Yang Tai Chi for Beginners

I really enjoy the explanations and extremely detailed descriptions of Dr Yang Jwing Ming. Some reviewers have said they got frustrated at the length of time needed before they could actually 'practise', but you can navigate the DVD really well, skip sections once you have acquired the notions, and view the form from the back too, which is invaluable!Many people tell you that you can only learn from a respectable teacher, and I would agree, except that teaching is an art, and few are those who excel at it! With this DVD, it is almost as if you had a teacher in your own living room!Some have raised an objection as to the price of the DVD: I have spent two years attending evening classes (with a teacher from a reputable school, with a franchise across London) I had to 'subscribe' to the school, buy a silly uniform, pay for each session and yet, 90% of the time, the actual demonstrations of the movements were no better than what you have on any DVD 'Monkey see, Monkey do' technique...Plus, the current system employed by many schools (understandable, as they need to balance income generation with cost of class to individual) means that you have a large group of mixed abilities, and the teacher tends to leave the 'more advanced' students in charge of the newer recruits - again, teaching is much more than telling people 'do this, do that' and it was at times very frustrating!What is of course missing from any DVD, even the best, is the feedback from someone who can actually see you performing the movements, but that is why Dr Yang's DVD, with extensive explanations, repeated demonstrations and mention of potential or common errors, is EXCELLENT, you understand the how, why, and when of the movements... It is still not as good as having someone watch and correct your mistakes, but it is as good as you can get from a DVD.After quitting my class [I could no longer take the lame - and at times very insulting - jokes of the teacher] I thought I could maybe take a one-to-one class with a private teacher, but all those I approached seemed very concerned with being adressed as 'sifu'(it means 'master' in cantonese, 'shifu' in mandarin chinese).... and I'm talking people half my age (lol)... I'd happily adress Dr Yang as Sifu, any time! Or any one else who can demonstrate knowledge, understanding, ability to instruct and share in such a clear manner. He is a true master - I have never met him, but I have learnt much more from his DVDs and books, than I ever did by attending my classes! I will keep on practising, and hopefully one day will find a good teacher to guide me further!In the meantime, I can only recommend this DVD, it is a gem!

Personally found it a little hard to follow but my husband was very impressed with how he explains the use of tai chi in martial arts form

I have purchased and viewed several instructional videos on Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Yoga, etc. Of all the material, Yang Tai Chi for Beginners is miles above the others when it comes to detail and step by step instructions.This is not just about learning the moves without substance. Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming is a rightful master and explains in very good english every single move, once twice, three times in different angles. Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming is obviously also a martial master and explains in detail why every move exists and how one would apply it in real life. While this is perhaps not what a beginner will be doing, it makes all the difference in understanding exactly why you turn an elbow or angle your hand or change your stance while doing a movement. This is something none of the other instructors have shown and it is probably because they have no idea what the real background even behind the simplest for of Tai Chi actually is.This video is like night and day compared to all the others. I am a first time Tai Chi amateur and although I know nothing, I bow deeply to Master Yang for being one of the very few true experts to also reveal everything in a very pedagogic way.If you are a beginner like me this DVD will set you on the right path from the beginning instead of just following along "teachers" who only wave arms and legs without foundation. If you are already practicing Tai Chi but feel it is empty, this is also for you.The dvd is shot in a perfect instructional manner with 1 single camera angle all the time. Straight forward. Many other videos shift angle here and there, zoom in and zoom back and when you are learning steps and moves.. very soon you loose track of where you are. This one does it right. Here is another detail that might surprise you - there is no soothing talk and thankfully there is no lame background music. This is perfect because you are getting a lot of detailed instruction which you want to hear.Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming knows what he is showing and he is a very good on-screen teacher. I can only hope you understand how much better this DVD is compared to most other TaiChi instructional videos. Buy it!

I coped well with this DVD at first, but I gradually got more and more frustrated as Dr Yang Jwing-Ming constantly stops instructing you on how to do Tai Chi to tell you the martial arts use of the moves. Firstly, I don't want to do any form of martial arts, I just want to learn a Tai Chi form to strengthen my body gently. Secondly, I did feel very sorry for "Jonathan", whom he pulls and pushes around to demonstrate the martial arts moves.

