Search - Taiji Sword, Classical Yang Style (YMAA Tai Chi) on DVD

Excellent step-by-step guide to learning Tai Chi Sword

John D | Chicago, IL | 06/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This beautiful program teaches the entire 'long form' of the Tai Chi sword sequence, and has an excellent "warm-up" section of Qigong breathing techniques and Sword Qigong movements.

This Sword form is an excellent addition to your knowledge, whether you train Tai Chi Chuan, or another martial art, or are a beginner. The fundamental techniques are very comprehensive, and give a complete overview to the art of the Sword.

The DVD has amazing navigation, picture quality, and sound, and you can quickly get anywhere in the 2-hour program with just a couple clicks."

If you have tried learning from a book... try this instead!

Jonathan Taylor | Salisbury, NC USA | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I recently became interested in learning Tai Chi after perusing a variety of bookstores looking for sword techniques and styles I thought offered a balance between grace, usefulness, and agility. I settled on Tai Chi after looking at the forms and the styles that compose it. As you may or may not know... learning any sword technique from a book is very difficult as it is just as intensive with footwork as it is with the sword itself and sometimes moreso, and after a couple of weeks I was getting nowhere fast.
I ordered this DVD with another one and found the other one would not play in the player... which was more than a little discouraging. I put this one in and was greatly relieved, at first just because it worked, but as I watched it there became some clarity in pace and footwork that was not at all apparent in the book I was using.
The DVD goes through several phases: including a breathing and postures phase, the 54 forms, the 54 forms in chapter format, drills for two people, and a few other things. The heart of tai chi is the 54 forms, and they are clearly performed in one long string, subtitled to show which form is currently being performed. This is very daunting to study or try as a beginner, but I imagine will be extremely useful to someone who has learned most of the forms. The real meat of the DVD to me is the breakdown, which each form is shown once in very slow execution, allowing for study, then shown again at a faster pace on an attacker. I cannot stress the usefulness of this. I havent seen a book that showed application of technique... only the technique themselves... I was (and still am) hugely impressed with this extra step. It gives you not only the correct, clear way to perform a form, but demonstrates its use and footwork very clearly. If you are interested in learning a sword style, I highly recommend this DVD... there are also additional ads for other DVDs this company produces and I definitely will be buying some of those as the clarity of the video and the teaching style is very illumative and well done."

Superb tutorial on the Yang sword form

Patrick H. Dickson | Cupertino, CA | 11/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Normally, I recommend to students to learn the simplified forms first and then graduate to the long forms of a style. However, due to the quality of the DVD offered by Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming of the Long Form of the Classical Yang Style Sword Form, I feel the best choice would be to learn the long form offered on this disc. Although there are many good Taijiquan Sword instructional videos available for the Chen, Wu, Sun and Yang styles, I believe that Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming has done his usual top notch job of providing the student with a wealth of material on his Taijiquan Sword Classical Yang Style DVD.

A good teacher will teach you a form. A better teacher will teach you an application. A higher level would be the teaching of the technique. And as Jou, Tsung Hwa relates in his book, The Tao of Taijiquan, the best thing a teacher can pass on is the "key" to the system. I always get the feeling when I study the tapes, books and DVDs from Dr. Yang that he is truly sharing many secrets of the various styles that he teaches. Fortunately, unless a student is at a level that has the understanding and skill necessary, the information cannot be used or absorbed. I say fortunately because this can prevent injuries through misuse. Yet Dr. Yang provides enough of the basics and the exercises that build a strong foundation, whereby a student can raise themselves to the higher levels where deeper information on the DVDs become more available, understandable and usable.

This 54 posture Yang Sword Form is presented along with the Taiji Sword Form, the Taiji Sword Qigong Set, Taiji Qigong Breathing, Fundamental Sword Techniques and 10 Matching Drills for training with another student.
As Dr. Yang frequently reminds the viewer on his tapes, you must practice and make these moves a natural part of your being. Without practice it is impossible to achieve mastery or even capableness of these techniques, applications and forms.

The Taiji Sword is considered by many to be a very advanced level in Taijiquan Mastery. Learning the sword form greatly enhances and strengthens the Taiji set. Learning the sword form increases one's ability to project chi and is a necessary tool in reaching advanced levels of Taijiquan.

Even if you've purchased Dr. Yang's VHS tape of this form, it is worth the money to obtain the DVD as it contains much information not included on the VHS tape. Additionally, information on DVDs is much easier to access than on a VHS tape.

The DVD is professionally filmed with very easy to follow along teaching, showing the moves at slow speed and at normal speed. Additionally, using students to demonstrate the moves and then having Dr. Yang provide constructive criticism and praise offers more insight into the moves to the interested viewer.



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Could have been much more useful

S. Murray | 07/16/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The organization of the material presented is good. You get basic taiji theory, breathing exercises, the basic moves, the forms, and then the applications. The early material is presented well. The breathing exercises, in particular, are shown clearly, at the pace and for the length of time which you actually perform them.

My difficulties lie with the essence of the material; the basic movements and their implementation in the forms. All are presented at a reasonably slow tempo. But, they are only shown once and without narration, which makes using this DVD an exercise in frustration. Learning where to place the blade, how to move the other hand, and how to place and move the feet means a great deal of work with the DVD remote in order to watch a given move multiple times, so that you can study each aspect of it.

That frustration would have been greatly alleviated had each move been shown 3-4 times, and from different angles. A narration would also have helped, essentially taking the role of an instructor talking you through each movement.

The martial applications are shown similarly. It is not a problem for that section, however, because it simply displays how the movements would have been employed in a martial situation, and the applications section is a very interesting and welcome inclusion to the DVD.

All in all, it is possible to learn from this DVD. It would work better, though, as an adjunct to taking a class, as an at-home refresher of what you learn in the class. I don't know, however, whether that would work if you were to take a class from somebody other than the people who publish this DVD."