The Empty Mind - Wudang Mountain Tai Chi 

Pure grace. It's always great to see people who do these arts justice.

I come back to this even after 9 years, Priest Yuen is captivating. And the presentation has so much mystique. If only it were higher res..

WOW! You guys rule! That is about the best footage of martial arts ever made. Please keep it coming!

The complete film, The Empty Mind is feature length, 90 minutes and can be purchased at emptymindfilms (.com) The DVD ships worldwide. Thanks for watching - emptymind films

it never ceases to amaze me how well these masters, and students, control.... utilize their jing and other energies.

brethren... let us not bicker. let us be truly happy and joyous. ~ peace, love, understanding, wisdom, healing, virtue. ~ blessings to all

This guy is one of my favorite artists!

Taijiquan is both a sport and a philosophy. Depending on one's approach to Taijiquan the results can differ. Most people practice for wellness. A few go deeper to find peace and harmony.

Mountain has healing power.Martial arts related to spirituality..'Universal Arrow',Kerala,India.

Wooow This master has the most fluid moves that I never saw !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have peace of mind just listening to the sound track, i just happen to train in the arts of Tai Chi myself so giving me even better peace and strength of mind and body. i find that Tai Chi helps to relax my body aswell as my mind

Awesome. What beautiful, centered people. And by watching we, in a way, practice everything tai chi isn't.

Master Yuan's Tai Chi is purposeful and fluid. Not many people can perform like that. I see a lot of soft and limp Tai Chi, but Master Yuan's fluid movements is what I want to achieve.

The Soundtrack is ... The Empty Mind by YellowBell. It was released at the same time as our movie premiered. You can purchase the entire soundtrack CD from yellowbellmusic Thank you for watching - Jon Braeley at EmptyMind Films

Very nice. I was on a quest in the early eighties to find this in China. Despite much travel and searching it remained elusive (perhaps it was still too soon after the cultural revolution when kung fu was banned). To finally see it now in the comfort of home is a wonder of the times.

this is beautiful art. thank you for this video. and thank you to all who made this possible :)

So honored to be a part of your project all those years ago John! Such beautifulfootage!

Update: Master Yuan recently left the mountain and opened his own school at the bottom of Wudang (Lao Ying) at the Yu-Xu Temple. His TaiChi displays the very essence of Yin and Yang. Thank you for watching. EmptyMind Films.

"Te soft and yielding overcome the rigid and hard but few put this into practice"

Travelling to Wudang is the hard part. Wudangshan is a small village with only a rural railway line that connects to Wudan, which has an airport that connects to Beijing. There is a train from Beijing to Shiyan which is 20 miles away from Wudang and now I hear that this train does make a stop in Wudangshan, but not all trains do this. Once at Wudang Mountain there are many martial arts schools on the mountain and below in the town. Avoid the Chinese holiday periods though.

Dear XBLOCKS, what you are saying is true. Wudang Shan, like Song Shan has become a tourist circus. I was embarrassed when I visited the Shaolin temple. When I was training in Shaolin styles in Hong Kong, though, my teacher told me that in order to find a good instructor, you need to make sure they know applications of the movements. And when they make the long stance, he said a common mistake is to point the toe outward instead of keeping it parallel with the back foot...

fantastic wu dang shan

"Wise men do not need to prove their point,men who need to prove their point are not wise." -LaoZi

They are very open to teaching foreigners and make guests feel welcome. Not all Wudang schools teach foreigners due to access and language barriers. Both Wudang and Shaolin are not the easiest places to visit and accommodations can be minimal - costs approx $50/day for tuition-hotel room and food. Hope this helps, emptymind films.

lovely! what music is this , i really enjoy it , i find it soothing

Great Film.

That was great!

We are all dual in this journey of life. Meaning we are all one. (in this together)

There is no record of Shaolin Temple as the birthplace of Taichi, (Martial Arts - yes). There are records that show the internal or soft style originated at Wudang Mountain and Tai chi developed from this - mostly as exercises and not the forms you see today. The first actual Tai chi forms (with martial arts aspects) were created at Chen Village with Chen Wangting. I was at Wudang recently and the main priest 0 Zhong YunLong, insists that records exist that Tai chi started with Wudang.

