Yang Short Form DVD?

[Tao_Jones]

Good morning

Can anyone suggest a good DVD covering the short form of Yang Taiji?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks

TJ

[Junbao]

Are you looking to learn the Standardized 24 Form or the Cheng Man Ching 37 form?

 

I have learned both but personally really like the Cheng Man Ching form.

 

I met a teacher online named Bill Phillips that was a student of Cheng Man Ching. I learned from his DVD.

 

Patience Tai Chi

 

He is a really nice, mellow, friendly guy. He really does have a love for Tai Chi.

 

Oh, also Terry Dunn who has been on here recently sharing about Flying Phoenix Chi Kung also has a really good 37 form DVD.

 

If you get a chance to check out both that would be great since then you would get different viewpoints from two very good sources

Edited August 16, 2010 by Junbao

[Franklin]

If you are looking for the yang style 24 movement form I have a DVD that covers that.

 

It can be found here and the page includes a small preview

http://www.shenlongpub.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_new.tpl&product_id=24&category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

 

 

The DVD is also available as downloadable FLV video files here:

http://www.shenlongpub.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_new.tpl&product_id=42&category_id=21&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

 

 

If you have any question please feel free to ask me.

 

Franklin

[Riyue]

Good morning

Can anyone suggest a good DVD covering the short form of Yang Taiji?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks

TJ

http://taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html

[h.uriahr]

Why not Long Form? You can do the first 36 moves at one month intervals so after 3 months you'll be doin the whole 108?

[WallaMike]

Hello:

Dr. Paul Lam also has a good Yang Short form DVD. http://www.amazon.com/Tai-Chi-Forms-Paul-Lam/dp/B000056HTI

It is available at Amazon.com He's Australian, so has a nice accent that makes the form interesting to learn. Well done and professional also.

WallaMike

[Mal]

[Sloppy Zhang]

YMAA has a good 24 Yang Style Form + 36 Form DVD (I mainly stuck to the 24 form, but the 36 form is kinda neat too).

 

Yang long form is good. Don't know any good DVD's on it, but the books by Yang Chengfu and Fu Zhongwen on Yang style are both very good, and describe the long form very well.

 

Someone with martial art experience probably won't have many problems learning the long form from the first go, but if you want to get a taste, the 24 short form is nice and compact, and gives you a good feel, and if you're a beginner, 24 form is a good introduction. And if you want to go on to the long form, you basically already know most of the techniques you need to know from the short form.

 

Don't know much about the Cheng Man Ching form.

[zen-bear]

Are you looking to learn the Standardized 24 Form or the Cheng Man Ching 37 form?

 

I have learned both but personally really like the Cheng Man Ching form.

 

I met a teacher online named Bill Phillips that was a student of Cheng Man Ching. I learned from his DVD.

 

Patience Tai Chi

 

He is a really nice, mellow, friendly guy. He really does have a love for Tai Chi.

 

Oh, also Terry Dunn who has been on here recently sharing about Flying Phoenix Chi Kung also has a really good 37 form DVD.

 

If you get a chance to check out both that would be great since then you would get different viewpoints from two very good sources

 

 

 

Thanks, Junbao, for the referral.

 

The Cheng Man-Ching 37-posture short form is very, very different from the Beijing 24-posture form and, of course, from the traditional 108-posture Long Form.

 

My first Tai Chi master throughout the 1980's and early 90's, Abraham Liu, a senior student of Cheng Man-Ching, taught both the Short Form and the Long Form. I attended 12 consecutive week-long summer workshops from 1980 through 1992 with Master Benjamin Lo of San Francisco (at a YMCA facility in the lovely Redwoods at La Honda)-- upon being given this early advice by my teacher: "If you want to teach, you must see Mr. Lo. He is the master of the Short Form." Benjamin Lo has an excellent videotape showing his demonstration of the 37-posture Short Form (it is a demo tape and doesn't have detailed step-by-step instruction, but it is a rare and valuable reference nonetheless). In subsequent years, I continued to study Yang Tai Chi Chuan (and Liu He Ba Fa) with Master York Why Loo (a friend of Abraham Liu who taught him a Chen form), then my next Liu He Ba Fa teacher, Master Chan Ching Kai (who also teaches Yang Tai Chi); and also in recent years with Master William C.C. Chen, another senior student of Cheng Man-Ching. The Cheng Man-Ching manner of doing the Yang style is very, very different from all other lineages of the Yang Tai Chi. CMC was the very last student of Yang Cheng Fu and according to the late Robert W. Smith, after CMC completing his training with Yang, he met two Taoists, whose teachings eventually transformed Cheng's Tai Chi Chuan to what is demonstrated by his senior students--Masters Lo, Liu, Chen, the late Huang (Hsing Hsien), and their classmates--to this day. Sifu John Bright-Fey, an excellent Bagua and Chen Style Tai Chi instructor of the Blue Dragon sect (the historians of all Chinese martial culture) in the mid 1980's told me that CMC's Tai Chi is so soft (with it's absolute emphasis on the yin (soft) Roll-back energy initially and throughout training ) that it isn't even Tai Chi anymore and can be considered a totally different form of Chinese Boxing. Hence the postures and transitions between postures of the 37-Posture Short Form are different in significant ways from those of the Long Form and the principles of energy application are different from those of other Yang Tai Chi branches. Not better...just different. The 24-posture Yang Form was created in 1958 by a panel of Tai Chi masters under the direction of the PRC government to make Tai Chi more accessible and easier to learn for the Chinese masses.

