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The Snake Form : Another View PDF Print E-mail
Written by Nick Cheang   
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.

Master Ip took the approach of putting what was possible of this precious information into a slow moving Form that takes perhaps 8 minutes to perform. From the intensive training course with Master John and Alan Ding it became even clearer to me that even at the highest levels of internal work, Form can only be part of the equation. What led me to believe this is the sheer number of deadly, powerful applications that Master Ding showed us that were based on the ‘snake’ principle, but were unlikely to be found through study of the Form’s movements. These represented the more important aspect of transmission which, having been received by Master Ding from Grandmaster Ip in the traditional (sometimes painful) hands-on manner, he was now in a position to pass on to those willing and able to take it.

Aside from the key applications, it is extremely easy to make the Form a ‘toothless tiger’ rather than a venomous snake by not having a low enough stance, a strong enough centre, an adequate understanding of basic principles or a heart for martial arts. Master Alan Ding emphasised to me how uncompromising the real practice of the Form is. He put me in the correct position. When I tried to move, my body collapsed from the pressure – I had to let myself fall to the ground (luckily not very far as the stance was so low). When someone asked how healthy practising this way is for the body, Master Alan Ding simply replied, “The Snake Form is what it is. It is how the top tier of Tai Chi practitioners practice; this is how it is done”.

To me the Snake Form is all about uncompromising preparation of the mind and body for the highest achievements in Tai Chi. I feel simultaneously lucky, humbled and in awe to be exposed to this material: lucky because I can begin to understand how difficult it was for my Sifu to track down and Master this information in the first place; humbled and in awe as I experience a mere fraction of Grandmaster Ip’s lifelong study of Tai Chi every time I practice his Form and taste Master Ding’s applications. In all my years of martial arts I have never treated a Form and its applications with the amount of respect I can feel myself having towards this one. Never have I felt so connected to past generations of practitioners. Thank you Sifu, Sigung and Sijo (Master Yang Sau Chung).

Nick.

 
 
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