TAIJI YANG SWORD

TAIJIQUAN SWORD CLASSICAL YANG STYLE - DVD

YMAA PRODUCTION • DR. YANG, JWING-MING • "TAIJI SWORD, CLASSICAL YANG STYLE" • WRITTEN BY DR. YANG, JWING-MING • PERFORMED BY DR. YANG, JWING-MING, ROBERT WAS and VADAS MIHALY • EDITED BY DAVID SILVER AND MEDIA MANIC • VIDEO PRODUCTION SUPERVISION BY DAVID SILVER • DVD PRODUCTION BY MEDIAMANIC • DIRECTED BY DR. YANG, JWING-MING

Normally, I recommend to students to learn the simplified forms first and then graduate to the long forms of a style. However, due to the quality of the DVD offered by Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming of the Long Form of the Classical Yang Style Sword Form, I feel the best choice would be to learn the long form offered on this disc. Although there are many good Taijiquan Sword instructional videos available for the Chen, Wu, Sun and Yang styles, I believe that Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming has done his usual top notch job of providing the student with a wealth of material on his Taijiquan Sword Classical Yang Style DVD.

A good teacher will teach you a form. A better teacher will teach you an application. A higher level would be the teaching of the technique. And as Jou, Tsung Hwa relates in his book, The Tao of Taijiquan, the best thing a teacher can pass on is the "key" to the system. I always get the feeling when I study the tapes, books and DVDs from Dr. Yang that he is truly sharing many secrets of the various styles that he teaches. Fortunately, unless a student is at a level that has the understanding and skill necessary, the information cannot be used or absorbed. I say fortunately because this can prevent injuries through misuse. Yet Dr. Yang provides enough of the basics and the exercises that build a strong foundation, whereby a student can raise themselves to the higher levels where deeper information on the DVDs become more available, understandable and usable.

This 54 posture Yang Sword Form is presented along with the Taiji Sword Form, the Taiji Sword Qigong Set, Taiji Qigong Breathing, Fundamental Sword Techniques and 10 Matching Drills for training with another student.

As Dr. Yang frequently reminds the viewer on his tapes, you must practice and make these moves a natural part of your being. Without practice it is impossible to achieve mastery or even capableness of these techniques, applications and forms.

The Taiji Sword is considered by many to be a very advanced level in Taijiquan Mastery. Learning the sword form greatly enhances and strengthens the Taiji set. Learning the sword form increases one's ability to project chi and is a necessary tool in reaching advanced levels of Taijiquan.

Even if you've purchased Dr. Yang's VHS tape of this form, it is worth the money to obtain the DVD as it contains much information not included on the VHS tape. Additionally, information on DVDs is much easier to access than on a VHS tape.

The DVD is professionally filmed with very easy to follow along teaching, showing the moves at slow speed and at normal speed. Additionally, using students to demonstrate the moves and then having Dr. Yang provide constructive criticism and praise offers more insight into the moves to the interested viewer.

Click on the picture below to see a demo video of the film.