Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming in Boston, MA

[Dvoid]

Hello. For those who are not familiar with Dr. Yang; in short, he has been training and teaching Shaolin kung fu, White Crane, Taiji and Qigong for almost 40 years. He has 47 schools in 16 countries. Here is a link to Master Yang's seminar schedule from now until 2004.SEMINARS (http://www.ymaa.com/schoseminars.html)

Also, YMAA has built a new store recently, offering books, videos, Chinese music and silk uniforms at a discount. DVDs coming soon.YANG'S MARTIAL ARTS (http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-zshop/S119GS7BDIVY3G/104-0928145-3314312) THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

[Dvoid]

Dr. Yang's bio

[wu_de36]

Are you a student of Dr. Yang?

Did he ask you to spam our forum? That doesn't strike me as being part of his personality.

Besides, if you're going to buy stuff by Dr. Yang, buy it from him directly, since writing books is essentially a profit loss for him, given the nature of publishing.

[Dvoid]

Ye, Im a student of Dr. Yang's that works at YMAA Publishing, Yang's Martial Arts Association, based from his headquarters in Boston, MA. I would never spam this forum. I am providing links to help let people know that Master Yang is out there, and how to study with him.
Also, due to the nature of publishing, Im providing a link to the YMAA store, where you may buy directly from YMAA and Dr. Yang. I'm also the guy who will bring any orders we get over to the basement of the school and pack and ship them directly from YMAA.
If it is inappropriate for me to do this, I hope that a moderator will tell me and I will post no more links.
It is my hope that those aware of Dr. Yang, and those who have studied with him, will discuss his work in this thread.

[dwid]

Many of us have attended one or more of his seminars. I am with Wu De, as I don't see how this is a post intended to generate a discussion about Dr. Yang's teachings so much as it is an exploitation of this forum for free advertising. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Yang, but I don't think this is the right place for this kind of plug.

[wu_de36]

I do apologize, but it came off as more a blatant plug than anything else:) Your post count was really low, and the only post I'd seen was a "buy some stuff here" link which tends to be frowned upon. No major foul though if you contribute otherwise.

A lot of us here are huge fans of Dr. Yang. I've been lucky enough to train at YMAA for a weekend (chin na level 1) and I'd love to go back.

I didn't look at the link too close, and only noticed Amazon.com in the link... hence my rant :)

I respect that Dr. Yang is working hard, possibly harder than anyone else, to bring CMA to the mainstream culture. Whether or not that's a good thing can be debated for weeks here (and has) but I'm of the opinion that the era of secrets has resulted in a lot of treasures being lost forever.

A good discussion would be along the lines of encouraging people to spend a few more bucks and buy direct from Dr. Yang and let him have a little more cash in his pocket. When I was there last January, he said he lost $30,000 publishing in the year 2000. That's rough, and he's considered "successful" :)

Granted in 2000, he put a LOT of books out, but dayum.

[Ky-Fi]

Dvoid,
I'm a student at YMAA North Andover, and I've been on this forum for a few years now. Whenever anyone has posted what I consider to be uninformed or unfair criticism of master Yang, I always try to counter it with my understanding of master Yang's point of view, and relate my own very positive experiences at the school and with his teaching. There are a lot of people on this forum who are very knowledgeable and can discuss CMA in great depth---please don't make my job more difficult by posting plugs. :)

[Mutant]

Ky-Fi;

I studied with YMAA under Sifu Alex Keisel for a year back in '94, when i had just moved back to Mass. and before moving on to St. Louis. I learned the material for his first stripe level but never tested on it. It was a good school with a great group of people (it was on rt. 133 in shawsheen then, i think it moved?).

Regards to your kwoon!

[Ky-Fi]

Hey MutantWarrior,

I took a bunch of the weekend seminars at YMAA Boston starting in '98, and then at the beginning of 2001 I started taking classes at the North Andover branch (I live on the North Shore, and that's a lot easier commute :)). I think they had moved right before I started---I think prior to that the place was in Andover?

Anyhoo, yes, Alex Keisel still runs the place---I haven't actually trained with him, though, as I've just taken the classes that master Yang comes up weekly to teach. But yes, it's definitely a nice environment with a good bunch o' folks.

Cheers!

[Ruah Boxer]

I live in North Andover and I've heard of Yang's Martial Arts. Actually, I think I live close enough to walk there. I considered checking the school out, but I went to their website and found out I wasn't being taught by Yang himself (I cried myself to sleep) and also found out they teach kick boxing at the school too. Suddenly I had no desire to go anywhere near the place. Well, I'm sure it's a great school regardless of kick boxers (I don't want them hunting me down for mocking them) but I don't have the time or money to go learn myself some White Crane Kung Fu. This post seems empty and meaningless now that I look back on it.

