Lian Jeet - Tai Chi Praying Mantis

The Lian Jeet form of the Tai Chi Praying Mantis kung fu system; performed for Chinese New Years 2007.

I'm a student of Sifu Ng Tai Man (and through him, Sigung Chiu Chuk Kai) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The form is a little sloppy because I'm nervous and most obviously because I could be better; I'm carrying a lot of tension that prevents relaxed issuance of power. For the sake of performance there's pauses in the form that one wouldn't do otherwise - they end up causing me some trouble, but in theory one should be able to stop on a dime when doing this stuff anyway. Or at least that's what they tell me. ;)

Category:

Sports

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• tai
• chi
• praying
• mantis
• kung
• fu
• ji
• tang
• lang
• tong
• long
• gong
• taichi
• taiji
• tanglang
• tonglong
• shang
• de
• martial
• arts

[bigkittysmile]

like most westerners he rushes the form and doesnt have the grounding or discipline of the chinese.

[meanliar]

@bigkittysmile I often think to myself, "if I'd only eaten more rice and extolled the virtues of central planning more instead of eating spaghetti, I could be a better martial artist. :)

[bigkittysmile]

@meanliar could be. try half an hour a day in a deep horse stance and working a lot on the basics. most martial arts in america is poor. kung fu translates as "hard work", not i want to go on youtube and show off my beginner skills.

[meanliar]

@bigkittysmile I thought about that but then realized that so long as I was over six feet tall and had a sibling that we didn't have to hide from the government then there was no way I could ever be good at kung fu and so gave up and just bought a black belt instead. I got a certificate and everything! I'll be sure to let my Chinese sifu and his sibats know that they need to stop wasting time with all us gwei lo and that they should just try to figure out a way to sneak back into China.

[big8templer]

ok, here is some advice. basically you cannot control your body. make it slow, one by one movement. spend more time on basics, lan jie is too much for your level at that time.

i saw more than 30 lan jie routines on youtube, i give my advice only because your routine is not wrongly named as "Taiji praying mantis".

[meanliar]

This is good advice. Hell, you can look at this and see I'm not tracking my hand-work through the first set. I'm with a sibat now getting a different take on this and my other forms. It's an interesting experience.

[Nomad101]

Don't listen to the bad comments on youtube... Better to spend your time practicing...

[bigkittysmile]

@meanliar yeah. its a lifestyle and a discipline thats the point.

[MarmarAkaSeiryu]

@sloppymantis well thats the thing i dont think it needs it but it deserves more respect than it has for those of us who actually practice it you know what i mean? and yeah 12 soft principles are awesome. and you have a good one too man.

[sloppymantis]

@MarmarAkaSeiryu Eh that is where you and I will differ. I do not think it deserves recognition as a sport. There are enough "sport" combat things in the world. And frankly I dont want anyone recognizing at all so that it may stay a secret and useful tool to those who practice :) Ah yes gow low choy! Gwa diu jun! The 12 principles! hey if you check out my "formless form on halloween" I bet you will notice some mantis in it :)anyway have to run.. must go to work have a good one!

[MarmarAkaSeiryu]

@sloppymantis yeah all of those tech.'s are nice ive got to say the ou lau choy is probably my favorite bridging move. and yeah i agree. i would really like see someone using jeem leem in mma i think it would be ground breaking. then maybe kung fu would get the recognition it deserves as far sports go.

[sloppymantis]

@MarmarAkaSeiryu lol I would say it depends on the individual.. I enjoy the northern mantis alot and to this day still utilize the hooking (gow) and the hook (diu) a thumbless grab is also called Lap sau. soft is thumbless grabbing.. hard is use your thumb.. both have their place. MMA is a sport now so naturally you are not allowed to use good techniques.. perhaps this is meant to ensure no peasants can never resist oppression while they think they can? like mao made "wushu" for same reason

[MarmarAkaSeiryu]

@sloppymantis hahaha agreed. im still learning to be soft and control my intent when attacking. i do 7* mantis. people say kung fu doesn't work in mma it isnt true at all but they dont realize how much kung fu is capped when you take away chin na, and put gloves on. if any mma person went up against a kung fu practitioner w/o gloves and rules they would get raped to the fullest