Tai Chi - 24 Forms DVD By Dr. Paul Lam****UPDATED!!!****

I bought this DVD after having a lesson with a local Tai Chi teacher who was ok but not really that good. As no-one else was available I had no choice but to use a DVD, which I thought would be difficult. But this DVD is excellent - far better than my local teacher and also better than a day course I did a few years ago. Not only is it clear and easy to follow (allowing for how difficult a subject this is), but Paul Lam manages the very difficult feat of being clear to the complete beginner and also indicating the energy flows for someone like me who has little Tai Chi experience but can feel the flow through meditation experiences. Expressing all of that clearly and straightforwardly is the sign of a master teacher. This DVD is worth more than its weight in gold.

The DVD was speedily delivered, a good price, and is excellent and full of information. I am learning tai chi 24-form chuan style, and am very glad to see the movements carefully carried out and explained in the video. The instructor is very thorough, the filming is very clear, and the DVD is very good value. I needed it to try to understand and to perfect my tai chi chuan 24-form movements. Just what i wanted. Thank you.

This is an excellent DVD, especially if you are attending a class that is learning the 24 forms as it is useful to practice them at home. The movements are well described and clearly demonstrated by Dr. Lam and his assistants and my only minor niggle is that I have a little difficulty navigating back through the DVD to easily get to the previous sections (this may be my DVD player!), but otherwise it is great.

Old , but great details explained very well. Its well worth the money

Having only just receive the DVD I can say that the packaging and the DVD were in great condition.I have looked at some of the content but was a little disappointed in the intro which stopped and started on several occasions and seemed a little from the actual instruction which was of a much better quality."Great instruction"

2011 versionFive years ago, I tried a Tai Chi class. I found it very frustrating. Tai Chi has a lot of right and left brain action going on at the same time with the legs and arms. Think of a drummer that has to do 4 separate beats with both arms and both legs, in some ways Tai Chi is like this. I struggled to grasp the moves straight away so I fell behind in class. Meanwhile the class moved on and the teacher couldn't focus on me as I was slower than the other students. I felt very alienated so I ended up quitting. Recently, I stumbled upon lesson 1 on youtube. I liked it so I decided to try this dvd. So far, I'm loving it. The DVD is packed with breathing exercises, fundamental movements and of course the 24 form pattern. The dvd moves very slowly, which is perfect for me. Some days I focus on the just the breathing exercises, sometimes I just work on practicing the seven foundational movements and of course some days I work slowly on the 24 form version. I love the fact that each movement is repeated 3 times and that we get a front and back view at the same time. That is very helpful. My mission is to take my time, learn the 24 forms at home slowly and once I've got it, then I'll go and join a class. I'm looking forward to one day taking on the 72 form dvd but small steps first! Overall I'm enjoying this and each day I do a little. Trust me, it's much harder than what it seems! :)Finally, the dvd arrived 36 hours after I had ordered it! Class!

Far superior to Dr Lam's older DVD of The 24 Forms, which was still brilliant. I am a newly qualified Tai Chi For Health Instructor, and, having learnt Tai Chi for Beginners, learning the rest of 24 Forms sequence makes sense. For the past few months I've been using the 2001 version of this DVD; this 2011 edition is much easier to follow. The forms are broken down into more manageable steps, and each step is repeated several times before being joined together to complete the form.Furthemore, The 2011 24 Forms is broken up into 4 sections, which has a 'Run Through' section so that you can practice 1/4 of the sequence once you've gone through each form individually. Other improvements include:1. Doubling the run time of the DVD from 2 hours to 4 hours (mainly due to repeating each of the steps several times, which helps the nervous system learn the movements).2. The angles: each of the forms is shown from the front and back on views, using fellow tai chi teachers.3. The abilty to practise one form, or several forms, at a time, that is, the sectioning off of the various forms, which enables the user to go straight to the desired section/form, and just do 10 or 20 minutes in one go, should he or she be short on time.Thank you Dr Lam and everyone else involved in the creating this DVD and The Tai Chi for Health Institute.

This video gives you a broad overview of the basics of tai-chi, including a detailed description of the chi-kong exercises, of the basic tai-chi forms, as well as demonstrations of the whole sequence from different points of view. Although it cannot substitute a real-life tai-chi class, it is a very useful complement to it. it serves to memorize and automatize the sequence of movements, leaving you free to concentrate on the fine details; it allows to observe any sequence as many times as you wish, as obsessively as you want, something you cannot realistically ask during a class; it can make you aware of gross posture mistakes that could be overseen during the classes because of time and shared attention limitations.