I really liked the way you did a routine at the beginning ,he then took you through a step by step explanation of what tai chi is all about and how to do it correctly which is very important to me ,he doesn’t rush so you can fully understand what you’re doing and how it benefits the whole body it’s for beginners and it definitely is for beginners ,I’m really enjoying it so far because he makes it so simple to understand. I have the four hour dvd , & only covered 40mins so far. I definitely know by the time I get to the end of the DVD I’m gonna fully understand tai chi

After being a student of Taekwondo in my early years for almost ten years . I wanted to get into some type of martial art again having been away from it for so long. Yang Tai Chi for beginners is excellent , it is a great form to practice day in day out , The tuition on the dvd is great from different angles an explanation is given for each movement. The dvd can be watched through different chapters , an you can go back an forward in smaller chapters for each movement so you don’t have to watch right through, with a little bit of time an commitment you’ll get great benefits from this dvd which also has very good self defence capabilities as well.

This is the most detailled course you can get on DVD for martial oriented Taiji form. I took about 30 hours of practice to learn the sequence from the DVD and even got some ideas about martial applications for each posture as explained by dr. Yang. He also explains and demomstrate the speed and power manifestation necessary for Taiji self defense, which is quite impressive. I wonder if the Taiji guys who keep losing fights to Xu Xiaodong even trained in a martial way or where just health oriented practicioners to begin with, because what dr. Yang teaches seems like a legit martial art style. Superb!

Estoy muy satisfecha: las explicaciones son detalladas y se entienden bien, los movimientos se repiten las veces necesarias desde varios ángulos y no solo explica la parte física sino que también la energética.

I dont normally care for reviews that are done before the product is thoroughly used, the book completely read, etc. "I'm on page 10 and I know I'm going to love it", or "The shoes just arrived today and I love them". These don't tell you how the person felt after reading the whole book or wearing the shoes. Having said that, it may take years for me to thoroughly comprehend and make use of everything in this DVD. Its that dense with information.So, caveats aside, I've had the DVD for several months but I'm only about 1.5 hours into this 4+ hour DVD and so far I'm very impressed. I'm only that far in because I'm trying to master each motion before moving on to the next one, and I have limited time for practice. Dr Yang goes into great detail about how to do each move properly, but he doesn't linger so long on each one that you get bored. He shows each motion from multiple points of view, so you get a 3D view of each one. He explains the martial application of each move, and then demonstrates it with in assistant. I don't plan to do combat but I did want to learn a form of Tai Chi with martial applications, and this provides a basis for those applications. Dr Yang frequently refers to his other DVDs for those interested in learning the martial applications in depth. For now, I'm pleased just to have that inclusion for an overview. I didn't want to learn Tai Chi strictly from a "performance" or "relaxation" or Western perspective, even though improved relaxation, concentration, muscle tone and balance are my main goals. As one reviewer said, this DVD "isnt for the masses". if you just want a quick superficial fix Its not for you. Its for those interested in going a little more in depth. And he says this in the DVD-if all you want is to relax and make some flowing motions, you dont need this DVD.He can be a little hard to understand on certain words, but really not bad. Its clear even though I havent watched the entire DVD yet that he is a true master and his teaching method is extremely thorough and grounded in traditional knowledge of Tai Chi. I couldn't be happier with it and am sure I'll be learning from it for years to come. Even if I never go any farther (I will) its a steal for 4+ hours of master instruction for under $20.

Man sollte viel Zeit mitbringen und sich darauf gefasst machen, sehr häufig zurückspulen zu müssen. Denn die Übungen sind zum Teil doch sehr umständlich und schwer. Die Erklärungen sind dennoch gut und sehr effektiv. Vorausgesetzt, man macht sie häufiger.Wer wirklich Tai Chi lernen will und eine vernünftige DVD sucht ist hier Goldrichtig. Auch völlige Anfänger mit dem nötigen Ehrgeiz.

Veramente ottimo. Diviso in 3 sezioni, il Maestro Yang offre una dimostrazione per un totale di 113 esercizi. Per ogni mossa il maestro esegue le sequenza numerose volte cambiando posizione rispetto all'osservatore dando un quadro d'insieme completo ed esaustivo. Interessanti i suggerimenti sulla respirazione durante i movimenti e la dimostrazione anche dell'aspetto marziale delle sequenze, eseguite con l'aiuto di uno studente. Il maestro parla un inglese molto comprensibile e inoltre c'è la possibilità di inserire i sottotitoli (in inglese) ma per i miei gusti tendono a distrarre. Durata del Dvd è di circa 4 ore e mezza quindi la qualità video risulta un pò compressa ma discreta.