Northern Praying Mantis Discussion

[tamojin]

Just thought I would add a Northern Mantis area to discuss forms, training, lineage, weapons and all aspects of all the branches ie. Seven Star, 8 steps, Long Fist, Six Harmonies, Plum Flower etc.

[mantisman]

Just thought I would add a Northern Mantis area to discuss forms, training, lineage, weapons and all aspects of all the branches ie. Seven Star, 8 steps, Long Fist, Six Harmonies, Plum Flower etc.

Dont supose you can provide some pics of basic hand tech. for us to see?
Do you know any good links to footage of your forms?

[keef321]

I practice Northern Mantis, not really seen many clips on the net but will keep an eye out for them.

To help you understand a bit more about Northern Mantis the basic principles/theory are as follows:

The 12 Keyword formula which is theory as follows:

1) to Hook - The action of hooking
2) Grapple - To hold onto/control the opponent
3) Pluck - The plucking movement, a quick jerking movement often bringing the opponent of balance.
4) To hang in mid-air
5) Intercept Hand - Intercept the attack then immediatly follow it up, usually a hook but I would think any intercept could be used as it is a theory, ie. hooking forearm block then immediatley followed by changing into a palm strike to the face.
6) Chop - To come from above and and strike down.
7) Contact - To get contact, i.e. set up a fake stike to the face, they block, contact is made, from this trapping etc can be applied.
8) Cling - Once contact has been made, keep the contact like sticky paint.
9) Tag - To get in close to the opponent, done using foot work.
10) Lean - Using body mechanics with a leaning motion for a take-down
11) Dodge - To dodge as the name implies
12) Bounce - movements to gain distance

This is further expained into more keywords but for now 12 will do as these are the traditional core. The keywords are not techniques but theory.

Other theory includes "strike high then low, to the left, then the right" & "fein high, attack low; fein low, attack high" etc

Hope this maybe helps?
__________________
Keef

[Jeff Burger]

Welcome to Budoseek Keef.
Per forum rules please include real full name.

Jeff

[gveest]

I study Seven Star Mantis in the Wong Hon Fun clan. I have been studying the Baag Yune Tao Tou form (White Ape Steals Peach) and have just begun on Bung Bo (Crushing Step). I find it to be very challenging and a lot of fun.
My sifu also teaches classes on Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming's chin na. (I am grateful for dit da jou.)

George Stewart

[Tre]

Hey,
I studied Wah Lum Northern Mantis. I thought the style was great. I love how much variety there was in the art. It is is really great if you want to learn some very fluid grapples and blocks. I especially like the leg blocks that I learned. I had never studied any art that taught that. Also, it really develops your balance.

[creq]

How does northern praying mantis differ from southern praying mantis?

[electricsoul]

I too did a stint in Wah Lum... an excellent style in my opinion.
Very balanced, very beautiful... however, I would say that to really get good at it, it probably takes longer than most styles.
Wah Lum claims to be Northern Praying Mantis, but there is alot of Southern style mixed in there too, which is cool for balance.

[cyclops]

I too did a stint in Wah Lum... an excellent style in my opinion.
Very balanced, very beautiful... however, I would say that to really get good at it, it probably takes longer than most styles.
Wah Lum claims to be Northern Praying Mantis, but there is alot of Southern style mixed in there too, which is cool for balance.

I assume you guys are talking about Wah Lum Tam Tui. I believe the reason there seems to be a lot of Southern mixed in is because Tam Tui is a Southern art. I may try the Wah Lum school here in Boston this week. I'll try to remember to post in this thread about it.

[Jeff Burger]

Tam Tui was a Muslim art so I wouldnt call it a northern or southern cause it wasnt Shaolin Temple based.

Cylcops...dont you train with Yao Li now?
If so when you go to Wah Lum mention it.

Jeff

[cyclops]

I was planning to train with Yao Li, but I've only been back to Boston a few days so I'm still in the settling in phase. But before I make the decision I want to try this school, so by the end of this week I'll belong to one school or the other.

About the Tam Tui...whoops.

[J4d3]

mantis is an art thats had my interest for some time now but i don't believe there are any schools that teach anything like it around here.are there any books or resources i could look into atleast for reference?

[sean_stonehart]

mantis is an art thats had my interest for some time now but i don't believe there are any schools that teach anything like it around here.are there any books or resources i could look into atleast for reference?

Florida is literally covered in Mantis (no pun intended) schools. Where about are you in the state?

[mantisman]

How does northern praying mantis differ from southern praying mantis?

It's pretty much the same difference as other styles have between northern and southern. The northern stlyes are definately more interesting to watch as they have longer stances and more of thelonger range tech. in my opinion. The particular style of southern mantis i practice is not real interesting to watch but i'm still amazed watching the things sifu is capable of.

[J4d3]

i'm in navarre i could drive to ft. walton or gulf breeze maybe pensacola.oh i was looking on ebay just using the word mantis and you can buy a bunch of mantis eggs.thought that was kinda interesting.

[sean_stonehart]

Hmmm... don't know of any Mantis in that area.

If you go to the Kung Fu Magazine forum & ask Hua Lin Laoshi or somebody in the NPM forum, they could direct you better.

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum

[cyclops]

i'm in navarre i could drive to ft. walton or gulf breeze maybe pensacola.oh i was looking on ebay just using the word mantis and you can buy a bunch of mantis eggs.thought that was kinda interesting.

What's up Navarre! I'm from Pensacola, just moved here to Boston a year and a half ago. I think the closest thing to any sort of kung fu in Pensacola is "Master Safakhoo's" or something like that. www.toaskungfu.com

They aren't affiliated with any system of kung fu, it's a style the owner invented. I've never heard anything either good or bad about the school so you might try it out. Enjoy the warm weather!

[J4d3]

im good with the art i'm studying in mary esther i just wanted something to accent my overall abilities really.i called the toas kung fu place when i was first looking for a dojo and i just got a weird 1st impression.

[JessePasley]

TOAS kung fu? While I'm not against a guy making up his own art, and by the looks of his website his students are pretty fit, it's pictures likethis that really got me thinking WTF? Paranoid knife freaks living in a Shaw bros film maybe?

Anyways, I declined to vote on the poll concerning northern mantis. Like most chinese martial arts, there's some good schools but then there's the ones that really bring the overall image and quality down.

My experience with mantis was pretty good. I only learned bengbu and a little bit of meihuashou but boy did I drill the crap out of them and took the techniques up to full-contact sparring. I noticed however that a lot of mantis schools actually have quite a few taolu on their syllabus (one school's website listed almost 80). How common is this? How many forms really cover the core of mantis?

[sean_stonehart]

Core of Mantis... cool question. I've heard Wang Lang himself created only 3 sets to teach what he taught...

Bung Bo (Crushing Step)
Lan Jie (Intercepting ...)
Bazhou (8 Elbows)

So who's to say? Some styles have lots... some have a few. Some do drills instead of sets & vice versa. It all comes down to applying the techniques.