Rating: 
Summary: Well Done
Review: An excellent work that gives much insight into the history, practice and theory of Tai Chi. Dr. Yangs presentation is easy to understand and very educational. His execution of the form is flawless and even inspiring. No matter if you've only begun your practice of Tai Chi or are a long time student the information presented will be of help in your studies.
Rating:
Summary: More then excellent
Review: For me this DVD has such great value since it has great warming up exercices and an (few) excellent Qigong sequence(s) which one can learn from the DVD. The Tai Chi form one can use as a reference but since there are no multi angles there is no way one could learn that from a DVD. However, it will help you practise at home. Dr. Yang has some other DVDs on White Crane hard and soft Qiging and the Qigong for health. I can recommend both of them.
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous !! A true Classic !!
Review: 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!!
Rating:
Summary: Entirely Satisfied
Review: I bought this DVD based on other Amazon reviews and was entirely satisfied. Dr. Yang is the real deal. The production values are high for demonstration/instructional purposes. Dressed in white, he performs on a big stage against the background of a blue velvet curtain.
This DVD maintains a rigorously high level of training, assuming some previous background on the part of the viewer. Movements are amply demonstrated, but not dissected in minute detail. The scope of warm-up demonstrations, stance training, Taiji Qigong exercises, martial applications, and sequence performances are impressive. All indexed for DVD navigation.
The companion text (Taijiquan, Classical Yang Style, purchased separately) also has GREAT content. It contains high points of his Qigong writings, additional new Qigong content, historical background on the evolution of Taijiquan styles, and thorough advice on the first several years of training. The printing and binding of the text could have been better, but are serviceable for a workbook or training manual.
As a novice I am studying more basic materials published by Dr. Yang. However, I refer to the inspiring examples on this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Instructional Video
Review: I find this DVD extrememly useful for learning. The menus are setup in such as way to get quickly to the information you want. Every move from the form can be access via the menu. Also besides showing each move you also have the option to click a button and get nore information about the how and why of each move.
The information on Chi is an extra bargain. It was easy to understand and there were Chi Kung exercises taught as well.
The quality of the video was excellent and though they did not keep the camera at the same angle, I could follow along with what he was doing.
Minor issues:
I would have preferred the ability to control my viewing angle instead of just the one.
I'm no expert and I don't know the Yang long form, but every book I have looked at and the few videos I have looked at seems to show the form slightly differently. The movements at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd sections are different, the number of repetitions for wave hands at clouds, repulse monkey and parting mane are different (wave hands at clouds also seems to be moving in the opposite direction - right instead of left).
Your enjoyment of the instruction will probably be based on whether or not you think the form should match what is normally seen or if you feel the form is open to interpretation (as long as it contains all of the moves). For me I chose the latter and greatly enjoy this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD at an excellent price
Review: I find this DVD to be an invaluable resource. It has more than four hours of various sections and details. It is perfect for beginners because it doesn't "dumb-down" the art of Tai Chi and gives an incredible overview. Tai Chi was originally a martial art and is now practiced mainly for health and relaxation. Without the martial essence the Spirit is lost, the postures have no meaning, and the mind loses its focus during practice. This is the real thing, on a DVD with amazing navigation. Every single movement, posture and technique has its own chapter marker which makes it possible for anyone to study the form carefully and learn authentic Tai Chi quickly. The depth of the content is impressive, while the presentation is simple and relaxing. I especially love the music during the program and the breathing instructions during the form.. There really is enough to practice on this DVD for years, rather than many of the Tai Chi videos out there where you see someone on the beach going through the motions, which you'll only ever watch once or twice. It is very difficult to find anyone who even knows the original 108 Posture Classical form, nevermind a teacher who performs it so beautifully and gives us so much insight.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for information, but...
Review: I found the information about the history of Tai Chi offered on this dvd to be very informative. However, I found the dvd cumbersome to navigate, getting to the actual long form part took forever. Also, as a learning tool I was quite disappointed. If you already know the long form and just want a dvd to practice with, this may be for you, but if you are trying to learn it, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing DVD.
Review: I have been practicing martial arts almost all my life:
Judo for 6 years when I was younger, I left in my teenage years
Shotokan Karate, I joined 3 years ago, I still practice it every week and plan to go on.
KickBoxing, for 6 months, I am lucky because this class is just before my karate class in the same gym and I can take both in 2 hours, but I am going to quit. (Aikido is going to fill this void)
Aikido, 2 months, I like it alot, a different approach of that of Karate/KickBoxing.
I am 30 years old and I mostly like very intense excersise, that's the main reason I joined Kickboxing, lot's of sparring.
Then I bought this DVD for my mother and I got completely in love with Jaijiquan, this DVD is amazingly well done, lots of sections you can directly jump to, the initial lecture (mind opening and interesting), the section on Quigong... This DVD has finally opened the door the Aikido started to show me. A different approach (I knew something similar, Judo, but I was too young too look deeper on it and mainly liked it for the sparring and because it meant a game for me).
The initial lecture also comments something very interesting about internal external martial arts:
-internal (what I am discovering with Aikido and Taijiquan)
-external (what I always have liked and like, Karate and Kickboxing)
the concept of "calm", meditation, feeling your body and how both paths (ext/int) can help the other and reach the same ultimate goal. This is something I think I can use in Karate too.
OK, I know this is only a bunch of facts about my life and very little about the DVD itself, but others here have made good review of it. I just want to say that this DVD (and Taijiquan itself) is very good and deserves a try if you are interested in Taijiquan and/or Martial Arts, I think it is very unlikely that it will dissapoint you.
From Spain,
Rating:
Summary: Extremely well done
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: far out!
Review: if you look on mings website you can get a free video clip of hum doing the form ect.you can see by his demo that his tai chi is excellent,really on the mark.
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