When purchasing this book/dvd combination, I was hoping to get an introduction to Tai Chi that I could practically evaluate and practice. Instead, what I received was a poorly veiled advertisement for the author's 4 DVD set of instructional videos.
While the book does contain certain valuable facts about Tai Chi (history, etc), this is not something that you can pick up and begin doing Tai Chi exercises within an hour. The DVD on the other hand is almost completely useless and while advertising the full length 4 DVD set - looks as if it were filmed in the author's living room with long curtains hiding his sofa.
I would not recommend this product. Two stars b/c the book isn't all that bad - but is not a practical application of Tai Chi - and that may have been my mistake. Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi and QiGong (Book & DVD)
I have been interested in Tai Chi and QiGong for many years. I found all of the books interesting but just could not get myself to follow through. This book is fun to read, very motivating and you REALLY do feel a difference. I have found the Sitting QiGong a wonder after work. I wish I could give it more stars!!!!! Hope he writes more books.
I picked up this book in hopes of improving my teaching abilities. While it didn't really contribute to this, it's a good book for beginners, despite some misstatements (A. The people you see in other tai chi books aren't models, they're usually model students, B. David Carradine didn't do Tai Chi in the 'Kung fu' TV series, he did Tai Chi Praying Mantis, which is a hybrid art, and C. the cover claims 'Highly Illustrated instuction on the major Tai Chi styles', whereupon the only illustrated instruction is in the Kuang Ping and Mulan styles). Otherwise, Mr. Douglas covers his subject pretty well, and is fairly well-informed. Great book for beginners, albeit a little too 'New Agey'.
Before I begin with my review, let me share a brief anecdote on tai chi: about a year ago, I was at a town watch meeting and met a retired gentleman who lives in my neighborhood. I am a qigong practicioner, and he practices tai chi. He told me that, for 20 years, he had chronic back pain. Then he began to practice tai chi, and within a few months he no longer had this back pain that he'd suffered every day for 20 years.
Now, you can accept the traditional chinese rationale for this relief, or you can rationalize it any other way you like, but the fact remains that many people, like this neighbor of mine, have benefited from tai chi and qigong. You can too.
Anyway, back to the book. This 2nd edition is of a larger format than the standard "Idiot's" books, and is well illustrated to show the various stances and movements in tai chi. Mr. Douglas' writing style is entertaining, and I found the book to be informative.
On the negative side, there were a few things I disagreed with. For example, the name of the taoist master Lao Tzu is pronounced, according to Mr. Douglas, as "Lao Dzoo". However, fellow taoist and qigong master Ken Cohen, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, says it is pronounced "Lao Dzuh". I'm inclined to go with Master Cohen on this one, as he is a fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese. Also, Mr. Douglas says in this book that the I Ching is a "game", which it most certainly is not.
However, despite these misgivings, I found the information related to tai chi and qigong to be well-written and helpful, and this book is a worthy addition to my bookshelf. If you are interested in qigong only, I would recommend "The Way Of Qigong", by the aforementioned Ken Cohen.
I have been studying Tai Chi for over 15 years and am the owner of my own Tai Chi school. I have often thought "I need to write a textbook for my new Tai Chi students" but I have never had the time. I am thrilled to say that I no longer have to do it because Bill Douglas has done it for me!!! I love it! I have found it to be an excellent resource and I am offering it to all of my students. Mr. Douglas is to be commended for his wonderful contribution. I think that his user-friendly format is ideal, his communication style effective, and his information is sound. If you are a beginner, this book will definitely help you to learn and understand Tai Chi. If you are an instructor, this book will make you a better teacher! Get it!
I consider Bill Douglas's "Complete Idiot's Guide to Tai Chi and Qigong" the "best book on the market for a beginner" precisely because it doesn't just teach a form. It does show one form, the Kwang Ping long form, in considerable detail; but the real value of the book is that it covers a lot of territory relating to tai chi and qigong quickly and amusingly.
The average westerner who decides to try tai chi knows very little about what he's getting into. Reading Douglas's book is one of the quickest ways to acquire a little background--something to help you understand what you hear in class, remind you of the things you couldn't take in because you were fully occupied trying to get the next movement, give you "enough to be going on with" in your own further reading--and tell you what to expect (and look for) in a class before you get there.
I don't know any other book that crams as much about as many different subjects relating to tai chi and qigong into as little space as painlessly. Jou's book, "The Tao of Taijiquan", while excellent, and one of the very few that, like Douglas's book seeks to go beyond style to what is essential to all styles of tai chi, is not exactly light reading. It will tell you much more in much greater depth than the average beginner is likely to sit still for or be able to understand or appreciate. Reading Douglas first is an excellent idea, and what I recommended to my students when I was a leading a tai chi practice group.
The comment has been made that the form described and pictured in this book is an unusual one that won't help you "fit in" to classes you might find more readily on various Yang forms, but for a real beginner (the "complete idiot" of the title), some examples were necessary, and Douglas quite reasonably used his own style. It isn't the one I do or taught in the practice group, but that doesn't make the bulk of Douglas's book irrelevant. Most of his material is general enough to be useful background for any style you choose--and if, like me, you choose a style that's so uncommon in your area you have to be very largely your own teacher, it's a great boon to find a book to help you fill the gaps in all that background information you, as your sifu with a fool for a student, didn't know to tell yourself to start with. - Qigong - Consciousness - Taichi - Martial Arts'
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