JDIATCC - Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan

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Snake Form (Chuen Kuen)

Cheung Kuen Se Ying - The Tai Chi Chuan Long Fist Snake Form

Master Ip Tai Tak Snake Form Tai Chi Chuan is perhaps most well known for its series of co-ordinated and linked movements. These methodical and measured movements are known as the Tai Chi Chuan forms. They can vary in their length and complexity. But despite this, almost all who see its movements synonymously associate them correctly with Tai Chi Chuan. They are as distinctive as they are unique and few mistake them for being anything else. Practitioners are often seen deeply engaged with their form practice - focused and unwavered by distractions. To the uninitiated, forms are often described as moving meditation. But whilst Tai Chi Chuan forms do have their meditative qualities, they play a much greater role to the Tai Chi practitioner.

Snake Form Seminar: First field report on the Snake Form

ED:German translation is at the end of this article.

The form requires

Externally:

High demands

- joints, ligaments, sinews;
- leg muscles;
- back muscles;
- co-ordination;
- concentration.

The Snake Form : Another View

From my perspective learning the complete Snake Form from Masters John and Alan Ding was an opportunity not to be missed. From everything that both Master Dings had told me over the years I understood that this form was the result of all those years of intensive (and often brutal) training that Grandmaster Ip Tai Tak undertook in over 30 years of almost daily one-to-one training under Great Grandmaster Yang Sau Chung. As 1st disciple, it was Master Ip’s duty to deal with the many challenge matches that took place on behalf of Master Yang Sau Chung. It was protecting the honour of the Yang family that led to Master Ip receiving a level of Yang style martial training that has rarely been seen outside of the Yang family itself. As in older times this knowledge was passed to him through hands-on application training and push hands, rather than through Form.

The Snake Form: My first experience and impressions

The Snake Form has been an enigma to me since I first heard of it. It was something that many people seemed to have an opinion on without having direct experience with it. In the past I have heard many different rumors on exactly what the Snake form is. For these reasons I jumped at the chance to experience it personally from Sifu Ding in Düsseldorf.

The Snake form has very, very low stances using 100% weighting on a leg instead of the standard 70%-30% rule in the long form. Weight is smoothly shifted between the legs always following the 100% weighting rule. The footwork is based on the triangle instead of the square and this affects many techniques seeming to me to make them more sideward oriented rather than forward oriented as in the long form.

The Snake Form: A perspective.

Now here was an interesting opportunity. A chance to find out about the much talked about ‘Snake Form’, exposure to different ideas/concepts and an environment to develop them in. With an opportunity like that, who would pass it up?
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