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The Seven Animals of Me'je Oruka, Part VII
The Snake (She or She Xing)
Namaste’ Students and Fellow Martial Arts Enthusiasts!
The date of origin and founder of Snake Kung Fu are unknown. It is fairly well established that the place of origin was China although the specific part of the country is not known. It belongs to the Southern Shaolin styles of Kung Fu, accompanied by the Tiger, Dragon, White Crane, Leopard, and Southern Praying Mantis. I raised two snakes for years ago and was absolutely fascinated by their speed, stealth, agility, and strength. They were both non-venomous constrictors, and yes, they did escape their enclosures several times. One day I found Taurus (my bull snake) straight as an arrow, climbing straight up the corner, were two walls intersected – 90 degrees. I could just barely make out the movements of his underbody muscles. His movements were deliberate, focused, patiently executed, subtle, yet obviously powerful enough for him to ‘connect himself to the wall’ on a perfectly vertical climb.
The snake is limbless (a reptile, lizard or amphibian). It has no eyelids. It ‘sees’ its environment by also using its tongue and tactile senses of the skin. Its jaws are capable of considerable extension without sacrificing strength or maneuverability. Some snakes have a venomous bite. These are some of the characteristics and qualities that the natural snake bestows upon the Snake Style Kung Fu practitioner. Generally speaking, the snake has a bad reputation in many cultures and subcultures. (A treacherous or deceitful, person: ‘that man is a cold-blooded snake.’) (…it was the snake in the Garden of Eden that tempted Eve causing man to fall...) But that is not true of all cultures. In many cultures and subcultures the snake is regarded with great spiritual significance. Historically, serpents or snakes represent fertility or a creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. The Ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.
The snake movements are used to develop temperament and endurance in the student, assets to be used in every aspect of your life and training. Breathing is done in a slow steady rhythm, sinking the breath deep to the lower abdominal area (Dan Tien) drawing on the wellspring of qi. Soft is silent, silent is invisible, invisible is deadly. In this sense, the Southern Shaolin Snake shares characteristics with Taoist Tai Chi. The snake practitioners’ movements are relaxed, flowing, unending, rippling like the waves of the ocean or the branches of trees rising and falling, swaying right and then left, yielding to the force of the wind.
Called by some the Guardian of the Dragons, the snake has dual characteristics, being an earth creature by nature, yet symbolic of a high, spiritual nature because of its flowing, continuous, rhythmic, spiraling movements. Have you ever watched how the clouds yield to and ride the wind in an undulating, metamorphic dance, changing from one formless form into another? By staying relaxed, fluid, and unpredictable, the snake practitioner uses it darting, stabbing snake hand to attack the eyes, face, genitals, throat, armpits, and vital pressure points with speed, focus, and explosive power.
Many snakes have natural mechanisms for warning you that you are violating their space, breaking their peace, or otherwise threatening them. Bright colors, swollen jaws, exposed fangs, and tail rattles are all gracious warning systems. If not heeded, the snake can be deadly, but it is also not ashamed to run. Because of the serious consequences of hitting vital targets (eyes, throat, groin), the snake-stylist must be calm and peaceful and avoid a fight if possible. As a disciple of our system you must exemplify the 7 Circles principles of Humility, Kindness, Patience, and Diligence. It is only when there is no recourse but to fight, the threat has not heeded your cautions, and the situation seems serious enough to warrant it, it is then and only then that one should use the techniques of the snake form.
Qigong practice and qigong development are vital to the snake practitioner. No student can effectively and reliably apply the snake techniques without the energy fortification of qi. This training along with many years of slow Shaolin Boxing practice will enable you to develop the ability to stick to your opponent, more easily neutralizing their attacks. The snake style is designed to cultivate, harness, and project internal Qi (Chi) or Jing (pulse) energy. It thereby gains superior focus and penetrating force not associated in anyway with the external animal. The snake moves in a very evasive manner, coiling, spiraling, twisting, and darting as it moves steadily towards its target. Think of the technique ‘White Serpent Darts Out Its Tongue’ in the Yang Style Tai Chi Long Form.
The snake form has no hard punching techniques. It uses both hard and soft principles with the fingertips and palms as the striking surfaces making contact with penetrating force. With the snake style, every block is an attack, or perhaps we should say that the snake practitioner blocks as he or she is attacking. The focus is on attacking. By training in all the 7 Animals of the Seven Circles System, the students get all of the hand and body conditioning they need to apply the fingertip and palm hand techniques of the snake.
In the soft internal martial arts, in general, the fundamental principle is not to oppose an attacking force, but to use the incoming force against itself to defeat the attacker. Therefore, when using the snake style to deal with an opponent, the practitioner will not aim to oppose the attack, but instead to evade it and even add a little force to it, turning the attacker into their own problem. The most effective way to accomplish or apply this principle is by always moving both limbs, and the entire body in circular, spiraling, curved motions. As a snake student, your arms will rarely be fully extended. Rather you will tend to move your arms in arcs, elbows relaxed and bent, using the tendons to influence movements rather than tensing the larger muscle groups.
The fundamental principle is called Circularity or Spiraling. As a snake practitioner you are always relaxed but alert, ever-changing form without tension, explosive power hidden behind a veil of calm. The power of the snake strikes is generated from the spine through a whipping action that flows to the fingertips, much like the ‘impulse power’ referred to in traditional Taoist Tai Chi Chu’an.
To be continued: Eagle
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It is not simply practice that makes perfect. It is perfect practice and consistent practice that makes perfect.
