I was very excited to hear about the release of this DVD.   Wudang Mountain has always been known as a Taoist and Martial Arts center, and Zhou, Xuan-Yun is a fine representative of the high level of martial arts that have come out of Wudang Mountain.    I've seen other martial artists demonstrating various Wudang styles and have been impressed by the effective techniques present in those styles for dealing with violent situations. 

The coincidence of this release for me is my re-reading of Chronicles of the Tao, written by Deng Ming-Dao.  The book chronicles the life of Kwan Saihung, who, in similar fashion to the writer and performer of this DVD, Zhou, Xuan-Yun, trained in a Daoist monastery and later left to travel around China to meet and interact with other martial artists.

Zhou is obviously a very skilled martial artist.   His enthusiasm, knowledge and expertise are very evident in this DVD.   Zhou does not hold back and freely explains and demonstrates the various applications for the postures in the form.  His presentation of the Wudang Taijiquan set looks similar to Chen Style and Yang Style Taijiquan.   It is very direct and focused and is obviously a fighting art.

The DVD provides the following:

• History and background of Zhou, Xuan-Yun

• History of Wudang martial arts

• Excellent presentation of standing Qigong, Zhan-Zhuang and reasons as to the importance of making this part of your Taijiquan routine

• Demonstration of the full Wudang Taijiquan 108 set

• Applications for all of the postures

The warm up section offers some great tips, such as using various postures and transitions within the form as a short type of warm up.   Zhou spends a necessary amount of time on stressing the importance and usefulness of warming up through the use of Taijiquan movement and postures.   However, his demonstration of rolling the neck in a complete circle is considered by some to be ill advised.   It is acceptable to roll the neck front to left and right ninety degrees, but rolling the neck completely around in a circle can cause problems to the vertebrae.

Many of the postures in the Wudang Taijiquan form are similar to the Yang style of Taijiquan, but have different names for the postures.  Chen style postures are also evident.   In the applications section, numerous applications for each posture are shown.   Zhou stresses that a practitioner should choose those applications that fit their body type and martial arts skill level.   Nicholas Yang, the son of Master Yang, Jwing Ming, helps Zhou demonstrate the various applications.  

Zhou's demonstration of the various applications shows an understanding and practical application of the basic tenets of Taijiquan; that being yield, neutralize/dissolve, strike.   Zhou demonstrates various applications from the left and right sides, allowing one to see all parts of the techniques.  

Zhou has some unique takes on applications for postures such as Needle at the Bottom of the Sea, which he demonstrates as a flowing of one Qin Na application to another.  Zhou capably demonstrates how the applications should flow and change as the opponent/adversary reacts and deals with the applications.  Zhou also demonstrates how to respond to experienced martial artists who might try neutralizing techniques on the applications.   Regardless of how the opponent reacts to the original application, Zhou shows that their is always a linked application that will handle any response.

Bottom line, it's a great DVD and excellent demonstration of both the form and the various possible applications of Wudang Taijiquan.