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Ready to Drop the Duck's Beak or Carry the Tiger to the Mountain? With
T'ai Chi & QiGong: The Prescription for the Future, Volume 2, you can learn to do these and other imaginative, energizing movements. As in volume 1, Bill Douglas teaches this 75-minute video with stress-management and accessible exercise in mind. Building on volume 1's warm-up, volume 2 combines fluid movements with body awareness, structural power, and left brain-right brain integration.
As no-nonsense and friendly as in the first installment, Douglas picks up the pace over the course of volume 2's nine lessons. Beginning slowly, he walks through mentally and physically engaging movements, including some slow punches and kicks. He advises developing your tai chi practice by focusing on one lesson for a week, then gradually adding on. In between lessons, Douglas shows how to combine the movements into a fluid sequence.
Like the first volume, the second is a decidedly nonflashy production. Its narration, editing, and soundtrack are plain and easygoing. What you don't get is a Hollywood set; what you do get, step by step, is how to be a Stork Cooling His Wings. --Emily Bedard