[wu_de36]

but you hit "submit" anyway. good for you.

[Justa Man]

:D

[Dvoid]

In the Foreword from YMAA Current Newsletter #61, Master Yang estimates that since he started publishing books and videos, YMAA has lost approximately $650,000. He also says he is happy with his decision and knows he is on the right path.

I don't think it is inappropriate to post links to Master Yang's schedule, or to his store. I've done this with
respect to this excellent forum. The information is now available here to those who don't know how to find it.

Many of the questions I see posted in these forums are addressed comprehensively in Master Yang's books.
I posted this information here out of my respect for Dr. Yang, with the hope that he may be able to continue his work for many years to come.

[diego]

In Yang's SHAOLIN LONG-FIST Book from 82?, The fourth or fith set is a longfist set, wich borrows from PrayingMantis, Do You happen to know the History of this Form:) .

[wu_de36]

Originally posted by Dvoid


I don't think it is inappropriate to post links to Master Yang's schedule, or to his store. I've done this with
respect to this excellent forum. The information is now available here to those who don't know how to find it.



To do so unsolicited is, in fact, inappropriate. That is the crux of my arguement.

If you want to sell stuff for Dr. Yang, buy a banner ad :)

If someone posts "I need some resources on Shaolin White Crane. Are there any good books out there?" then I think no one would have a problem with you posting a link.

[Crimson Phoenix]

Diego, are you speaking about Shi Tzi Tang or Shaw Fu Yen (xiao hu yuan)?? Dayamn, I asked this question too to him last time he was in Paris...I didn't quite catch the name in Chinese, but I think it was Fu Jar Bin (he was a mantis master).
Of course, these sequences were enriched and modified like everything coming from Jing Wu or Nanjing by the influence of the masters from different styles who were gathered. Hence these sequences are not purely prayin mantis, even if it is their roots...like Beng Bu too, which differs from the one passed down in mantis (even though Beng Bu varies from mantis to mantis as well hhehehehehehe)

[diego]

it's the SHAW FU IEN, Or the second one you spelt:)
It say's, the purpose of this middle level sequence is to teach the longfist student the principle's, idea's, and technique's of Northern Praying Mantis, wich have been modified to fit the stylistic features of Long Fist.
It also say's this book will show the elementary and middle levels of Shaolin Long-Fist, which exactly is?. I know He teaches fukien white crane and tai ch, and thier is northernshaolin/baksillum.
And i have heard of Emperor's longfist? wich is suppossed to be the original?. so what lineage is this book describing, are these set's all from the same system or he gave a good example of form from shaolin longfist styles?.
Anyway, it's definatly a good book, it would be nice to see a part2!.:cool:

[diego]

i have a chinese i think sevenstar mantis book from the library, and it has a, what i tell, a gunglichuan set also, they both follow the same pattern, but the hands and feetplay is very different.

[Crimson Phoenix]

Diego, regarding Gong Li Quan, indeed I have seen another too, in the shaolin lineage of Chang Dsu Yao...it looked very different from the on I know, although some parts had similarities...the Gong Li I know is the one that was elaborated in Jing Wu, there are surely more ancient Gong Li that were used as a fondation for this one, I guess.
As for Yang's Longfist, it's the style created in the Nanjing central Kuoshu institute...several famou masters from different styles were gathered here and decided to create a new composite style that would include the flavor of their respective long fist styles. In this regard, it is a new style/system, since it dates only from around 1928, but it is not modern wushu at all and remains pure traditional since its roots are genuine traditional styles that were not corrupted in the process.
Dr Yang told me that Lian Bu Quan is a good exercise for moving patterns and synchronisation, that Gong Li is necessary to leanr waist usage to issue power in long fist, but that real long fist only starts with Yi Lu Mai Fu and Er Lu Mai Fu...for example he highlighted that even though LongFist really favors kicks and leg strategies, Lian Bu and Gong Li do not contain much kicks, while Yi Lu and Er Lu have a good amount of them, which is another sign that these forms are becoming the serious business.
The forms of Nanjing's longfist are then combining several styles: Yi Lu and Er Lu have strategies from Eagle, Luo Han etc...while after you have mantis forms, and then later in the curriculum a Taizu changquan form (emperor's longfist), and Cha forms...
It's like a big dish where they put all the different recipes for you to taste, while rearranging them a little so that they are in harmony with each other...

[rogue]

I thought all traditionalists Chinese, Japanese/Okinawan, Korean knew of the good doctor. I do a Korean/Japanese style and the Dr's books on Chin na and White Crane are used by all of us interested in bunkai(analysis) of our kata.