Why Praying Mantis???

[Vertiggo]

Just out of curiosity...

Out of the myriad of kung fu systems available to the public today, why did you elect to study Praying Mantis kung fu?

Care to share your thoughts, insights and anecdotes?

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[mantis108]

I was drawn to Praying Mantis because of my belief that it fits my physical attributes at first. After I witness one of the classes of my style (Tai Chi Praying Mantis), I fell in love with its highly structured training methodolgy. Now I am addicted to it because of its principles, strategies, philosophies, etc... especially the progressive indirect attack providing endness amount of possiblities. There is no limit to my study. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Mantis108

Contraria Sunt Complementa

[Taijimantis]

Like my elder Brother so elloquently stated, The Praying Mantis system is not one filled with grandmasters of any large physical stature... well, Fan Hsu-Tung (aka the Giant and the Broadsword) was three hundred lbs, but looking at the physiques of many of the 8th generation grandmasters... these are not big men. Chao Chiu-Hsi himself was at times accused of being an opium addict because he was so frail (Looking). Sigung was anything but frail.

I am not huge either. I am not the most flexible person, and I am not the strongest. Praying Mantis has the ability to maximize what I have. The subtle torqueing of the waist can be incredibly powerful, and though it is Northern Shaolin in origin, its kicking does not have to be excessively high.

The other thing that got me into the class, was the instructor. Ly Hoa Yen took away 10 years of pain in my knee from a motorcycle accident in a few minutes. His presence filled the room, and his humble nature combined with a ferocious skill and compassion made him an obvious choice to me.
He was nothing like any of my past martial arts instructors out to win tournaments and make money.

My Si-Hing, Initiate, told me the other day that even though he has advanced in years, Ly Sifu remains in an elite circle of martial artists. He calims to be "soft" now. Initiate informed me that he can no longer put his finger through a brick. But he also said the difference is like being hit by a freight train or a semi. Instead of being a locomotive like he was in his youth, now he is just a semi tractor. It does not really matter which one hits you does it? /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Praing Mantis is it for me. And when you look at some of the statements made by people like my Brothers Mantis 108, Initiate, Shaolin Mantis and others, you will get an impression of the kinds of characteristics that are demanded of Praying Mantis. I hope someday to be able to be considered an equal among them. It is a tall order.

Namaste.

[Dreamer]

Praying Mantis is a great place to start. There is no art better than the other since you can always complete them yourself. You make the art complete and the art makes you complete.
Choose a good instructor, not "good" art. Then you can always apply the knowledge you attain on other arts, to varying extent.
You probably won't find a whole system that fits you so broaden your views and study more than the one your instructor teaches.
You can never become good from listening, you have to think about what you are doing and why. Only when you understand why you are doing things can you become unpredictable to everyone.

I also study Wing Chun to complete my hand techniques and Drunken Monkey to get some ground experience.

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

[ShaolinMantis]

For me, I did not choose the sytem, it chose me. It would take a lot of typing to explain all that came down to this.
Before Mantis, I did Okinawan & Shotokan Karate, Choy Li Fut, Wing Chun. I stayed with Northern Shaolin Taiji Mantis because, it is not about size of the person, it's more about the pricipals, (as my Sihing has stated )etc. Alot of my staying has to do with the people, the Sifu's, and others that make up the style. The humble attitude of most players, to reflect the teaching, morals, concern for others, etc of the Late Sigung C.C.K.

[Vertiggo]

My cuz and I visited many, many kung fu schools in a myriad of locations in Manhattan. You name it, we probably visited it. We would usually just sit in on a class and just watch and observe.

Long story short, we began to notice that while many schools emphasized forms practice, little emphasis was seemed to be place on sparring or application of forms. When we did witness sparring in "some" schools, it looked more like kickboxing than anything else. As a beginner, I was a bit confused about this because I didn't see the need for forms practice then, that is, if in application it was going to be more akin to kickboxing than anything else.

We stopped visiting schools and then one day my cousin came to me with a flyer about a Mantis school that had recently opened in the Bronx. Not expecting much, we visited the school and as usual sat in and watched a class. The class went through stance exercises, drills, etc. and then a bit of forms practice. After this, the instructor called one his students to the floor and said "Let's play." And they began to spar. I have never witnessed anyone fight the way these two did. They were actually using the system: footwork, rolling, hand techniques, traps, etc. They seemed more to be strategizing and contemplating moves as opposed to just punch and kick and may the faster man win. Whew!