Do northern shaolin martial arts only encompass the animal forms?

with the information i've been looking at from the net thats what it seems like, which confuses me because i always thought it to be different. then again, the internet isnt 100% trustworthy

Do northern shaolin martial arts only encompass the animal forms?
Not necessarily, but you will find the movement to be largely based on the animal forms even if you find a system that is not based solely on the five Shaolin animals. There are also family styles, but here again, you are talking Shaolin. You will find that most Northern systems encompass a "long fist" method, and also incorporate more kicks than southern. Of course, just generally speaking, and not an absolute!


Short answer, no, northern Shaolin martial arts do not only encompass the animal forms.
Reply:Not at all, many forms of shaolin are based on meditation methods and ideas. The beginning martial arts theories were based on self-defense and enchancement of personal meditation, very little parts of that practice involved animal forms. Later when shaolin martial arts were brought outside of the temples, different factions of shaolin came into existense. Some factions favored animal forms over more traditional forms because of its offensive nature, rather than a defensive form (plus it looked cool and sounded better , =oP ). By no means does northern shaolin martial arts only emcompass animal forms, rather only few emcompass animal forms. Shaolin martial arts is actually a very deep-rooted in terms of history and its development. From its humble beginning as a way to meditate and deepen spiritual strength to a massive enterprise of different factions learning skills that can ultimately kill someone with their bare hands.
Reply:no
Reply:Northen shaolin is a category of styles that means: open positions and a lot of kicks. Movement derives from animals but are really far from the imitative styles that use animal claws.


For example there is Pei Pai Shaolin quan (Chang Dsu Yao school) that has a basic program with punches, saves, palms, nudges, positions and kicks; 5 forms (lu) and other 5 forms after the black belt; esatabilished combats (Poi gi), Chin na techniques, kick's forms, and weapons.


www.shenchienschool.com