Come join us at Green Dragon Kung Fu Costa Rica for the experience of a lifetime. Our motto is ‘Fan pu gui zhen’, which means, ‘To return to one’s true self, to the natural state, to the state of simplicity and purity.’ Our mission is to maintain an environment where we can live simply, honestly, cleanly, and happily.
Come join us at Green Dragon Kung Fu Costa Rica for the experience of a lifetime. Our motto is ‘Fan pu gui zhen’, which means, ‘To return to one’s true self,
to the natural state, to the state of simplicity and purity.’ Our mission is to maintain an environment where we can live simply, honestly, cleanly, and happily.
to the natural state, to the state of simplicity and purity.’ Our mission is to maintain an environment where we can live simply, honestly, cleanly, and happily.
We train small groups of students in order to center our training program around the cultivation of the self through exercise, meditation, and nature in order
to become better martial artists and better people.
to become better martial artists and better people.
Have you ever been inspired to walk through life with the confident power of a tiger or to achieve the tranquil balance of a crane or the playful agility of a monkey? If so you certainly wouldn’t be alone.
The animal kung fu styles of China have long held a fascination for many. Incredible legends have been woven about the exploits of animal kung fu masters. Stories have been written about them and films, even cartoons made.
Although there has never been a Panda style I sense that in you, the reader there lies the spirit of Po the Panda, excitedly poking his nose around the door of the temple to see the marvellous mysteries within.
Read on and discover some of the marvels of the animal fighting styles of China.
Inspired by animals
Some of the most famous kung fu styles have been based on the movements of animals. The Chinese of old admired the beauty, power, grace and fluidity of various animals and sought to emulate them.
They copied their movements and their fighting tactics and created some of the most beautiful and deadly martial arts the world has ever seen.
Training in the animal kung fu styles brought to the student the qualities of that animal so that you would become more like the animal whose style you were studying.
Each animal would also develop certain physical and personality traits within the student such as patience, aggression, fluidity of movement, awareness of environment, playfulness and so on.
The Shaolin Legend
In the traditional legends of the Shaolin temple it is said that the monks there originally learned exercises from 5 animals – the tiger, monkey, leopard, snake and dragon.
These exercises were given to strengthen the bodies of the monks who had been sitting all day in meditation. These 5 animals have lived on in kung fu legend and now many other animals styles are practised around the world.
In the Jade Dragon kung fu tradition that I teach, we study 8 animal kung fu styles. These are the original 5 of tiger, monkey, leopard, snake and dragon plus the crane, the mantis and the eagle.
There are many different variations of each of the animals taught in different schools so the knowledge that is briefly described here may not be the same as is taught in other kung fu traditions.
Please note that the information below refers only to my teachings and interpretations of the animal styles. Each school will interpret the animals in different ways. For a full explanation of why this is so read the article What is the correct way to…
Every martial arts style, whether it is aware of it or not specialises in just one element of combat.
No school can teach you everything you need to know to be an all round fighter no matter how much they claim otherwise. For example, judo specialises in taking the opponent to the ground and keeping him there.
Karate was developed to defend against armed samurai attacking on horseback hence the high kicks to dismount the samurai and the powerful punches to smash through their bamboo armour.
So each art deals with a particular aspect of combat and usually works best under certain circumstances.
I teach eight styles – hence eight different elements of combat are covered.
Tiger style
Tiger style – Relaxed muscle power. It uses its weight to go through the opponent and strike them down
The Tiger Style: Going through opponents without mercy
Once the Jade Dragon student is familiar with the fundamental skills the tiger style if often the first style to be learned.
The tiger is a hugely powerful animal but uses relatively simple moves and relies on its raw physical strength.
It applies that strength directly with little in the way of evasion or tactics, preferring to go through rather than around an opponent.
Most suited to physically strong individuals it enables them to channel that power. However, that doesn’t mean that less powerful people can’t benefit as it develops the ability to attack directly the root of the problem without over analysing every aspect of the situation.
