Kwan Ying Dao Salute

Many traditional Chinese martial art styles have their own unique type of salute. Just as Japanese karate styles usually bow or have a certain presentation prior to beginning a form, Chinese styles have a set of movements to introduce their particular system. Most are finished by bringing the fist and hand together.

Kwan Ying Dao is no different in this regard. At its root Kwan Ying Dao is a Southern Shaolin inspired style. This has many implications to how our entire system is set up. The salute is no exception.

To start to understand the practice and the reason for our attention to detail and breaking things up so specifically is to explore what it means to be a person who practices Southern Shaolin. Traditional Shaolin styles are separated into north, south, western and eastern branches. Of the 4 only 2 still exist today; these are the northern and southern branches. All styles of Shaolin kung fu originated in the temple by various monks keeping imparted kung fu knowledge alive, whether it came from inside the temple or was brought in by outsiders.

This cultural practice was prevalent until many martial art masters and practitioners fled China during the cultural revolution and more following the boxer rebellion. The revolution and cultural shift lead to the destruction of various temples, the murder of many teachers, and the outlawing of martial art practice. From that point on Chinese martial traditions split away from their homeland and many teachers no longer trusted Shaolin, nor the bulk of Chinese mainstream with their knowledge. Many traditional martial arts became underground practice and had to become far more secretive and selective to who they chose to teach. Following this betrayal by the Chinese government many traditional kung fu systems spread out from China. Kwan Ying Do is one of those systems as Master Feeman Ong left China around this time in the 1940s-50s.

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How does this history impact our practice today?
How do we do perform the salute, and what's the purpose behind it?

​Southern Shaolin styles, have always had a secretive, close knit and deeply symbolic practice. These attributes trace back to the conflict between those silently loyal to the Ming dynasty following the Mongol takeover which solidified Qing dynastic rule back in 1644. The deep seated need to be secret and cryptic have lead to southern inspired systems to having very specific methods, deep meanings, healing techniques, martial and other ‘secrets’ embedded in their practice and hidden all throughout their form work. Kwan Ying Do is no exception to this. Many of our forms have Qigong practices mixed within them and the forms are riddled with qi enhancing acupressure, meridian stretches and therapeutic alignments that unlock loads of potential in the body for those committed enough to find and practice them.

This brings me to my next point. Southern Shaolin forms specifically are meant to be deconstructed and deciphered. As I mentioned above each form is a treasure trove of martial technique, strength exercises, and healing techniques all intertwined within the form work. Therefore to have a deep and a complete understanding of the practice all things must be deconstructed, dissected, and examined to determine the underlying meaning and purpose of the shapes of each individual movement in each form. As this is done there is an extreme amount of depth and richness that is gotten from even the simplest of movements. Understanding this lets dive into the practice and meaning behind our Kwan Ying Dao Salute.

How do we do perform the salute, and what's the purpose behind it?

For full instruction on the salute, come to class! But if you try hard enough you should be able to follow along with the pictures and points of focus below without too much issue.​

The salute starts by putting your heels together with your left foot toward the front and right foot at a 90 degree angle. With a deep breath in bring both your hands to your heart while coiling the entire body pointing your right elbow toward the front. The wide reach and facing the hands toward the body is us taking in all around us and pointing all of it toward our heart. The coiling and wrapping of the body is to prepare us and unify us in the effort to come to our center and into our heart. As we step into twist we are releasing the coil of the upper body while simultaneously coiling the lower body. This release should happen simultaneously and with a strong snap. Loosely whip the arms down and slap the back of your hands down at a 45 with gusto. This action begins from the spiral of footwork and the unwinding of the spine. Symbolically in this movement we are opening our heart to the art and moving the body toward the complete pursuit of this goal top to bottom, internally and externally.

After opening ourselves up with the whipping down of the arms and stepping, turning, + sinking into twist we close our R fist and open our L hand sternly with correct structure to symbolically present and represent yang (closed fist) and yin (open hand). We then lift the hands to shoulder height and bring them together. As the hands meet the yin yang symbol becomes apparent. The closed fist represents the bright yang sun and the open hand represents the dark yin moon. In relation to application the meaning of the open hand clasping the closed fist is symbolic of using yin to subdue yang. 

As we bring the hands together and turn toward the front the middle knuckle on the fist meets below the middle knuckle on the inside linking yang(outside) with yin(inside). Our middle knuckle connects at the ‘center’ of the palm at PC8 and is commonly referred to as the bubbling spring of the palm. This is a key point for directing qi and our personal awareness as we practice. The pointer finger and the thumb are both fingers that are associated with the metal element, metal pertaining to the lungs is said to be the governor of the qi. So as we are bringing these areas together when we salute we are also linking and calling on the governance of our qi or innate vitality and relationship to all things. 

As we present the salute toward the front this is when we would also vocally present ourselves and what we are getting ready to perform. At a tournament or other formal ranking this is when we would announce our name to the judges and the form or particular ranking we are about to perform.

Presenting the salute is also very symbolic. We keep the open hand extended and fingers tightly together which is culturally known in China as saying at your service compared to the clasped hand over the fist which is seen as a gesture to generally say thank you. When we present the salute we are also coming to the cat stance rooting forward and simultaneously staying centered in the legs. This is also a reference to the yin yang symbol. The rear leg has 90% of the weight and the front has 10% so splitting the weight the front leg is 'soft' (yin) the back one is hard (yang). The position of our hands on centerline keeping a circular structure to our arms starts to set the stage for our training symbolically and physically. Balance your yang and forceful strength by simultaneously training and developing yin care, compassion and self control. This leads to structuring yourself to develop power and to use it for good and moral purposes. 

As we block down completing the salute we are bringing the open palms back toward our hip linking our intentions to our core center of balance and center of our being which is an area known as our lower Dan Tien. As we rub up the centerline and close our fists to double back fist smashes we are taking that qi, intention and movement while rippling it up the spine (central pillar) to then strike down and close the salute. This close brings the whole body together, closing and fully preparing ourselves for our next endeavor in training and in life.

There are also martial and combative applications to every piece and segment of the salute, to learn those come to class. :)

From this place we begin our journey together.