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Summary: Neither for beginners nor for not real experts
Review: After 22years of Wado Ryu Karate, 9years in competition (kata and kumite),4 dan black belt and 5 years federal instructor, I've started Tai Chi getting the instructor level 3 years ago. This book is so deep that if you really didn't spend all your life in serious(and hard)trainning(whatever martial art)you miss most of the matter as well as you won't get tips if you spent your life moving fast from a martial art to another or just wearing exotic uniforms.The book is semply great in the way the Jing is explained. The proposed sequences really allows you to develop and implement your chi and express your Jing. A must for moving from muscolar strength to something highly advanced. A book every real martial artist should have. Anyway a good source of theory and hystorical information.
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Summary: Michael LaRoda
Review: Being a marital artist myself for over thirty years I say this book has been most fulfilling after becoming bogged down in the working society and not having time to work out, I was greatly discouraged at the rate my knee joints developed arthritis like pain. Before reading the book I forced myself to work leg work to see what would happen and in a few short months I was walking without a limp. After reading the book I can see that in a few short years continuing down this route would soon result in painful joints again. Not only has this book pointed to a more complete and sensible direction for my martial arts, but also a way that has already improved the quality of my life.
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Summary: Video Available!
Review: Companion videos are available for this title. Contact amazon or the publisher for more information
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Summary: Jwing-Ming Yang is among the best
Review: I have several of his books and a copy of his chi na video. I haven't seen or read anything that is better. Actually I think he is the best. His breadth and depth of knowledge is great and he has done a great service to everyone by publishing his knowledge and research. How I wished I had been able to train with him when I was younger. Or even now. I hope he does more videos.
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Summary: This is a beautiful book
Review: I love to just look at this book, it is amazing to look at and well laid out with a ton of helpful photographs and excellent descriptions to compliment them.Unfortunately for me, I was expecting the book to be something else. From the title, I expected more on the influence of White Crane on karate, which is the art that I practice. There isn't much of this, and the historical information on White Crane itself is a little sketchy. Also, I was expecting more of the forms for comparison versus karate kata, but this was not included in any detail. This does not negatively impact the book. While the book wasn't what I expected, it was something that was extremely well done and useful to me. The descriptions of the flow of energy and where the energy is generated and how it passes various joins and limbs is excellent. Never have I seen such detail describing movement and stances as well as execution. I can't say enough about Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming's writing style and inclusion of well organized detail. All of his scientific speculation is well backed up with many references, not only to martial arts magazines and books, but to scientific papers and reports. The thoroughness of the list of references astonishes me every time I look it over. This isn't the kind of book that you can just glance over and absorb, it is the kind of book that you need to dedicate a lot of time to in order to understand. Good luck and have fun, I know that I have.
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Summary: Let's talk about gong fu and say nothing at all
Review: I ordered this book to learn about the white crane system and to learn a bit about chi gong. The book has about 200 pages where the same information that can be written in 50 pages is regurgitated and only then do you get some white crane information. The pictures and sequence where hard to understand since several movements are depicted in one still and a few lines are supposed to let me know whet just happened. There is a pit of good information here but the bitter fruit that surrounds it is hard on the digestion.
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Summary: I've finded tha best source
Review: I've definately finded the best source of informations on Martial Arts : Yang Jwing Ming , and this book one of the best . From this pages You can study several training pattern and integrate them in Your style now , but later read them again and again , them will reveal many other aspects !!
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Summary: A valuable White Crane reference
Review: The White Crane is a southern chinese kung fu style, and Dr. Yang's reference sets the standard. The White Crane style is a parent art from which many southern styles developed (including Wing Chun, Japanese and Okinawan Karate) so it is worth studying.
Included is the martial theory behind the system, featuring lengthy discusssions on Qi & Jin and their martial applicability. A martial artist of a style that is descended from the White Crane will find much to enhance his own understanding of his art.
This is mainly a reference material, as Books and DVDs do not make good primary instructional material for martial arts, so plan on attending a seminar or finding a good local school to get the most from this book.
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Summary: A fabulous and in-depth book
Review: This is a book about the essence of the White Crane Chinese Martial Arts. Not forms, techniques or weapons but the essence. As such, it tries to describe the qi and jing aspects of White Crane and give examples of training them. The book is intended, in my opinion, for the intermediate-letel martial artist. The reader should already have some concept of what qi and jing are - if not and you still want to read this book (which is very useful nonetheless), it is suggested that you look in at some dictionary-type definition which would save much confusion. The book starts with an intro into Chinese Martial Arts and Qigong - history, practice, the specifics of the White Crane style and moral philosophy. This is very detailed and quite different from other mainstream accounts. Next comes the qigong section. In it, Yang first describes his theory of the science behind qi and qigong. Even if you don't agree with his ideas, it's very interesting as an extended scientific treatment of qi is very rare. Then, it provides exercises for White Crane Qigong - hard and soft and within each of those - stationary and moving. The same is done for jing - it's explained scientifically first and then exercises are given. Yang is very good at cautioning the reader to take due caution if performing any of the exercises here. I think it's best to select a few only and do these for a long time. This is a very detailed book that will get you thinking about the essence of whatever art you practice (as a practitioner of Choy Lee Fut which is very different to White Crane, I found the book invaluable anyway) and will remind one about the essence of an art as something contained in the varying expressions of energy specific to that art (and not external things like forms which systemise those energies). The book is an inspiration to every practitioner.
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Summary: Yang Jwing-Ming adds depth to training methods
Review: This is a remarkable book, the likes of which I have been searching for for some time. While most books on martial arts focus on specific techniques for defense, this work is concerned with the development of the power which enables techniques-both from an internal and external perspective. The book is quite in depth and, in my opinion, would be best reserved until a solid foundation in one's own art is attained. One of the book's first sections is a historical exposition of Chinese martial arts. It is quite good. From there the author charts a clear path to developing both external and internal power. If you are a martial artist looking for ways to extend and deepen your training this book is not to be missed.
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