I can see the relation to Chen style in it. Very nice.

I think this knowledge should be told to everyone without burocracy

This was a very endearing clip. Made me even more interested in traveling to China.

Those postures are actually designed to strengthen the hips and entire lower body. Even elderly people can begin or continue intense Tai Chi practice due to it's gentle nature.

Lo veo y lo sigo viendo tantas veces...

Tai Chi has roots going back 1000's of years of Chinese history and with the origins early Daoism. Origins of modern Tai Chi dates around 800 years with Cheung San Feng who brought strands of Tai Chi together. Wudang is a center of Daoist learning and practice. Martial arts is one element of Daoism, but what Daoist do on Mt Wudang is not exclusive to just Wudang, but actually in many sacred mountains.

Tai Chi as a moving meditation IS a type of Qi Gong!

I think if we all did Tai Chi, the world wold be a better place ^^

wow thats amazing about the cholrite beautiful crystal you have there John love it

Danke fürs Teilen!

Kapitalny klip! Dziękuję. :))))))

i love reading all these martial arts posts. so many are concentrated on being right, they miss the points. those here with the egos, are obviously not the learned masters...

Powerful.

in a place like this, living in the open like they used to do centuries ago i would be amazed if a person is not atuned to nature

i think its two different point of view,,,but they both are unique to its own culture!! It is concept how people seek into it!!

As I alluded to quite clearly I said that "martial arts were LARGELY introduced by Ta Mo, and that more specifically Wudang inherited to a large extent Xiaolin forms that were of course refined and differentiated in time by Taoist masters etc. Hope that clears up the confusion.

it's nice there, I wish I would be there

.......please accept my highest respect........

I absolutely agree. Anyone with eyes to see can tell that in particular Chen style is very Shaolin flavored in most of it's moves. I know for a fact that Shaolin does practice a soft internal style that is basically like a simplified yang and Chen style. Nuff said. Hey I love Wudang and they deserve a lot of credit but not for inventing Taiji.

nice presentation. well done.

Oh how I miss the training in wudang !!

@YuJinLong The music is titled "Empty Mind."

great video

Haha, Yuan Shifu for the win! Show 'em what you got, master!

this music makes me want to cry. it's so elegant, beautiful, serene, tranquil, and sophisticated...yet simple. it makes me happy and at peace. thank you (if you could post music like this or message me about what it is =)

Thought provoking.. great art

Please see previous comment on the music - thanks, emptymind films

@ShaolinHero1 religion : directed belief. belief: missing the point. point: specific in a generalised setting. fun: figuring out where to allow the mind to not go

It should be noted, though, that qi-gong was not actually given such a name until the PRC invented it and collected and systematized various practices that people had been doing around the country. Now we imagine that qigong is a traditional. Tai-chi on the other hand, while relatively recent in Chinese history, is something more traditional than qigong. This doesn't mean that some of the qigong techniques do not go far back into history, just that "qigong" didn't exist until quite recently.

@idma haha no doubt considering tai chi and qigong have been around for 7000 yrs

Whew after this, my mind is so empty I feel like an idiot :)

@JoRoc22 Actually, LOVE is much much more; most simply don't realize it

You know smudje.. The perception u once had.. is what most people have right now.. They dont take this serious, thinking that "oh its so slow moving".. Its sheer force mate.. and once u master it there are no limitations trust me

Indeed. 道 可 道 ， 非 常 道 。 名 可 名 ， 非 常 名 。 無 名 天 地 之 始 ﹔ 有 名 萬 物 之 母 。

This style has flavors of a few systems, is this cause its a new invention ? No doubting that their push hands is very good tho.

a música é maravilhosa!!!

