of Expert Village, I'm here to talk to you about the Five Animal Forms of Kung Fu. History of the Five Animal Forms starts in the country name India where a monk named Tamo, traveled from India to China walking the whole distance. The walk that he took led him on an educational journey through the wilderness. Tamo saw predominantly five different animal groups that he mimicked. These animal groups taught Tamo different moves in which he was able to develop a Martial Arts that we now know as the Five Animals. One of the styles of Martial Art in the Five Animal Styles was the crane. And it said, Tamo saw the crane by the rivers, and Tamo would mimic the crane and how the crane, his bit would be sharp, he would stand on one leg and stretch out with his wings, hook, strike towards the fish, strike other cranes and kick. Another animal that Tamo saw on his journey was the tiger. The tiger was seen in the jungles. And the tigers, he saw the tigers when they would crouch, search for his prey and strike, pinning his prey to the ground. Tigers would tear flesh, requiring strength. Another animal that Tamo saw was the snake. He would see the snakes in the plains, in the grass. Snakes were elusive. Snakes would always move, blocking, striking, turning, calling, striking, moving always, very elusive. Another animal that he saw in the mountains was the dragon. Dragons were big animals and they have to be sleek about how they move. When they would come at you, a dragon will not come at you like this. A dragon would come at you in an elusive manner, with which, will make you think that the dragon was not coming towards you. He would step always at an angle. If you look at a lizard's feet today and you see a lizard, a lizard's feet point outwards every time they take step forward. Once the dragon was close enough, he would strike trapping and attacking. The dragon, the tiger, the snake, the crane and the leopard. The leopard was also an elusive animal saw in the jungle. The leopard will never attack you straight, similar to the dragon. He would attack you always at angles, never to attack you straight because the leopard's body was much more slim than a tiger, even though it'd be still a cat. The leopard would move to the angles, striking, tripping, moving, never on straight strike, always from the side. Leopards would move in angles so as they protect their own body. As you will see, each animal represents or typifies rather a body type. Tamo saw this and he took all of his knowledge of those animals into the Northern Temples of Shoaling where he was able to teach the monks his style of Kung Fu and they're creating what we know today as the Five Animal Styles.
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I hadn't realized that the five animals would have been based on the body size of the individual. It really does make a lot of sense, especially as described throughout this video series. I wonder if the person's body size causes the individual who isn't informed of the background to unconsciously prefer a certain animal style.
GOOD