Your favorite animal style and why?

[Ricochet]

I like the Human Style.

 

Humans are animals.

[47MartialMan]

What about kid style?

[MenteReligieuse]

I like the Human Style.

 

Humans are animals.

 

Yet we would pretty much get owned by any other mammals ... I fear my poodle....

[Hudson]

Then again, Jackie Chan movies teach me that only Snake combined with Cat Claw a.k.a. "Snake in Eagle's Shadow" is the best animal style. Also, to fear the 8 drunken immortals!

[CLFDisciple]

I' have to say i found that i have an affinity for the crane movements although the rest of the five animals in choy lay fut (panther, dragon,snake and tiger) are all effective and they fit my body type.

 

I just find the crane to be very graceful as well as very effective.

 

But its the combination of all five that make them truely effective

[47MartialMan]

So, does each have a restriction per the practitioner, that may or may not be able to perform all of the moves per a animal?

[Drunken Monkey]

....depends.

 

i know of one hung gar school that teaches a five animals set, as well as the five separate animal styles as individual styles, as it were.

 

on the same lines, among the list of shaolin styles/forms, there exists the separate animal forms as well as a collected five animals form.

 

in these cases, the five animals form isn't strictly the same as the five separate animals forms.

 

(mainly because of concept and executions of concepts)

 

as it was the the way with 'old school' training,

 

if you couldn't do the movements, you were 'forced' by whatever means, normally painful ones, to do them.

 

so really, in that sense, you weren't limited to what you can or cannot do as whatever body type you have, you were conditioned to be able to do the movements required.

 

in any case, in the case of the shaolin five animals style,

 

you would've had done the 'tung gi gung' beforehand anyway,

 

so you would've been able to do what was required before you would've started to learn animal styles.

 

if you go a little more in depth with regards to movements,

 

there are some instances where as long as the principles are intact, it doesn't really matter if the moves aren't 'perfect'

 

(as long as the motionmovement is...... if that makes any sense at all.....)

 

um, think of it this way.

 

in wing chun, in most cases, in application, the motions/movements are not the same as done in the form

 

BUT

 

the way you do them are.

[aefibird]

I like Crane style, as I can trace my karate lineage (eventually!) back to White Crane.

 

I always enjoy watching Mantis, Dragon and Snake styles, though, too.

[CLFDisciple]

So, does each have a restriction per the practitioner, that may or may not be able to perform all of the moves per a animal?

 

no. there is no limit to what anyone can do. i just favor the crane techniques cause theyre very practical. the fact of it is that, if you practice the five animals system (crane, snake, panther, tiger, dragon) you should learn them all and use them all harmoniously at the same time (i mean when the technique is needed). theres a five animal kung fu style i beleive but also there are styles like choy lay fut that teach a five animals form that uses the same concepts.

 

but then again there are styles that focus on singular animals. (white crane kung fu, emei snake fist kung fu, eagle claw kung fu, monkey kung fu, black tiger kung fu, seven star mantis)

 

also theres styles that combine two animals (wing chun [snake and crane], hung gar [tiger and crane])

[Drunken Monkey]

also, the animal styles don't set out to imitate the animals,

 

rather they take the animal's characteristics, with respects to chinese views on their nature/essence.

 

i.e the dragon is ethereal, sliding, gliding, pushing, pulling, hard to ascertain it's intention/direction.

 

hmm, but then again, that's also dependent of the style.

 

white crane movements can be veeerrry crane like whereas eagle claw hardly resembles an eagle.

 

there's a dragon style i know of but can't quite remember the name, that involves a lot of really close contact.

 

it 'sticks' more than wing chun does.....