[.ca] T'ai Chi for Health: Yang Long

From Amazon.com:
One of the essential principles of t'ai chi is complete relaxation, letting the lower body sink as if rooted into the ground while the upper body floats above. The movements are slow, circular, fluid, and balanced. In T'ai Chi for Health: Yang Long Form, instructor Terence Dunn teaches the complex, 108-posture Long Form with clarity and patience. The format of this 120-minute video is similar to T'ai Chi for Health: Yang Short Form: 7-minute explanation of the qualities, philosophy, and health benefits of t'ai chi; 10-minute breathing and warm-up segment; 20-minute introduction to basic postures; full hour of step-by-step instruction in the 108 postures of the Yang Long Form; and finally a 15-minute Yang Long Form demonstration. Dunn is an excellent instructor, explaining each move in detail and demonstrating with grace, suppleness, and strength. --Joan Price

Give us viewers a break!:
C'mon, when will you Tai Chi instructors realize how difficult and frustrating it is to follow from someone who is FACING YOU? Don't you expert instructors know that YOUR LEFT IS OUR RIGHT and that it is frustrating to follow someone and do that OPPOSITE of the video? Give us viewers a break - perhaps have class members face the viewer's angle! Terrance Dunn may be a good instructor but he did not accomodate for beginners to follow while looking at the screen - unless you already know the taichi movements.

An overall GREAT video!:
I would have given this video 5 stars but I do think for an absolute beginner, it is difficult to follow and there are some basic instructions missing. I took Kung Fu for about a year and am used to learning a 30, 40, 50+ step form. What this video is missing is an explaination as to how you should approach your Tai Chi training. If you've taken a martial art, Tai Chi itself or even ball room dancing, this is a great video. For those who have not take any martial art etc, here is some advise. When you start to learn the form, realize it is going to take A VERY LONG TIME for you to be able to learn the entire form correctly. To start, learn the first 5-8 steps and then turn off the video. Keep practicing until you can do the steps without thinking about them. Go back to the video and do the next 5-8 steps. Then turn off the video and do all the steps you know until you do ALL of them automatically. Keep this up until you learn the whole form. This will take weeks if not months to perfect. It is possible to learn the form in a few days and be automatic in it within a week or two, but you've got to dedicate some serious hours to Tai Chi training. All in all, a wondeful video that is easy to follow. Just take your time and be patient. Once you learn the form by heart, you can concetrate on the relaxation power of the form and less on remembering the sequence of manuevers. Good Luck!!

Good for a beginner, but...:
This is a reasonably good video for someone who has little or no Tai Chi experience. The instructor does an excellent job of describing the weight shifts, and subtle movements. The video is disappointing for the intermediate student. It is advertised as a demonstration/training video for the Yang LONG form, yet only addresses the first three sections - half of it. I was hoping for a detailed view of sections 4 through 6, which are not addressed.

begining tai chi pratitioner:
I found this video to be very helpful in my training.I have been taking Tai Chi for a very short time and have learned the fundiments of the Yang short form. My work schedule changed and I will be taking Tai Chi only once a week and needed a traing suplement.I found this tape to a very value training aid and not difficult to follow.I was concerned about some of the reviews stating that this video was hard to follow and confusing. However,I found this was not the case for someone who had a background in Tai Chi even a very limited background as in my case.I feel that the expectation to lean Tai Chi from a video alone is placing an unreal expectation on this video or any other intrustional video.Tai Chi or any other martial art is very difficult if not impossible to learn from a video alone.I would suggest that if someone really wants to attempt to learn Tai Chi from a video they start with the short form video first to build a foundation before attempting to learn the long form on this video.In my case, all I can say is I am very pleased with my purchase and the quality of this product. I am sure this video will help me greatly in my futher training.

There are newer & better DVDs out that are easier to follow.:
I'll agree with those who have commented on the "backward" view as Terrance attempts to teach the full Yang 108 form face-on towards the camera. This is obviously a very confusing method for most beginning students. Another reviewer made a comment to simply "place yourself between TV and mirror, facing the mirror. Problem solved"... yah sure, that could work if you have a full wall-sized mirror handy. (Even a doorsized mirror would be difficult to position for tai chi). I can see, though, that this video/dvd could possibly be a decent reference for students enrolled in a good tai chi class. He or she can practice the form at home per lessons learned from class. However, if this is your main Yang Tai Chi learning tool... good luck, be prepared to rack your brains in frustration trying to figure out which direction to go. The taichi moves can be confusing for some people as it is without having to think backwards. There are many more newer instructional DVDs and Videos that have multi-views. Search around.