Bak Sil Lum (or Bak Siu Lim) is the Cantonese pronunciation of Bei Shaolin, or Northern Shaolin style. It is recognized by experts as an extension of the real Shaolin Heritage. Its most famous exponent was Gu Ru Zhang, known as a master of Iron Palm (striking arts) and Golden Bell (body conditioning arts). In […]
Oct
3
2018
3
2018
Aug
30
2018
30
2018
Help Us Help You
We got an email from a kind customer, who wanted to alert us to the fact that a link he was clicking did not bring up the intended information. After a few minutes’ investigation, I would say he was putting it mildly: we had provided clips—many clips!—for each of the DVDs in China’s Living Treasures […]
Aug
28
2018
28
2018
Listening to the Wind: On Internal Practice
About a week ago I asked my Tai Chi class if they ever get bored doing the form. They unanimously answered “No,” their explanation being that the form always provides new material to concentrate on, things to master. This suggests that the act of repetition can be either boring or freeing, and leads me to […]
Jul
20
2018
20
2018
Tai Chi’s Long Bow
Addressing its reputed character, we get the impression that every earnest instructor tries a different approach to proclaim Tai Chi as a martial art. Considering those instructors who do try and make the point feasible, the spectrum of possible arguments is endless. For instance, one common example has the instructor picking a bystander on whom […]
Jun
27
2018
27
2018
A Gathering Indeed
Friday, we drove south, over 350 miles to Monterey Park, in Los Angeles, in answer to Sifu Don Hamby’s invitation to attend his 3rd Annual Kung Fu Gathering of the Masters. Despite expectations based on decades of tournaments and events, we could not have anticipated what we encountered once the drumming started. Sifu Hamby, widely […]
Jun
10
2018
10
2018
More Living Treasures from China
Adding nine new DVD from the estimable China’s Living Treasures series. These include some excellent instruction on the Wu/Hao branches of Tai Chi, which is very rare in the west. Also included are instructional DVDs showing smooth and graceful performances by Yang style master Ye Xiao Long. George Xu returns with an advanced form of […]
Jun
10
2018
10
2018
Jun
10
2018
10
2018
Jun
10
2018
10
2018
Yang Tai Chi with Ye Xiao Long
Volumes 22 and 23 (Parts 1 and 2)
Mar
27
2018
27
2018
Tutorial: Tai Chi Tips, Stepping
If you’ve spent more than 5 minutes at Plum, you know how highly we prize basics as the foundation of good movement. ‘Stepping’ in Tai Chi, is one of those fundamentals that you might learn on the first day of class, and which you might be refining well into your advanced practice. We prepared a […]
Mar
9
2018
9
2018
The Yi Bone’s Connected to the Qi Bone
Q: I started reading a book which examines the 5 major Tai Chi styles and uses quotes from the classics to show what they all have in common, and what is unique to each style. Anyway, lots of repetition of “yi leads the chi” and “chi leads the body”. I kind of always thought that, […]
Jan
25
2018
25
2018
Tony Yang & Bajiquan: A Repeat Appearance
Just a quick note to say we are now stocked, once again, on Sifu Tony Yang’s elusive 2 part DVD on Bajiquan. Yang Sifu studied Bajiquan in the Wutan tradition with Grandmaster Liu Yun Chiao, in Taiwan, and has been teaching this for many years. If you’ve been waiting, get them while they are here! […]
Jan
7
2018
7
2018
Gary Shapiro: Looking Back
In the past, I’ve written some articles for Plum detailing my Tai Chi adventures on cruise vacations. After nearly 40 years of work as a physical therapist, I decided that it was the right time to take a permanent vacation. On Aug 4, 2017, I made my last patient visit, went to the “big†office, […]
Nov
6
2017
6
2017
Oct
31
2017
31
2017
George Xu: Pioneer
Normally we reserve these weblog spots for a quick teaser, and designate the product pages for fuller reviews. However, since the works of George Xu often attract our special attention, we thought that this time, with his new DVD on Reeling Silk Energy, we would post our more in-depth interview along with our usual product […]
Jun
7
2017
7
2017
Liu Xiao Ling’s Presentation of Wu Tai Chi Sword
Pound for pound, Liu Xiao Ling is one of the most popular teachers on our site, especially considering the small number of DVDs he has produced from his wide range of styles and systems. The reasons are simple. His movements are accurate and simultaneously explicit. He contends himself with the “internal†arts such as Qigong, […]
Mar
19
2017
19
2017
Random Circles: ”The Synergy of Taiji Quan
by Jason Tsou and Art Schonfeld By necessity, there are many levels of martial arts training. A person must develop foundational work before he can go on to more advanced work. One essential training method often overlooked today is that of Random Circle training. While this is not the highest level of training, it provides […]
Sep
5
2016
5
2016
From Taiwan: An Old Frame and a Lost Track
There are a lot of well meaning martial practitioners out there that have probably never posed in front of a camera. They make honest, traditional and studied demonstrations of each particular style. Despite the special qualities of the style, the survey of their forms may be tepid and self-conscious. No disrespect to them, they did […]
Apr
4
2016
4
2016
Jan
22
2016
22
2016
The Basics
Jack Yan has emerged as one of our more favored writer/translators. His exhaustive series on the teacher Chen Zheng Lei has brought a lot of attention to this branch of the art, and his own series on Tong Bei is a welcome addition to what is otherwise a very under-represented field of texts and DVDs. […]