Key benefits:
- Develops physical power
- Develops great rooting power
- Movements aren’t complicated to learn.
- Teaches fine muscle control, the ability to relax or tense individual muscles at will
Crane style
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Perfect balance and hard striking and kicking skills
The Crane Style: Breaking limbs and joints
The crane is a long range animal style especially suited to tall practitioners with long limbs.
It uses sweeping movements of the arms to clear a way through attacks and lock or throw an attacker along with striking movements of the beak on vital parts of the body.
This is combined with comprehensive kicking patterns as the crane is used to standing on one leg. Studying the crane is a study in angles of attack and defense.
It will stand in a studied pose until the prey comes within range then hop out of the way, defend and counter attack from many unusual angles then patiently stand on one leg waiting for the prey to come within range again.
It’s kicks and wing strikes are capable of breaking bones and damaging joints easily.
Key benefits:
- It teaches strength through postural alignments
- Patience, balance and the ability to extend force in many directions.
- Kicking skills and sophisticated use of knee and elbow blocks and strikes
Eagle style
Eagle style – supreme defensive skills with talons that tear muscles and shred skin
The Eagle Style: Keep opponents at bay or if they get too close tear them to pieces
Many people have heard of the eagle claw style but eagle claw doesn’t make full use of the eagle’s wing movements. These powerful arm movements provide the eagle with superb defensive skills.
The eagle shares some similarities with the crane but where the crane is a ground fighting bird, the eagle attacks while in flight.
The wings are powerful but sensitive enough to detect small changes in air pressure or an attacker’s movements.
The eagle’s powerful talons are used to lock or strike the opponent and the general movement of the eagle’s enormously powerful wings keep it covered from attacks from all directions, sweeping them out of the way and opening the opponent to talon and wing strikes.
It has one of the best defences of any kung fu style. Many of our arm movements taught to junior students such as the yin circle and yang circle are derived from eagle movements.
Key benefits:
- Develops power in extended arm movements.
- Has probably the best defensive skills of all the animals
- Develops a heightened sensitivity to your environment and the ability to rise above situations, not be crowded by them but see them from a higher vantage point thus avoid getting bogged down in the details. Click here for an article on developing the ‘eagle mind’
Leopard style
Leopard style – moves rapidly from one attacker to the next attacking constantly and with sheer ferocity
The Leopard Style: Take down multiple attackers as quickly as possible
The leopard is paired with the eagle but where the eagle has a great defence the leopard barely bothers with defence at all.
Among African big game hunters the leopard is considered to be the most dangerous animal (despite the fact that the hippo kills more people). This is due to the fact that unlike a lion, when faced by a group of men the leopard won’t fix its attention on one man and maul only him but will leap from one man to the next killing or severely mauling each in rapid succession.
It is also said that the leopard is the only animal, apart from man, that will kill for fun.
The leopard style is one of the most useful when faced with multiple attackers due to it’s sheer ferocity and speed.
It rapidly moves from one man to the next delivering rapid fire strikes and kicks, often not bothering to block but directly hitting the incoming attacks with the famed leopard paw strikes.
It is the most ferocious of the animal styles and so is useful in bringing out the ‘killer instinct’ in usually passive people.
Key benefits:
- Develops speed of attack
- Develops fearlessness and the ability to attack without warning
- Uses a light root so that it can remain quick footed
- Probably the most effective system for dealing with multiple attackers.
Monkey style
Monkey style – playful agility that masks the power of its grappling and striking skills
The Monkey Style: Take opponent to the floor and strike with speed
The monkey is the most agile of animals with arms as strong as its legs. It leaps and rolls then grabs and strikes with amazing rapidity.
It is a playful creature that taunts its prey then comes in under an attack and uses short range strikes and throws often rolling over the opponent when he’s on the floor.
It is an expert at bringing an opponent in and taking him down while striking with multiple attacks and kicks. It’s speed, unpredictability and ground fighting techniques make it a difficult style to counter.
