This Special Edition DVD is over four hours long, with hours of additional content not available on VHS.

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Product Description

This Special Edition DVD is over four hours long, with hours of additional content not available on VHS.

Discover Authentic Taijiquan.
This comprehensive video is not only an instructional DVD, but a living document designed to preserve a cultural tradition from the original Yang Style lineage. Practice of this living, vital form will bring you a healthy and relaxed body, a clear mind, and a strong sense of martial intent. This Tai Chi Chuan program will offer you enough content to build a solid foundation for a lifetime of practice.

• Fundamental Stances • Instruction of the Thirteen Postures • Taiji Qigong Primary Set • Moving Qigong • The Complete Yang Style Taijiquan Long Form • Instructions on Breathing

This Enhanced DVD edition contains the following extra content:
• Taijiquan Theory Lecture by Dr. Yang • Taiji Qigong & Fa Jin (Emitting Power) sections • Detailed Instruction & Analysis of Each Movement in the Form • Slideshow of the 113 Postures

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Hundreds of Scene Selections • Interactive Feature: Click the Yin/Yang Symbol to open up In-Depth Instruction of the Form • Over 2 hours of additional content • Language: English, French and Chinese • Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese • All Regions Encoding • Previews of all video titles • Interactive YMAA Product Catalog • "About YMAA" section, and more.

240 minutes-color/ DVD9-NTSC

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14642 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-09-01
• Formats: Color, Full length, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 240 minutes

Inside Kung Fu magazine
Voted as one of the people who has "made the greatest impact on martial arts in the past 100 years."

A Taste of China, Pat Rice, Director
" His depth of knowlege and his superb teaching style make him among the most valuable members of this community."

Black Belt magazine
Voted "Martial Artist of the Year" 2003

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Customer Reviews

Marvelous !! A true Classic !!
I began practicing T'ai Chi fifteen years ago. My first teacher was trained from childhood in China, then Taiwan, in the strict classical Yang Long Form. I began studying with him years later in a major U.S. city -- still Yang Long Form, still classical approach. That was a magical time, a magical experience that will be a part of me for the rest of my life.

Periodic long-distance moves have since interrupted my study several times, but these have also required me to study with teachers of quite a few T'ai Chi styles and levels of expertise. Some were more fun, some more "practical," some much more "martial" in approach, and some were sadly "lightweight."

Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming's video is truly "the real deal." From the first frame of his performance of the entire Form, I was instantly transported back to my first Teacher's class: not only is the sequence of postures and connecting movements EXACTLY the same as where I began, but the "spirit" and "feel" of T'ai Chi is also the same as it was then. With the wide range of styles and emphases in my classes since, I'd nearly forgotten how "pure" and powerful the classical Yang form truly is!

Other reviews here have accurately described and appropriately praised the comprehensive contents and unsurpassed structure of this wonderful video that is at once a marvelous teaching tool and a true archival record of this ancient art.

I'll summarize my opinion this way:

If you EVER outgrow this DVD, please produce one of your own, so we can all study with you!

Meanwhile, I'm gonna hang with Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming!!

Extremely well done
I've seen a number of other videos offering instruction in various styles of martial arts and Tai Chi specifically. This one stands above them all for the quality of the production and the way the DVD is put together.

There is a great wealth of information on this DVD. There is a short lecture on theory, a number of loosening up and warming up exercises, Taiji Qigong exercises, and of course the full Yang style long form. Everything has chapter stops and you can skip to the section you want quickly and easily from the DVD menu.

The long form doesn't dwell excessively on any individual movement which allows you to practice along with it, but if you want more detail on how a movement is performed, you can hit 'Enter' on your DVD remote when the yin yang symbol is on the screen to get in depth instruction on the current movement being demonstrated. In that way it manages to offer the best of both worlds.

The only small criticism I have is the way the camera angle would switch sometimes during the course of a movement. It was done to provide the best view of the movement I'm sure, but the specific directions each movement travels in are not clear. A small nit to pick no doubt and probably of no concern to a beginner anyway. All in all this DVD stands well above any other Tai Chi instructional video I've seen.

Another pearl from Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming and David Silver
Having owned the videotape of this offering from Dr. Yang, I was a little apprehensive about spending money to buy the DVD. I was very satisfied with the information offered on the VHS tape, but having already owned the material, it didn't make sense to purchase a DVD unless there was something added to the material.

Generally, when a company releases a DVD of a previously released VHS tape, there is very little added to the DVD release. Fortunately, in line with the high quality of YMAA publications, this DVD has approximately two hours of material that was not on the original VHS.

Combine this with the ease of access that a DVD offers and the Taijiquan, Classical Yang Style DVD becomes even more of a bargain.

The video offers material and instruction for the following:

The Taijiquan Thirteen Postures

The Fundamental 8 Stances

Taiji Qigong, with stretching and three sets taught

The Yang Style Taijiquan sequence (The long form)

The video also has an extensive lecture on Taijiquan Theory by Dr. Yang as well as a demonstration of Fa Jing and a list of all the movements of the long form.

The lecture is vital to anyone who wants to learn Taijiquan. Merely imitating the postures and movements, which sadly is how many people practice Taijiquan, without an understanding of the philosophy from which Taijiquan developed, would severely limit one's experience.

Dr. Yang discusses how Taiji is between Wuji (nothingness) and yin and yang. This concept is extremely important and vital to the performance and practice of Taijiquan. When you begin the form, you should stand in a beginning posture which represents Wuji, or nothingness/emptiness, during which you settle the body, relax the breath and bring all the parts of your body and mind into this Wuji state.

Then the thought/intention is born in the mind and the Taiji (which came from the Wuji) splits into the yin and yang. The dead hands and body, maximum yin, become alive and slowly inflate and expand to a balance between maximum yin and maximum yang, along with the whole body. Now the form begins.

I see many practitioners walk up, stand still for one second and leap into the form without any understanding of where yin and yang spring from. The transition from Wuji to Taiji to the interplay of yin and yang is one of the more fulfilling and engaging aspects of Taijiquan.

Dr. Yang points out that Taiji, the theory of which is explained so well in this video, has been around for approximately four thousand years, whereas Taijiquan has been around for perhaps a thousand years. The use of this theory in Daoism is also explained by Dr. Yang. The link between Taijiquan and Daoism through their mutual use of the philosophy of Taiji was one of the initial reasons for my interest in learning Taijiquan.

Dr. Yang goes on to illustrate through the use of scientific formulas the relationship of Taijiquan and the laws of physics. This lecture is just the preparation to begin to use the other parts of the video. Too many times tapes are presented by martial artists with little thought for tying it all together and explaining the meaning of what is offered. This video is extremely well thought out and presents the viewer with a strategic approach that will enable them to go far in their quest to learn Taijiquan.

Throughout the video there are visual clues as to when to inhale and when to exhale while doing the form or the Taijiquan Qigong. The demonstration of the long form offers detailed instructions when you click on the yin-yang symbol.

I would have to write a ten page review to give justice to all the material presented on this DVD. A wonderful addition to Dr. Yang's presentations and a worthwhile purchase even if you already own the VHS version of this video.