Do we have any Tai Chi practitioners here? I'm looking at getting into it as a means of exercise and getting into a little better shape as previous orthopedic injuries/surgeries preclude many harsher forms of exercise. I'm trying to find a good beginner program online that I can do at home. Something free would be good, but I'm happy to pay a subscription.

Does anyone else do this or have suggestions as to where to start? Thanks.

To add, I'm looking for only the exercise aspect of it and have no interest in a program that pushes the religious part.

I'm curious about this too.

Have you tried You Tube?

YouTube has become the first place I check when I need to research a topic these days. I searched for, "beginner tai chi" and came up with several results.

I have not. I was looking for a formal type of program so didn't think to go there.

Took tai-chi at a local karate place many years ago. It's technically a martial art as I'm sure you're aware. We pretty much got through the long form. We dabbled in Qigong, pushing hands, and even the sword form of tai-chi. Sifu was a member of the church I attended. It might be worth finding a place to get the fundamentals and get a good foundation to continue at home. It might even include a fancy silk gi and shoes.

A couple of books I picked up back in the day

A Complete Guide to Chi-Gung https://a.co/d/4Pdlb1E

Tai Chi Chin Na https://a.co/d/fWiJF92

I would, but I'm at least an hour and a half away from any in-person type thing. I live in the sticks.

I've done it but it was at work and it was instructor led at lunch and in another company after work hours.

Not trying to scare you but you do have to accept the idea as you're doing it, the concept of chi which is similar to the Star Wars' Force.

It gets your limbs moving, no impact. Makes your mind focuses on what you're doing and not on anything else which is great.

Too bad, you're in the sticks or I would recommend go to a park where old Chinese people do it and follow along.

Lacking that, I think YouTube is an excellent resource.

I would recommend it.

I would think it would be very difficult to learn without in person instruction, but I don’t know what’s out there, maybe I’d be surprised. At different times in my MA training, I’ve had Tai Chi as kind of an adjunct to the art I was training in; however, by the time we ended up in the Cheyenne area, I was pretty well through with serious defense arts. I trained in Yang style Tai Chi for at least two years, and probably more like three. I wanted to see the martial applications in it, couldn’t find them, and couldn’t seem to get the instructor to go down that road, even though the class had weapons too. Frankly, I just got bored with it.

quote:

Yang style Tai Chi

That style is more about the flowing movements and health benefits. Chen style has more emphasis on the actual martial applications.

I learned the entire 108-movement form from a book, but this is after training in kung fu for some 3-1/2 years. So, it is possible without a live teacher, even more so now that we have Youtube.

This is very timely as I have been thinking about trying this.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:

quote:

Yang style Tai Chi

That style is more about the flowing movements and health benefits. Chen style has more emphasis on the actual martial applications.

I learned the entire 108-movement form from a book, but this is after training in kung fu for some 3-1/2 years. So, it is possible without a live teacher, even more so now that we have Youtube.

Well over a decade ago, I had the pleasure of attending a seminar done by Master Cheng Jincai here in the Atlanta area. He was at our dojo for a seminar and invited the whole Aikido class to join. I think if I understood it correct he was head of Chen style or something of the sort at the time.

He had a line of about 60 people or so try and push him over while he was rooting. The line buckled on it's self. I was first in line with hands on him. I could feel how deep he was rooted. Was impressive.

Interesting.
I’ve been doing Tai Chi -ish for about a week now.
Do I have perfect form? Oh my goodness. No.
Does it seem to be helping? I think so.

I found a several years old video on YouTube. I mimicked the guy until I kinda have the half dozen or so moves down pretty well.
And…I almost hate to admit this… I’m sweating by the time I’m done. The slower I go, the harder it is.

This guy:
https://youtu.be/6L43P1MY2KA?si=jxO9rKlUe3FYspDv

Is he “the best”? I dunno. But I could understand and follow him.
YMMV

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hudr,

Been doing Tai Chi since 92'. Took me a couple of years with an instructor to learn the first 24 movement simplified form and have spent an extra 30+ years learning the Traditional Yang long form, Sun Style and some standardized competition forms.
In the family of Tai Chi there is something called Chi Kung (Qi gong) which are some simplified movements that are lower impact and a great way to start if you have injuries.
From there I would start with the simplified 24 movement Yang form since there are tons of videos out there that can get you started.

However, I would recommend you eventually find a practitioner willing to give you some lessons. The 10 basic principals of body movement and breathing are really important and hard to perfect without an outside eye with some experience.

There was a book written by Master Liang Shou-Yu detailing out the simplified form. Not sure they are still out there but I would recommend it as a great resource.


Edited to add: Most people I know don't know I do Tai Chi. It's not something I talk about much. I have a small handful of friends that I practice with at a local park every week to keep our forms and push hands routines alive. So thank you for letting me get in a super geeky moment where I could shine.

Thanks for the input guys. I'll look into some of the Youtube stuff and see how it goes.

I learned the 108 movement Yang form from an instructor many years ago. I currently do the Cheng Man Ching short form daily as well as Dragon and Tiger Qi Gong. They both make me feel centered, I don't know how else to describe it.

Yes. I highly recommend it.

Do it.
.

quote:

Originally posted by hudr:
Interesting.
I’ve been doing Tai Chi -ish for about a week now.
Do I have perfect form? Oh my goodness. No.
Does it seem to be helping? I think so.

I found a several years old video on YouTube. I mimicked the guy until I kinda have the half dozen or so moves down pretty well.
And…I almost hate to admit this… I’m sweating by the time I’m done. The slower I go, the harder it is.

This guy:
https://youtu.be/6L43P1MY2KA?si=jxO9rKlUe3FYspDv

Is he “the best”? I dunno. But I could understand and follow him.
YMMV

Slightly older thread here.

I appreciate the video shown above.

Are there any other particularly good youtube videos that you all know about and can share? Thanks.

You could try The Great Courses. Link

^^^ Thanks for the link.

There's always...