Product Details

• Actors: Grandmaster William C.C. Chen
• Directors: James Wvinner
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acacia
• DVD Release Date: December 1, 2009
• Run Time: 67 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002IVLWDI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,392 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Learn from a revered teacher, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Tai Chi Chuan Association

"William C.C. Chen … has been the world’s best kept-secret." --Inside Kung-Fu

The ancient art of Tai Chi uses gentle, flowing movements to reduce stress, strengthen the body and mind, and improve overall well-being. Developed in China as a martial art, Tai Chi is a graceful form of exercise that has been practiced for centuries. Anyone, regardless of age or physical ability, can benefit from Tai Chi, and this expertly taught beginner program is the perfect place to start.

Regarded as one of the finest and most influential Tai Chi practitioners of his generation, Grandmaster Chen leads you through basic, low-impact exercises with easy-to-follow instructions. And the program’s unique bonus features make learning the movements a breeze. Increase flexibility, muscle tone, stamina, and strength while reducing stress and renewing energy with this beautiful beginner’s program.

SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE learning segments with continuous loop option; three complete-form practices with your choice of instruction: basic, counting, and energy; Tai Chi tips; and audio options (music and instruction or music only).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars can't learn tai chi from this, December 6, 2009

By 

Jeremy Schwartz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tai Chi for Beginners with Grandmaster William C.C. Chen (DVD)

If you want to learn tai chi from a video, don't spend your money on this. The movements are not fully explained and the video doesn't make sure you're able to see the relevant movements. The forms are not explained movement by movement, but just shown and poorly narrated. For example, the very first movement is an opening step to the right, getting your feet to be parallel and open under your shoulders. The explanation given is "50-50," meaning you end up with your weight equally on both feet. The next movement involves a kind of lifting and rolling of the hands. The explanation: "same weight." One can follow those motions without explanation because they're slow, simple and shown face-on. As soon as there is any real body movement, the video becomes impossible to learn from. Very quickly, there are instructions like "turn foot in," but one can't quite see which foot is turning, or "step" and you can't see which foot is stepping. There's no explanation at all of the hand movements.
If you know the form and can't find a master to practice with, I'm sure Grandmaster Chen would be a wonderful video-substitute, but this is not a video for beginners to learn from.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars NOT a beginner DVD, April 25, 2010

By 

Julie Pierce (Fillmore, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tai Chi for Beginners with Grandmaster William C.C. Chen (DVD)

This is not a DVD for beginners. There is no explanation of the movements. The narration says to "turn foot in" but never says which foot, or what part of the foot whether it's the heel or the toes. You're just supposed to mimic the movements shown on the screen, but it's very difficult at times to see what your feet are supposed to be doing because his pants and other leg block the view. There is absolutely no explanation as to what your hands and arms are doing. In one section all the instructions are given as "sleep" and "wake up". It's very frustrating. It's a beautiful DVD, and it's obvious that Grand Master Chen loves what he is doing, there is just no instruction, and no explanation as to what is really going on.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must own for anyone learning this form!, December 25, 2009

By 

Tai Chi student "Tom Q." (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tai Chi for Beginners with Grandmaster William C.C. Chen (DVD)

There were a few things about this video that people could legitamitly complain about, like the panning of the camera angles at times can make it a little more difficult to follow, but the instruction by William C.C. Chen, and the explanations on breathing, the chi, and movements really make this video great for those who are learning this form. For those who have zero martial arts history, this video may be difficult, but to those who have some understanding of Tai Chi, or Kung Fu it definitely helps. There is a loop feature that makes this video a lot easier to learn from than any other, plus his daughter and son doing the form with him during the full form feature make the video a lot easier to follow. The variety of the three's movements, with the uniformity and almost exact timing allow the veiwer to see the importance of the focus on the destination of the hands and feet rather than the arms and legs; The ability to move with the breath rather than the body. I can't give it justice with my words. The only flaws this video may have are with the filming of it, not with the info, or instruction. The flaws in filming are minor (like at times in the full form mode the cameraman may zoom in to far and cut off the movement of the feet (I think it happened twice), but it doesn't happen in the segmented parts, or looping). I highly, HIGHLY recommend this video to those who want to learn William C.C. Chens version of the Yang form.