The 5 Animal Forms of Psychoverbal Self-Defense (PVSD) #1
Are you looking for a new interactive way to learn the basics of psycho-verbal self-defense (PODD)? Are you interested in adapting your defense to different personality types and attack strategies?
Psycho-verbal martial arts (PVMA) is an interactive model that allows us to learn the fundamentals of psycho-verbal self-defense (PVS) in an exciting and engaging way. As a system, it teaches us how to use the five Shaolin animal forms as a tool to adapt our defense based on our opponent's personality and type of attack. I am happy to share with you my experience in using this system as an effective method to develop psycho-verbal self-defense skills.
What is a psycho-verbal martial art?
Psychoverbal martial arts (POMA) is an innovative and interactive form of self-defense that can be adapted to different types of attacks, depending on the personality of the attacker. I developed this system from the 5 Shaolin animal forms, which are a great basis for all offensive and defensive tactics.
Here is a very brief history of the 5 Shaolin animal forms.
The legend of the 5 animal forms
The 5 animal forms system is a metaphor for learning multiple powerful strategies and tactics that work in alliance. This model is based on a 1500-year-old Chinese model from the famous Shaolin Buddhist Temple, the birthplace of Kung Fu.
Legend has it that the Abbot Director of the Temple traveled for 3 years throughout China to study with the best masters of martial arts, Taoist alchemy and other spiritual and esoteric disciplines.
Although the original model of the 5 Shaolin animal styles (Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Crane and Leopard/Panther) was only physical exercise and Kung Fu, the 5 form model eventually took on a life of its own.
According to some historians, the Shaolin Temple discovered and developed the system of the 5 animal styles to become not only Kung Fu styles but also a repertoire of personality type models.
The Shaolin Temple's superiors considered the 5 animal forms as a metaphor for understanding and acting in different human situations: interactions, problem-solving and conflicts, planning and much more. The 5 animal styles model of Shaolin will reach its peak in the Ming dynasty period.
What are the animal styles? According to Mountain Gate Academy founder Jason Parks, "Animal styles are more properly described as imitative styles (Xing Quan) and are a unique feature of classical Chinese martial arts.
The Masters developed these styles as a way to explore the nature of human consciousness through the exploration of the different "spirits" that the animal represents.
The animal is an archetype that the practitioner can explore to understand the "ability to change" that the human mind possesses.
"The reason for imitation is to break free from our everyday identity and thus explore ways of thinking that we would not normally consider. This creates a paradigm shift and increases our understanding while pushing back our boundaries accordingly."
In China, thousands of years ago, the Shaolin monk who studied an animal form in Kung Fu learned to imbibe the animal's qualities.
He would model its strengths, weaknesses, strategy and preferred sphere.
The objective is not to limit oneself to one form, but to use all forms.
If you study the Shaolin Five Animal Forms Quadrant, you will notice that each animal form has a distinctive place (each form opposes its neighbors). In reality, these forces do not oppose each other but complement each other. An optimal alliance strives for excellence and has the members cooperate in the belief that the result of the alliance will be greater than the sum of each part.
When we accept that we have the weaknesses of our strengths, that our weakness is our partner's strength and his weakness is our strength, we can cooperate and strengthen each other.
Let's take the example of the Tiger and the Snake
The strength of the Snake is his ability to analyze his opponent's strengths and weaknesses and to evaluate his strategy, his plan of action, his objectives and his current position on the field. With all the information he will get, he will make predictions, develop a plan of action... and then think again! His great strength: the ability to think, brings his weakness: perfectionism.
Now, the shape to the right of the Snake on our quadrant is the Tiger. The Tiger is the perfect ally to spur the Snake into action. He is pragmatic and realistic. He takes control in order to direct the operations that will achieve the targeted objective. His role is to take the Snake's plan and carry it out on the ground by coordinating the work and motivating his troop to fully commit to the task.
The Tiger is excellent at putting a perfect plan into action and will do it perfectly! The Tiger's weakness is impatience. He likes things to be over quickly. He doesn't have the patience of the Snake that is needed to make a perfect plan.
The Tiger knows that the Snake is invaluable in helping him compensate for his weaknesses and the Snake knows that the Tiger's direct, bold, leading and outgoing side is helpful in making his plans come true.
Gaëtan Sauvé