For me, I started taking after the praying mantis after a few years of training because I’m a lot faster with handwork than legs. What following an animal does in layman’s terms is that you get in “the zone “ and your techniques become a part of your body instead of performing your techniques. Think of a master carpenter becoming one with his hammer and hammering all day without being tired. It’s like that.
Not to distract or take away from what you said, as it is true. However - animals do posture, much like guys ripping off their shirts and putting up their fists. In territorial fights and fights over the female, male animals posture, puff up, bluff, etc., just the same as humans. There is a big different between territorial fights and hunting. We are animals, and we behave in very much the same ways.
Really appreciate this deeper dive into the animals. I didn't really get it at first, but now it's shifted my paradigm towards the intentions behind having animals as reference for martial arts forms, not just physical, but taking on the mentality and spirit as well.
The only imitative forms of boxing recorded in China pre-1600’s seem to be monkey and ape (I don’t include dog boxing as I’m not sure its an imitative form). In the 1600’s on and especially in the 1700’s on you see a mass proliferation of animal styles, mostly in Southern China. Those were likely imports that were studied and transformed to meet the needs of the anti-Qing revolutionaries. Every highly refined martial art has at its core has a single organizing principle. You can think of it like the master Yi/intention for the system from which all other intentions are derived. For the source of the southern animal forms these were the hand forms matched to breathing patterns. If you hold the hand forms properly and breath properly for that hand form, your entire way of perception, instinct, intention, and coordination unifies in a singular and consistent manner. When this happens, that’s when the spirit of the animal form, as crystallized in the hand form and breath pattern, has integrated with/possessed the mind and body. When this happens, an otherwise untrained person will automatically begin moving, perceiving openings and exploiting openings in a manner consistent with the original traditional forms of the animal systems. This transformation can occur within 1 to 2 days of starting the practice. The use of a hand form and breath as the organizing principle for a martial art is not native to China, and it dates back to before 800 AD in other cultures. The lack of a single organizing principle is the reason JKD is difficult to work with (keep what’s useful and throw away the rest is pretty abstract, it’s like telling some the key to building wealth is making money and not losing it). As such, It’s very easy in JKD to end up with a system that forces the user to toggle back and forth between multiple distinct intents. Every time a swap occurs, there’s going to be an exploitable gap in perception, instinct, intention, and coordination. An example from MMA is Greco Roman and boxing can be meshed into a single master intent that’s seamless. It’s much harder to do that with free style wrestling and boxing. In Bruce’s art, his focus was on shutting people down with the power and speed of his lead tools. His master intention was somewhat like fencing with his lead arm and lead leg. Anything that got it the way of that was jettisoned.
The " be like water" dictum is a pretty good"yi" for the Adaptable pressure fighter if there ever was one! It is just a descriptive exhortation to embrace The wing chun barrier-riding forearm-fencer's set of habits with full fluidity and gusto! The animal "water" is bit amorphous as an organizing archetype perhaps...but so is the style of jkd!!!
Dear Adam Chan; I've been gratefully watching your teachings. Over here self-defense means the protection of yourself, your loved ones or even a stranger in danger. Could you give (some) example(s) on how to approach a situation when a loved one is under attack? Sincerly;
In the system of Hung Kuen that I learned the main emphasis is on the Tiger & Crane, and snake, leopard and dragon movements are used seldom. Tiger = palming & clawing to the face and body. Crane = clenched fingers striking to the eyes, temple and side of neck. Open hand wing blocks, kicks. Snake = straight hand finger strikes to the eyes, throats and ribs Leopard = half fist strikes to the face, throat, solar plexus, shoulder joint, groin. Dragon = Locking arts “Chin na/Kum na” And in my personal experience touching hands with tong long praying mantis practitioners, the praying mantis system is about intercepting attacks, hooking the arms and sweeping the opponent. I am currently learning Hop Gar and Lama pai and it’s based off of the Ape 🦍 and the crane. Long arm punches and arm swings mixed with strikes to vital targets.
Maybe you'll disagree with me, and I would like to have your opinion about it, but I think that copying animals is a way to decrease fear and anxiety during a fight. As man, a fight is really stressfull and frightening which result in stiff movements, lack of accuracy etc... Animals, even the weakest ones fight with courage if they can't escape the threat. If your switch your human mindset to tiger, crane, monkey or snake, your fear partialy deseapper. So, you can fool your brain, be aggresive and gain major chances to survive.
Before I watch this video, I bet I know what’s Adam gonna say. It’s obvious that during this era, science isnt where it is today. And animals were the predator of man and were plenty unlike today. So the best way to strengthen ourselves was to mimic them and create forms to help us gain more power, so to speak. And this was the case for countless years before science finally kicked in and made things different. Good or bad, you pick one. Anyways, I’m sure Adam will do a way better job than my noobish explanation.
Laying on your back and pressing/kneading/tossing weighted blankets like they are pizza dough with your various gouging hand formations is a great way to train ripping styles... Uechi Ryu masochism is not the only way to build grappler's claws! I prefer a plush blanket! American cat's claw kung fu for the win!
P.s. Adam... I am the founder of a system of quadripedal arnis and a rehabilitative exercise methodology that goes along with it... and I am located accessibly close to where your studio is... when my system is fully rolled out I would love to get up to b.c. and talk with you a bit...archeofuturism in neuro-physical performance is a frontier that very few even try to access, and you have been at it for longer than I have! Shihan hikikomori, founder of"double crutch style" double large knife and "four footed kali" double small knife and dumog
This was a deep episode. I’m a fan of Jungs work. I think the Indonesian arts delve deeply into this. Perhaps not so much anymore because of Islamic refrains.
You mentioned Miyagi, who was a Butcher by trade, well so was Zhang Fei who was an actual Historical Figuer during the Waring States period in China. And people need to realize that most Martial Arts were created before the 1600's. And from a Social Anthropology perspective, how do you know it isn't real if you were not there when the Myth was Created ?. And also, Some myths are written in a very poetic way, why? Because they are a form of storytelling that keeps peoples attention and are much more memorable than a dry and boring College Lecture that makes most people fall asleep once the lights are turned down so they can see the material for the lecture.😊😉❤✌
Get with a qualified teacher who can teach you the exact way, using the right tools and has high quality Dit Da Jow available. It is progressive training that needs to be done in a restrained manner. Not only in forming the natural weapon correctly but in the alignment of the body and the energetics involved in transferring the power generated to reach the weapon and successfully transfer into a target without rebounding back into the natural weapon or the weakest points in the structure used. Different tools can be used to train different kinds of techniques but even something as simple as fingertip pushups can be a starting point. When using pointy techniques, the conditioning element only aids the technique a little bit, but it is still heavily reliant on making contact with the correct targets at the correct angles using the correct structure to avoid the impact force transferring to the weakest area. Even if the natural weapon is very tough and conditioned, making contact at a bad angle or having the timing on the energetics wrong can still result in injuring yourself. Good luck on your journey!
Why Kung Fu mimics animals? Simple, how many hundreds and thousands of years were animal and such were the only thing to study. They didn't have The B-52 and Abrams tank or F-35 fighter before the 20th century.
