Customer Reviews

Tai Chi Chuan Martial Applications: Advanced Yang Style Tai Chi Chaun (Martial Arts-Internal)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While I agree that in many instances a book or video tape can never replace a qualified teacher or instruction, there are exceptions to this rule based on the assumption that the person reading the work has atleast some cursory understanding of the content. In short this book is *not* for beginners but the serious practioner who has absorbed and studied their form and who now want to deepen the martial aspect of their knowledge base through studying practical applications.

I found this book a delight to read and while both deeply informative and thought provoking it was simultaneously accessable and practicle. Some photographs are occasionally too dark around the legs losing a little definition, due to the fact that while one person has a white shirt both have black pants. This is really a minor thing if you recognise the form being expressed, besides they put a white arrow for a black arrow when needed.

I found the sections on Taiji fighting strategies and analysis of the Taiji fighting set to be instantly informative/gratifying and this is where I spent the bulk of my time when I first bought the book. There is an excellent 'training techniques' section for Push Hands, what follows after that is predominantly images of the Taiji applications themselves sometimes accompanied by a selection of non form driven alternatives! Excellent...

I personally find a book like this invaluable being serious about Martial Taijiquan as opposed to the purely health dance aspect. I wouldn't recommend this book to the novice or anyone not interested in getting into the deepest realms of *real* Taijiquan, it will simply ask too much of you and without a teacher or master who fully understands the essence of this art as a fighting art you could find yourself doing yourself more harm than good.

This book is a must for advanced Yang Stylers and well worth the price, find a training partner and begin training on your applications!

Taijiguy,

This is another good book from master Yang. I had previously read his tai chi chin na and Shaolin chin na books, and also his book on power in tai chi, which I'd found quite good, so I thought I'd try this book, too.

I also have one of his videos showing well over 100 chin na applications, which can show the applications even better than any book can. But the books can give more complete information about theory, strategy, and the more abstruse concepts of tai chi such as jin or the different types of energy and power and force that can be used, Taoist concepts such as yin and yang, and so on, which Dr. Yang discusses too. In that sense books on the martial arts can still fulfill an important purpose even in a world of inexpensive martial arts videos which often aren't much more expensive than the books (especially if you pick them up used on A_azon or eB_y), and are far better for seeing the actual physical applications of the techniques.

The book shows many of the applications of the tai chi movements, discusses other topics such as tai chi strategy, the morality of fighting, some tai chi theory and history, and a few miscellaneous other topics. Several dozen tai chi applications are shown. The pictures are easy to see except for the occasional photo where it's hard to interpret the action, but that's no different from any other martial arts book since almost all have at least a few photos with that problem.

A brief aside here. I am a student of Hung Gar kung fu also, and the application on the cover of the book is similar to one of the tiger claw techniques in Hung Gar, although it's done from a lower bow stance. Actually, there are many similarities between tai chi and other shaolin techniques, in which case, one could ask what is the real difference between shaolin and tai chi, or even karate and the other arts?

Well, ultimately in tai chi it all comes down to chi principles and the circulation of the chi. All the other aspects of tai chi such as relaxation, softness (actually more like hardness within softness, or wood within cotton), yielding, and so on, are ultimately related to that since using muscle power and too much strength is thought to block the chi. Hence, once reason tai chi postures open the joints and muscles is to prevent blockage of the chi at the joints. If you understand all that, you're doing pretty well.

(Of course, this brings up the question of what chi really is about, but I don't propose to discuss the Taoist medical principles vs. western physiology and medicine here; I merely present the above facts and leave it up to the reader to decide their validity for himself).

Although I liked the book, I have one quip, though, which is that I rate it four stars instead of five due to the fact that all the applications are against punches. Another writer here mentioned the same problem, and I agree. There are no applications against holds, locks, grabs, pushes, etc. They're all against punches. That's fine, but that basically makes the book a specialized monograph about only punching attacks rather than a book on the full diversity of possible defenses in tai chi.

Perhaps it's meant to be used in conjunction with Dr. Yang's Tai Chi Chin Na book, which does show the uses of many of the postures against those sort of attacks. But I think some of these should have been shown also just for variety, and then the reader could be directed to the other book for the rest. However, it's still a good book and should be especially useful for the beginning to intermediate student.

This book is fantastic if you want to learn how to block a punch. Basically, almost every single attack in here is a punch. There isn't much intricate work regarding escapes, joint manipulations, throws, counters or anything like that. That to me, is a travesty, as anyone who purports to know about Tai Chi and tries to make money off a book about Tai Chi should at least explore the depth and versality of the 38 moves in the form.

The later Analysis of the Fighting set has a few nice moves in there, but it's nothing you can't figure out after awhile (if it's not imminently obvious).

The pics are in black and white. The fact that the "attacker" often wears black and Dr. Yang's pants are black (his shirt is white) makes it hard to tell what's going on in some of these pics. This is especially true when black motion arrows overlap the black clothing.

It's an ok book, don't know if it was worth (the money) though.

-(...)

If you are looking for a book about Taiji martial theory and applications, this is a good read. The applications shown are clearly described, and obviously these aren't the only applications...it's up to you to discover more! There is a lot to this book besides the pictures...like the section on the morality of fighting is excellent, and something many martial artists don't realize/understand. It also includes some interesting things other books leave out, such as Taiji ball training, and the two-person fighting set.

That said, it seems like some of the obvious applications are left out...perhaps because they are obvious? Another oddity for me is that while Dr. Yang seems to be a well-respected martial artist and author, his "Classical" Yang style form looks different in certain places from ANY Yang style I've seen or been taught. Maybe I just lack experience? But for that reason I wouldn't recommend the book as form reference.

Finally, a big hit to the rating for me was that my book very quickly began to fall apart. The binding is terrible, so large chunks of pages separated and fell out. I generally take good care of my books, and this is the only book I've ever had that self-destructed on me.

There are many books which attempt to teach you how to do the form. This is not one of them. The author does take the reader through the form, but for each section also shows the reader where the move comes from. This helps in improving accuracy and in energy work. It is very important, as you proceed to polishing up your TaiChi that you bear this stuff in mind.

The book also gives general advice useful to the taichi practitioner - especially those who have just completed learning the form.

I've bought loads of TaiChi books over the years - some useful for philosophy, some for Chi Kung aspects - but this one is of direct practical use.

A final word: Books that outline the moves of the form are useful to jog the memory, but seeking out a teacher is a MUST!

I suppose I should rate it at best 3 stars for my personal use, but my sense is that it's better than that. As a near-beginner in Tai Chi (slightly over a year of instruction and practice), I found this book of only moderate use. I do find that I practice better if I envision the martial applications of the movements, rather than treating Tai Chi as a kind of dance. I'm not competent to judge its value for advanced students, but it's written clearly enough, and the illustrations rate a B-plus in my book. There are lots of them (good), and the text follows them (good), but the "bad guy" taken the fall is in black and it's often hard to see where the master has gripped him. For a beginner, this book is not nearly as good at Tai Chi Chuan by Mster Liang, Shou-Yu (same publisher). But it's not a bad supplement, even for me.

If you are looking for a detailed in explaination and expertly photographed easy to understand book on the application of Tai Chi Chuan this is it!!

This is a good book, I own it read it and learned a bit. But reading a book like this is similar to smelling a good breakfast cooking without being able to eat... that's why I'm in Taiwan now and the book is in a box in Portland.