Shaolin Snake Style Features and Training Skills

Snake Style would seek to be fit, flexible, enduring and flexible again and is well suited to strong but gentle persons.

 Shaolin Snake Style is one of Wisdom, Knowledge, Precision, Experience and Clarity. The Snake stylists likes to know that what they are doing is well proven, ordered, with purpose and wise. It is not a style of defence but more a style of bring order, calm and wisdom. The Snake Stylist is predominantly a grappler, capture, hold and control, capture, hold and throw, capture and takedown, capture and go-down, capture and incapacitate. It is a style of order and control not of random strikes; it is a style of power without violence, speed without hast and knowledge without dominance. The Snake Stylist is one of creating order, peace and safety.

The Snake Style is well suited to strong but gentle persons; ones that prefer not to use sudden violence as a means of defence. it is a style that prefers to entangle an attacker, make them overextend themselves, then capture, arrest and force submission. This style is best suited for controlled one-on-one situations as it requires skill, precision and full attention. If there are multiple attackers and the Snake Stylist finds them selves harassed, they will use their striking skills to create and opportunity for their main skill of capturing.

The Snakes Defence
Not being there, where the attacker thought them to be a second ago. Not like the Crane in great leaps and bounds but like a Snake just twisting, ducking, bobbing, turning out of the way. The Snake Stylist moves like a Snake, as if lacking bones, slippery and sinuous. The Snake Stylists main defence is the flexibility, weave-ability, subtle avoidance and very occasional, distracting strikes. As the Snake Stylist you would know of hundreds of maneuvers, combinations and methods of avoiding, controlling and submitting your attacker. You would be like a Chess Master and have studied all that there is to know for your type of personality, body type and strength and then you would work on perfecting it with an energy bordering on obsessions. For if anything, Snake Stylist may seem or even be Obsessive-Compulsive inclined, incessant and even inflexible in many aspects of thinking ( seeming balance with the Snakes Stylists incredible physical flexibility).

The Snakes Attack
The Snake does not attack. It reacts when attacked, it may even get the opponent to attack, but a Snake Stylist does not attack. A Snake always has their enemy come to them, on their terms when the Snake is ready for them. It may again, occasionally strike without warning but as such, it is not an attacking style. Sometimes it may look like the Snake is attacking but it is not (according to it), it just feels that the attacker has encroached on it’s space or safety.

The Snakes Strategy
The Snake Stylist has no own strategy but every strategy can become a Snake Strategy. Again, a good comparison is a Chess Master. Every move possible in Chess has been discovered, documented and used; a Snake Stylist would rather spend the time learning every possible Snake maneuver rather than some fruitless trial-and-error game. It would search out person who have been successful in the art and it would seek to understand, emulate and possibly even improve (although, without admitting to this).

The Snakes Training
Physically the Snake would seek to be fit, flexible, enduring and flexible again. Strength would also be important as would looks. Of all the Animal Stylists, the Snakes tend towards physical vanity without ever admitting to it and dressing down to avoid being called a peacock. Yet, the Physical prowess and ability as their presence and looks are of some importance to them. In addition, Snake Stylist would need to be quick of body, hand and foot, well coordinated and able to twist around an attacker. Precision is also very important to find those important pressure points. Mentally, the Snake Stylist would need to specialize (at least initially). As a proper Snake Stylist you would choose either the Healing and Pressure Points (Dim Mak), Physical Strength, Grappling & Joint Locking Knowledge or Speed, Precision and Vital Point (Poison Hand) skills.

The Snake Stylist
The ideal Snake Stylist is one who is truly awed by great achievements in it’s field of choice. They would have a great believe in the tried-and-proven rather than ‘fancy new stuff’. They may even have, to some degree, a touch of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder or similar that they would use to their advantage to become and expert in what they chose. A Hall mark of Snake Stylists is their apparent unhappiness with their own performance even when other salute them for their mastery. Snake Stylists, in many way may never be truly happy with their achievements, always believing that they can do better.