T'ai Chi: The "Supreme Ultimate" Exercise for Health, Sport, and Self-Defense

When people read a book, usually during the first reading you may only understand "a little".. I read this book in the 70's.. During that time I remember only "trying to learn the movements", and the "relaxation instructions"... Honestly...I did not learn anything... with the years and a lot, a lot of more reading about Taiji and learning directly from experts, and seen daily the amount of "youtube"'s information...then you one start to "understand" Taiji a little... and when you can find so many different versions and "styles" of ONE ART.... then you understand that most of them had not grasp the real true meaning of taiji... there may be not one true but many... Then one open his eyes and start 'understanding" it... it will take time to UNDERSTAND Taiji... This is an excellent book! But understand that this is just a book... even a good one... but YOU WILL NEVER LEARN TAICHI WITH A BOOK!!

I practice this specific style of Tai Chi. This book is the one that I have used for 20 years to remind me what I am supposed to be doing. There are pictures with each posture, though in the e-book mode, often they are on the next page or the previous page - not the author's fault, just a casualty of the e-book age. The steps of the Yang Style, short form, are here. The exact steps are here. Do this. Then do that. Then put your hand here. This is, often, what I need to be reminded what I learned, or what I should have learned.There are other books about the various styles of Tai Chi, there are videos on YouTube, DVD's galore: For me, this book is a must-have for my Tai Chi e-bookshelf: I do this form. He wrote the book! All I have to do, is do it!

I've practiced CMC's short form for a few years before I read this book. The bulk of the book is form sequence pictures, but as another reviewer wrote, these are mirror-image pictures and I found them awkward to use as well. Another book, "The Tai Chi Book : Refining and Enjoying a Lifetime of Practice" by Robert Chuckrow, explains the tai ji concepts clearer and the form sequence pictures are not mirrored, even though he's writing about the same thing and the same 37 posture form. Learning the flow of the form from any sequence of pictures is difficult because it's hard to capture the flow between them, but the mirrored pictures in this makes it harder to compare body positions.

I practice a different style of tai chi than Professor Chen Man Ching does but I can tell from reading the book that he is one of the greatest tai chi masters ever. There are five different styles of tai chi but many of the principles are the same. Anyone who practices tai chi could benefit from reading this excellent book.

This book is really comprehensive. It has many pictures and descriptions of them to help you along with the forms. I'm taking a Tai Chi class at my college, and this book is the perfect companion. It is very well layed out and can be easily followed. Of course it is always necessary to have an actual master, but this book is probably the best on the market. Many Tai Chi books are confusing and poorly made, but this is one of the few that is not. Learning Tai Chi straight from a book is a little silly, at least look for classes or a video. But this is the perfect companion piece to perfecting your Tai Chi. If you want to buy the best, this is the one - no question about it.

I'm not sure how to rate a book like this--since it is trying to teach on a static page what is essentially a three-dimensional flow. I also have the Tai Ci Ch'uan Yang Style from Peaceful Dragon (1993). You might think a video would make learning it easier but I find that I need both--the written word and visual to understand. Oh, and I am taking a class.Don't be put off by the publication date but do be aware it will take concentration to learn anything from this book.But then you didn't expect Tai Chi to be quick, did you?

I bought this book as a teenager (17 or 18 ) but I gave it away hoping it would help the person who I gave it to. Today I just received another copy of it. As for the book it is great and for those who are do it yourself type of person, the benefits obtain are great if you master the form and the mentality.Good luck.

I learned the first 3rd in the late 70s at a school and practiced what I learned until '81. For reasons I don't recall, I stopped practicing. Recently my wife suggested that we get back to yoga. That is when I recalled that many consider Tai Chi to be "yoga in motion." Glad to say this 79 y/o is back in motion and feeling really GREAT.

In the main section of the book the authors highlight key points on each posture together with some photos of the professor performing the form and diagrams showing weight on different feet. There are some other sections providing an explanation of martial and push hands applicationsI found it useful, however there are some limitations- The explanations for each move are difficult to follow unless you already know the move.- I don't think there is enough information for you to use this book on its own to learn the form.You will need instruction and/or other booksThe main negative for me, is the actual physical book- The paperback has a very thin and low quality cover which split after some very light use.- It’s quite expensive for a slim volumeI regret not buying the hardback to begin with. False economy.If you are not learning the Cheng Man-Ch’ing modification of the Yang Style (which will be most Tai Chi students) then this book will be of limited help

Following is a brief summary of each of the 8 chapters, followed by a few words describing what I found to be particularly helpful:1-3: Introduction and general principles.4: A detailed description of each posture of the form, each with 1 or more photos. These are extremly useful as they help to analyse and improve each individual posture. This is followed by a photographic sequence of the whole form.5: Tai chi for sport (mainly "push hands").6: Tai chi for self-defence, including some martial applications of a few of the postures.7: This has 2 parts - "Yang Cheng-Fu's 12 important points" and Questions & answers about Tai chi from 2 masters. I found the first useful and thought-provoking, the second mildly interesting.8: Description of a separate document "Tai Chi Chuan Classics". It is described as being "the basis of the art" and that is what is analyses, the fundamental principles.Appendix: The sequence of the form.All chapters are without exception, interesting and highly useful (even if I have not commented on every section). Maybe not for the complete beginner and certainly no substitute for a good teacher, but it is certainly an excellent way of developing what is studied in class.

If you are just starting out with Tia Chi then this is the book you need as a beginner myself I was able to follow the step by step guide with any problem. I have now joined a Tia Chi class and was able to understand the teacher and perform the forms to an acceptable state for new student.

Thought it would cover tie man chegh

Precisely what I needed: a clear book explaining all the simplified Tai Chi Yang style's 37 postures (WARNING: this book is NOT about the "usual" and a lot more common 24 posture simplified Tai Chi Yang form!)