Sarn Bo Jin

[Cynikal Mantis]

First form - Sarm Bo Jin - Three steps arrow punch

This is the first form and is one of the powerfullest I do this every morning before work and every evening before bed!!!

It is one of the most important exercise of the Southern Mantis style. Its simplicity is excelled only by its effectiveness.

It is an unbelievably well developed exercise which is a strengthening form at the beginning and a kind of meditation at the more advanced level. It alone is suitable to build up a unique ability to perfect the control of muscles and tendons and the generating of spiritual power.

This is one of the most effective practices of hard chi kung where the energy hidden inside of the body flows outwards to the surface and concentrates mainly in the hands and fingers. The great amount of chi generated by the first form serve to strengthen the muscles at the first place. As a result of that the one who masters the first form will possess an almost superhuman physical power.

Regular practice of the Sarm Bo Jin may lead to a higher level that is called the 'oneness of the body and mind'.The Sarm Bo Jin offers a number of benefits for the persevering practitioner. The benefits can be useful in everyday life, as well.

The sphere of the movements can be left behind only by a deeper understanding, a great persistence, patience and a higher spiritual support. This is the message of the forms: become one with the movement, do not execute it, just let it happen! Then the artificiality ends and whatever the practitioner is doing will be perfectly natural. At this point the body and the mind become one in a moment of the creativity and then, only then, the practitioner can really be himself.

The form is a deep meditation, a direct way to one's center, which may lead from the life to the Existence, where the man is in perfect harmony with nature and one with the universe.

[Jonathan_AZ]

Wow, this sounds very interesting.
I am curious if there is a video clip available somewhere giving a brief demonstration of this form?
I understand you cannot learn much (if anything) from a clip, and that is not my intention. I am more interested in just seeing how the general mechanics look.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Cynikal Mantis]

There is not a clip I can find at the mo but I will continue to look

[tonglong]

You can view all different southern mantis kung fu clips at my site http://www.tonglong.co.uk . It needs a very quick and easy registration but once done you will have access to the clips and free pdf articles. Everything on there is southern mantis related.

The site is full of information on southern mantis (through many articles) and I update it every month with new content and clips.

There is a saam bo gin section of the clips which show cases the saam bo gin of chow gar, chu gar, iron ox and jook lum.

Enjoy.

There is also a forum to primarily discuss southern mantis if anyone is interested.

[tonglong]

In Chow Gar I have always come to know that Saam Bo Gin is the jewel form. But this form isn’t so because it comprises the most techniques you would need in combat, but there are fighting techniques in it.

Saam Bo Gin develops the body, correct body positioning / alignment, power, steps, fingers, shoulders, toes, elbows, back, trunk of the body, legs, jaw, neck….pretty much hardens everything!

Saam bo gin is there to develop the body and make it hard (conditioning to resist hits without using bags, dummies etc), build the joints, ligaments, sinews and incorporate float, spit, swallow, sink (which will be used in every form and technique you do).

From my personal experience SBG is like a book about yourself and the more you train it, the more chapters become available to you. It took me a while to fully appreciate and realise the importance of this form in my personal development in this system. As you progress SBG provides a means to address this progression. It also helps you to find out more about yourself physically, mentally and spiritually.

The more you train, the more important this form becomes and you can only know this importance by training it. SBG provides me a way to feel what I am doing, how I am doing it and if I am doing. By this I mean as I train I realise and notice new things / bad habits and more. It allows me to address this while finding out more.

When training this form you somehow notice every important detail – stance, toes, feet, knees, legs, buttocks, waist, ribs, back, shoulders, neck, jaw, elbows hands, fingers, breathing, abdomen. You question and notice how good your stance is, are you rooted and gripping, are you breathing correctly, is your posture correct, are you doing “really” doing the form (i.e are you putting gripping your stance HARD, are you clawing in HARD and with power…..all this to build yourself up).

There is so much to write about this form but like the book it has become for me…I still need to train it more and often to find out more

[sauchi]

Hi TongLong,

Thank you so much for coming and bringing new light to this community on Southern Praying Mantis along with Cynikal. This forum is dedicated to Southern style gung fu and it is wonderful to hear about how other styles and systems work compared to others. I hope to read more of your posts on the topic and that you could share some more of your insight and experience.

Sauchi

Enjoyed your post

[tonglong]

Hi Sauchi,

I will try to share my thoughts mainly as my experience isnt as much as i would like it to be :).

Thanks for the reply, its always nice to pass on information about southern mantis to those that are interested :). It was part of the reason I created the site as i wanted to share as much information on the different styles of SPM.

Learning about other styles and training is always valuable information. A positive part of forums is that it brings people and arts together and may even allow us to train with each other and share our respective styles / techniques.

If you have any particular questions I will try to answer as best I can, or if you see any of the clips and want anything clarified (applications, techniques, training), I will be more than happy to help along with Cynikal.

Being a hakka art SPM is a dim mak killing art utilising many different powers that come about as a result of the training. We utilise the fung arn choi (phoenix eye fist) to strike at the pressure points / different parts of body, clawing techniques, palms etc. Much like bak mei i believe.

There are many forms comprising techniques and with every form you do i believe it is very important to visualise the applications (not 'application' as there is more than one per technique) of each technique as you do it and to break down these techniques and train them in different ways (single, pads, bag work, sparring).

I believe in this way how you perform your forms and techniques will change because instead of now just doing the the form and the movements with no real thought...you are now doing them with the intent and thought of combat usage behind them.

There are many two man exercises / drills, forms, single strengthing exercises, conditioning and chi kung in Chow Gar that develops:-

Geng Tan (Shock Power)
Taujing ( head power )
Zhanjing ( palm power )
Yuojing ( waist power)
Xiongjing ( Chest power )
Bujing ( Stepping power )
Ejing ( forehead power )
Yanjing (eye power )
Yajing ( teeth power )
Houjing ( throat power )
Jingjing ( neck power )

Do other hakka / southern arts have these kind of powers listed? I know many share the use of float, spit, swallow and sink.