HUMAN IS THE REASON FOR FIGHTING lets all listen to some irish fiddling and our live will move on alot better :DDDDDD

the mind can achieve anything were are just limited by our body so we have to strengthen both mind and matter to achieve a higher level. the world is at constant growth like a few years back someone might not have been able to do a certain acrobatic trick, but could visualise it no today it may be possible. the future will hold many discoverys.

There's probably more on show than just Wudang Tai Chi there.

@recruitor2001 Its the Wudang 28 Tai Chi Chaun form

on 1:47 i LOL, seeing a guy watching off with a sword in hand, looks like hes getting ready for some ass kicking

You will not find much communism in China today - not even in the rural mountain areas like Wudang-capitalism rules. I also do not regard Wudang as a tourist trap - the facilities are still basic and foreigners are very few and mostly there to practice Wushu-Taichi etc. It is a difficult journey by rail or plane and bus, and this ensures that Wudang will never be overun by tourists until the travel gets much easier. EmptyMind Films.

that reminds me of zen quote: those who know shut those who speak don't know

Abandoning is not the way. The fact that people do not understand its meaning cannot be blamed upon the religion itself, but on the ones that misunderstand. What use has the fading of religion if the problem lies within the imperfect human race?

@JoRoc22 I feel you on that. The only thing is that humans seem to be attached to the need to control things and put things in a box per se. LOVE can't be a religion becuase it transends the very human concepts of LOVE or the various types of LOVE: agape, eros, storge, and phila.

I wish wudang were still pure as it was back in the day. now it's all touristy and they don't show u that! It's still magnificient and powerful, but packed with chinese tourist sprinkled with western foriegners. Wudang is like a circus now. No Taoism

@recruitor2001 its the Wudang 28 Tai Chi Chuan

很好看 谢谢！！

That's Confuncius I think.Anyway there is much truth in those words.

That is beside the point, whether europe was united or not, religion still forced the atrocities of the crusades that can not be excused, regardless of how much unity it caused.

beautiful, no challenge being made, but i must see some actual application, or fighting any footage?, who really gets to see someone use it

Once having external movements , and styles , there is no Empty Mind. Because using our brain to control our movements, where is Empty???? As a Taoist, honestly facing yourself , your heart is important on the road in practice, perceiving the truth of the universe. Don't fall in fame and fortune , as Wudang is a holy place. Only Zhan Zhuang (standing sleeping) and Zazen ( sitting) motionless can approach Empty Mind , the deepest space in our heart. (by deep silence comprehend). WuDang needs more elite in internal spiritual world.

I'm on of the must falowers of kung fu Wang Dan. pa gua.

@idma however, there is an objective reality outside our bodies that is independant of our beliefs. at least if its outside the reach of our "aura" or "field".

@lilylessons sure

I still wonder, how come their hips and knees can withstand those efforts for so many years standing in traditional positions...?

most......don't understand!!! everyone wants to base there opinion on what's 'real', but real in most cases is what you've come to believe due to tv. to me, classical martial arts are more real than anything created in the last 30 years.

The music is quite traditional Chinese.

Until you come across a grandmaster, Then limitations hit you like the floor.

Peace :)

el taichi es la mejor tecnica que conozco para poner la mente vacia, pero vacia en el termino taoista no en el termino occidental de la palabra.

whats the artist and name of song in this titlw, i love it.. thx

Do you by chance have any links to more information on what is being practiced in this video? I'd liek to read more.

Really? Can it be used to generate force, or self defence too?

Is this the same Wudang monastery as in the Tiger and the Dragon movie?

I wish I knew of a good place to learn Tai Chi and Qi Gong techniques. I've done some what you would call dilettante training, but I know I am neither efficient nor knowledgeable enough in my self-training.

@Caranuil that's true. but if people can't understand their own religion and it causes war shouldn't it be abandoned?...

What is the sound tack? Very beautiful

What is the sound track? Very beautiful

i like this song. who is it by? and the title?

@MrSkinnycrab They aren't lucky at all. Anyone can train their psychic energy no matter where they are. Actually, most of the best sorcerers in the world are in North America, Europe and South America.