 

In 1989, after getting permission from my teacher, Abraham Liu, I produced what are as of today the most successful, popular and widely distributed instructional Tai Chi videos of all time (best-reviewed on amazon.com)--more than 9 million sold over the past 21 years. Info is available at my website and through amazon.com:

 

http://www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html

 

Master Benjamin Lo's Short Form video I believe is available through his school, Universal Tai Chi Chuan Association. But I haven't found a URL for his school or videos.

 

Master William C.C. Chen's 60-posture Yang (Short) Form is his adaptation of the Cheng Man-ching Short Form that adds to the 37 Posture Form the following postures: Pick Up Needle on Sea Bottom, Fan Through Back, Turn and Chop with Fist, the Push with a straight shuffle (using my Mok-Gar lingo), Knee strike, and Box the Ears. His 60 Form is seen on his website and dvd, and on several clips on Youtube:

http://www.williamccchen.com/art_of_the_60.htm

 

Hope this helps.

 

Terry Dunn

Edited October 10, 2012 by zen-bear

[zen-bear]

Thanks, Junbao, for the referral.

 

The Cheng Man-Ching 37-posture short form is very, very different from the Beijing 24-posture form and, of course, from the traditional 108-posture Long Form.

 

My first Tai Chi master throughout the 1980's and early 90's, Abraham Liu, a senior student of Cheng Man-Ching, taught both the Short Form and the Long Form. I attended 12 consecutive week-long summer workshops from 1980 through 1992 with Master Benjamin Lo of San Francisco (at a YMCA facility in the lovely Redwoods at La Honda)-- upon being given this early advice by my teacher: "If you want to teach, you must see Mr. Lo. He is the master of the Short Form." Benjamin Lo has an excellent videotape showing his demonstration of the 37-posture Short Form (it is a demo tape and doesn't have detailed step-by-step instruction, but it is a rare and valuable reference nonetheless). In subsequent years, I continued to study Yang Tai Chi Chuan (and Liu He Ba Fa) with Master York Why Loo (a friend of Abraham Liu who taught him a Chen form), then my next Liu He Ba Fa teacher, Master Chan Ching Kai (who also teaches Yang Tai Chi); and also in recent years with Master William C.C. Chen, another senior student of Cheng Man-Ching. The Cheng Man-Ching manner of doing the Yang style is very, very different from all other lineages of the Yang Tai Chi. CMC was the very last student of Yang Cheng Fu and according to the late Robert W. Smith, after CMC completing his training with Yang, he met two Taoists, whose teachings eventually transformed Cheng's Tai Chi Chuan to what is demonstrated by his senior students--Masters Lo, Liu, Chen, the late Huang (Hsing Hsien), and their classmates--to this day. Sifu John Bright-Fey, an excellent Bagua and Chen Style Tai Chi instructor of the Blue Dragon sect (the historians of all Chinese martial culture) in the mid 1980's told me that CMC's Tai Chi is so soft (with it's absolute emphasis on the yin (soft) Roll-back energy initially and throughout training ) that it isn't even Tai Chi anymore and can be considered a totally different form of Chinese Boxing. Hence the postures and transitions between postures of the 37-Posture Short Form are different in significant ways from those of the Long Form and the principles of energy application are different from those of other Yang Tai Chi branches. Not better...just different. The 24-posture Yang Form was created in 1958 by a panel of Tai Chi masters under the direction of the PRC government to make Tai Chi more accessible and easier to learn for the Chinese masses.

 

In 1989, after getting permission from my teacher, Abraham Liu, I produced what are as of today the most successful, popular and widely distributed instructional Tai Chi videos of all time (best-reviewed on amazon.com)--more than 9 million sold over the past 21 years. Info is available at my website and through amazon.com:

 

http://www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html

 

Master Benjamin Lo's Short Form video I believe is available through his school, Universal Tai Chi Chuan Association. But I haven't found a URL for his school or videos.

 

Master William C.C. Chen's 60-posture Yang (Short) Form is his adaptation of the Cheng Man-ching Short Form that adds to the 37 Posture Form the following postures: Pick Up Needle on Sea Bottom, Fan Through Back, Turn and Chop with Fist, the Push with a straight shuffle (using my Mok-Gar lingo), Knee strike, and Box the Ears. His 60 Form is seen on his website and dvd, and on several clips on Youtube:

http://www.williamccchen.com/art_of_the_60.htm

 

Hope this helps.

