Testimonials for Sam's upcoming book release

Foundations of Traditional Taijiquan: Core Concepts and Full Curriculum

Very close to publication! With the writing now complete, I’m diving into the publication process. Read the testimonials of some of today’s top internal-arts authors after they’ve read Foundations of Traditional Taijiquan: Core Concepts and Full Curriculum.

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DR. YANG JWING-MING

After forty years of study, Sam Masich has achieved what I consider to be a substantial and impressive level of depth and understanding in taijiquan. Now, it is his turn to share what he has discovered through his personal experiences over the past few decades. I sincerely believe Foundations of Traditional Taijiquan will become a guide for practitioners of all internal styles.

—Yang Jwing Ming, Ph.D., author of Advanced Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Volume One: Tai Chi Theory and Tai Chi Jing, Advanced Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Volume Two: Martial Applications.

EVAN THOMPSON

This momentous book, based on four decades of study, practice, and teaching, gives us a masterly presentation of the core concepts of Yang-style Taijiquan and a lucid exposition of the importance of a full-curriculum approach to studying the art. For the practitioner, Foundations of Traditional Taijiquan contains a storehouse of valuable information for deepening one’s practice and understanding; for the scholar, it offers insights into the philosophical ideas that enliven the art; for the historian, it represents a significant step in taijiquan’s journey from China to the rest of the world. This landmark book testifies to the enduring vitality of taijiquan as a self-cultivation practice for the twenty-first century and beyond.

—Evan Thompson, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, University of British Columbia, author of Waking, Dreaming, Being, Mind in Life and Why I Am Not a Buddhist.

DOUGLAS WILE

A hybrid of encyclopedic dictionary, textbook, and martial arts memoir, Foundations of Traditional Taijiquan could be the one-stop reference and teaching tool that teachers and students of taijiquan have been waiting for.

—Douglas Wile, Ph.D., Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, Brooklyn College, author of Lost T’ai-chi Classics of the Late Ch’ing Dynasty.

DANIEL MROZ

Sam Masich is an unusually talented writer—concise and expansive at the same time! In a marketplace dominated by cramped and incomplete books on ‘how to do’ taijiquan, this one offers readers the space to consider how they think about the art. Students and teachers of taijiquan are in for a treat.

—Daniel Mroz, Ph.D., Professor of Theatre, University of Ottawa, author
of The Dancing Word.

BARBARA DAVIS

A deeply thought-out melding of taijiquan theory and practice.

Barbara Davis, author of The Taijiquan Classics: An Annotated Translation, and Chen Weiming: Taiji Sword and Other Writings.

JAY DUNBAR

One of the best and brightest of contemporary taijiquan teachers, Master Sam Masich herein offers a basket of peaches surely plucked from the orchard of the Immortals. The fruit of decades of personal practice, rigorous research, discussion with renowned masters and innovative reflection, each essay provides players of any level fresh insights into the traditional basis of the art.

—Jay Dunbar, Ph.D., author of the dissertation, Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom! A Profile of Taijiquan Instruction in America’ (interpreted data collected by survey from over 200 taijiquan teachers).

TIM STANLEY

A work of fine scholarship, combining a deep engagement with classic texts, traditions of teaching, and Sam Masich’s own mastery of taijiquan fundamentals, Foundations of Traditional Taijiquan is a must read for all teachers and students.

—Timothy J. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Education, University of Ottawa,
author of Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-Racism,
and the Making of Chinese Canadians.

MICHAEL BABIN

In the first 25 years that I practised and taught Yang-style Taijiquan, I read every book on the subject in English that I could buy or borrow. If Sam’s excellent text had been available then, I would not have had to search so extensively for good reference material. Foundations of Traditional Taijiquan should be required reading for those committed to an in-depth training in any variation of the Yang Family or Yang Style Taijiquan.

—Michael Babin, author of Yang-style Taiji, T’ai Chi Ch’uan: The Martial Side.

MICHAEL GILMAN 

I have known Sam Masich for over a quarter of a century. In this time, I have watched him move from being a great natural athlete and taijiquan practitioner, to a true master of our art. He is unique in his ability to translate the ancient teaching and philosophy of Chinese martial arts into something accessible to all. I had the good fortune to work with Sam on push-hands, which is one of his specialties. I went from being someone with no tournament experience to a push-hands National Grand Champion under his tutelage. I’m sure we will all benefit from the wisdom contained in this book.

—Michael Gilman, author of 108 Insights into Tai Chi Chuan: A String of Pearls,
and 101 Reflections on Tai Chi Chuan.

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