Sometimes, here at Plum, we circle back and take a second look at a book or DVD we rediscover in our own catalogue. Adding almost 4000 items over the years has, hopefully, matured our tastes and understandings, and we often find nuance and new meaning among the treasures.

Sifu Jack Yan

But today, it is not a stack of media we circle around to, but a person, a teacher and a scholar whom we have represented for many years: Sifu Jack Yan. Sifu Yan is well-known in several areas: for his excellent translations into English of his own teacher’s works (Sifu Chen ZhengLei is his Tai Chi teacher); for his own works on Tong Bei, Whip Stick, and Eight Immortals Sword; and, of course, as an experienced teacher. We have long been admirers, but just found new reason to expand our praise.

Sifu Yan is now offering a 20 week online course in Mandarin for English speakers. He has developed a unique system for teaching and, after attending the first lecture, we are excited to recommend it. The first lecture is free of charge and can be found here, if you want to learn more about the class.

But, wait, there’s more!

Once on his site, we took some time to explore and found that he also offers a healthy selection of FREE recorded classes on other martial topics, as well as a 41-part lecture series on the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching). His insights and approach are accessible, and because he has filmed these with his own students in mind, the talks also incorporate martial thinking alongside classical philosophy. Really well done! And did we mention they are free?

And for the long-distance student, Sifu Yan has filmed additional (over 1000) lessons in Tai Chi, Kung Fu and Tong Bei, creating an entire curriculum for those who choose a paid subscription. You can try these classes for free before deciding.

We encourage you to visit Sifu Yan’s site for great material, well-presented.