Key benefits:
- Physically demanding style to learn
- Develops contractive power,
- Agility and mobility even when crouching down
- Strength in the arms and hands.
Snake style
Snake style – weaving to avoid attacks and then striking or squeezing without mercy
The Snake Style: Weaving around defenses and striking swiftly and lethally
The snake is paired with the dragon and also uses coiling movements of waist, legs and upper body.
However, where the dragon is yang, the snake is yin, cold and able to penetrate the strongest and most complicated defense.
The snake coils itself around the attacker in many different ways then strikes with extreme speed penetrating muscle, sinew and organ at weak points of the body.
As a cold blooded animal it spends most of its time conserving its energy in enclosed spaces. It doesn’t look for trouble but is capable of bringing down and consuming animals much bigger than it is.
At the highest level it is the most instantly lethal of all the animals.
Key benefits:
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- Develops the ability to find the gaps in any defence and strike with precision.
- Teaches balance and patience, waiting for the prey to come within range.
- The snake develops the yin qualities of moving with the whole body and striking with whip-like power
Mantis style
The Mantis Style: Close in fighting and striking vulnerable points
The mantis is paired with the monkey and is a short range system that uses complicated footwork with elbows and finger strikes to hit vital pressure points.
The mantis, being an insect, has no higher thoughts and is all instinct and reflex.
At close range the system is devastating. The Tang-Lang style which mixes mantis with monkey footwork is reputed to be the only system that defeated the monks of Shaolin.
Key benefits:
- Speed and patience
- Best style for close range fighting
- Teaches anatomical knowledge of pressure point targets
- Fast reflexes
- Sophisticated elbow and knee use
- The mantis is often used by high level healers as it is used to projecting energy through the fingertips and focusing the energy on points of the body much like an acupuncturist.
Dragon style
Dragon style – fluid power coursing through every part of the body
The Dragon Style: The most all round combat style which contains elements of the other 7 styles.
The Jade Dragon kung fu system is so called for very good reasons. The dragon is the animal that most represents the principles on which the system is based.
The Chinese dragon is associated with water and as such it uses flowing, twisting and coiling movements generating force through the whole body and through every movement and angle of attack and defence.
The dragon’s movements are circular and it follows the movements of it’s opponent, quickly finding their weaknesses and instantly counter attacking with smooth power.
Fighting a dragon is like being overwhelmed by a huge wave or being sucked into a whirlpool and drowned. It has a very wide range of locks, throws, strikes and so on and the coiling footwork and body help the dragon to move in and out of dangerous situations and attack from many angles.
You cannot fight water as you cannot apply force directly to it, it moves out of the way and the dragon style does the same.
Key benefits:
- Helps passive people become more powerful and assertive.
- Develops power in every part of the body
- Opens up the joints for increased qi flow
- The dragon develops yang thus can heal extreme yin health conditions
The dragon style is usually the last style to learn as it draws on elements of each of the other 7 animals.
Can I train them all?
Yes you can. By joining this site you will get access to all the training articles and videos on the 8 animal styles that are here now or coming up soon. Studying the fundamental skills is very important before you try to learn any of the animal skills. You will find that each of the animals has different fitness requirements and some of them are better suited to people of a certain build. But, over time there is nothing to stop you from learning them all.
Training in a variety of animal kung fu styles makes you a more rounded person by strengthening your weaknesses and developing your abilities in many different areas.
The wide range of movements you will learn will make it so easy to learn other physical skills such as other sports or dance etc. You will develop power and patience, grace and speed, calmness of mind and a will of steel.
Four of the eight animals – the dragon, snake, eagle and mantis are used by healers all over the world (although they may not realise it).
Kungfu4you will gradually bring forth the knowledge of these 8 animal kung fu styles and the constant interplay of energies and tactics that each one brings.
To study one animal is a privilege – to study 8 animals is an opportunity that very few outsiders to the closed world of real Chinese martial arts will ever gain.