 

Terry Dunn

[RiverSnake]

I have learned almost 90% of the 24 form from this guys youtube videos. They are very well done. I just have to learn the last few motions.

 

 

 

-My 2 cents, Peace

[gatito]

.......................

 

Yang long form is good. Don't know any good DVD's on it, but the books by Yang Chengfu and Fu Zhongwen on Yang style are both very good, and describe the long form very well.

 

.............................

 

Best one that I've come across: -

 

Yang Tai Chi for Beginners (YMAA Taijiquan) Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming (2012)

 

www.amazon.com/Yang-Beginners-YMAA-Taijiquan-Jwing-Ming/dp/B006WPDKLI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349880640&sr=8-1&keywords=Yang+Tai+Chi+for+Beginners+[DVD]

[zerostao]

In 1989, after getting permission from my teacher, Abraham Liu, I produced what are as of today the most successful, popular and widely distributed instructional Tai Chi videos of all time (best-reviewed on amazon.com)--more than 9 million sold over the past 21 years.

platinum 9 times over, wow that is great success indeed. i reckon i will check out the cheng man-ching 37 video.

looking forward to it.

[Gerard]

.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Gerard

[DanC]

I have learnt Qigong and Yoga from DVD's and books but I feel Tai Chi needs direct training, Id really like to learn Tai Chi but its too intricate to learn from DVD..

[Yuen Biao]

I have learnt Qigong and Yoga from DVD's and books but I feel Tai Chi needs direct training, Id really like to learn Tai Chi but its too intricate to learn from DVD..

 

I agree and this is due to subtleness of Taijiquan; it may look correct to uneducated eyes but a teacher will notice even the slightest imperfection.

[The Observer]

I have learnt Qigong and Yoga from DVD's and books but I feel Tai Chi needs direct training, Id really like to learn Tai Chi but its too intricate to learn from DVD..

 

I agree with Yuen, a good teacher can see much, much, much, more than the average Joe. Also there are many intangibles that perhaps you may only learn kinesthetically.

 

Aside from that a DVD or book can be a useful supplement to the direct teaching you receive.

Edited October 11, 2012 by The Observer

[zerostao]

I have learnt Qigong and Yoga from DVD's and books but I feel Tai Chi needs direct training, Id really like to learn Tai Chi but its too intricate to learn from DVD..

in my case i am already a cmc form player

if i could find a Da Liu 50 posture form on dvd i would like that as well

[gatito]

A good teacher is always best but a good DVD may be better than a bad teacher.

 

If you're going to learn from a DVD, practice in a room with some mirrors for feedback (and/or video yourself).

[Gerard]

.

Edited September 13, 2013 by Gerard

[zen-bear]

 

Hi Terry,

 

I am not a big fan of videos but wouldn't mind to take the plunge since there are no good Yang style teachers where I currently live, so I rather practice on my own. Is this DVD of yours decent enough to play with the style and at least get some benefit of it.

 

Thanks in advance.

Hi Gerard,

 

I'm sorry for taking so many months to respond to your answer, but I just happen to get back on this thread today. (*I've been so busy that I don't even keep up with the questions on the "Flying Phoenix Chi Kung" thread that's been going on now for 3.5+ years.

 

At any rate, if it's not too late an answer: both my Tai Chi for Health Short Form (teaches teh Cheng Man-Ching 37 posture Short Form) and TCFH Long Form (teaches classic 108-posture Yang family form) DVD's are decent enough to explore and to benefit from. I made them as a reference to supplement practice with a live teacher but have been very gratified over the years to hear feedback from customers saying that my DVD's were the best resource they have because they live in remote places without access to live TC teachers. In this respect, my DVD's have served quite well as "the next best thing." Gatito is absolutley correct in his comment above:

 

"A good teacher is always best but a good DVD may be better than a bad teacher."

 

I produced the programs in 1990 with the permission of my teacher, Master Abraham Liu, and while my form (lower back tight) wasn't perfect back then, my detailed instruction of both forms has been universally lauded. And getting the highest passing grade from high-level Tai Chi masters who have watched the programs is my 40-minute warm-up/preparatory segment that holds at length 3 basic Tai Chi postures, and then teaches an alternating Play Guitar/Lifting Hands exercise, Wave Hands Like Clouds in bow stance exercise, and repetitive Snake Creeps Down exercise. Master Chan Ching Kai, my teacher of Liu He Ba Fa in NYC, when I first met him commented that that warm-up on my videos was good. Since their release in 1990, they are the most successful and widely purchased instructional DVD's on Tai Chi. The TCFH dvd's are best reviewed on amazon.com throughout all these years and are still selling.

Hope this helps.

 

Best,

Terry Dunn

 

www.taichimania.com/taichi_catalog.html

Edited June 5, 2013 by zen-bear

[Antares]

I have learned 2 sections of Taichi with Terry Dunn's DVD. Easy to follow, good explanation, good camera (you can see from 2 angles), good warm up. Best DVD on taichi yang form I have ever seen.