Product Description

The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi & QiGong, Second Edition will add to what is already the most comprehensive book on the subject by making it easier for readers to learn and complete an entire T'ai Chi exercise (consisting of 64 groups of movements). Added instruction and 200 top-of-the-line illustrations will be added to enable readers to pick-up on the subtleties of the various movements involved and complete a twenty-minute exercise without getting lost.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94977 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Dr. Michael Steward Sr., D.MA, Ph.D., MA, Senior Coach for Team USA, Inductee in the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame
Visionary! If you only buy one book on Tai Chi, this is the book. . . . all you need to change your life.

Sifu Hong Yijao, USA All-Tai Chi Grand Champion, Certified Int'l Coach & Judge, Int'l Wushu Federation
Sifu Douglas' book takes the best parts of T'ai Chi and makes them understandable [to Westerners] without requiring a grounding in Chinese culture and history.

R. Poccia, Stress Management/Qigong Instructor, Beyond Anonymous, San Francisco
Douglas has achieved for Qigong what Apple did for the computer . . . He's brought it to the people.

Customer Reviews

What is the aim of this book?
A quick flick through this book would give the impression that here is all you need to get at least a superficial knowledge of the Taiji. (Given that it's pretty much impossible to get any of this stuff just from a book). There are copious photos, together with what appears to be a move by move description of how to do it.
But *try* to do it, and you'll find the info has big gaps. If you don't already know the Taiji form, this book won't be much help. If you do, then there's probably not much here that you don't already know.

Exceptionally misleading
When you read how so many people learnt so much from this book you feel genuinely sorry for those people. The book was ok but hardly taught you anything. Attend classes, folks, and you'll realise what I'm talking about!

I'm no idiot ...
... but I have learned a great deal from this book. In my opinion it's one of the best books on tai chi available today. And if you partner it with the dvd (Anthology of T'ai Chi & QiGong) you will have an unbeatable way to learn about and how to do tai chi. I was a complete beginner to tai chi. But now, after working with the book and dvd for only 6 weeks, I am "playing" tai chi daily and loving it.

The previous reviewer is somewhat confused about tai chi styles, so I'd like to try and set the record straight. Today there are a number of different styles of tai chi practiced around the world. An early form of tai chi was the Chen style. Yang Lu Chuan (the originator of the Yang style) studied the Chen form and modified it to create his own form. The Kuang Ping Yang style ( as taught in this book) is considered to be the original form of the Yang style as developed by Yang Lu Chuan. The popular Yang style of tai chi practiced today represents further modifications of the original Kuang Ping Yang form. Although it is a less popular form, the original Kuang Ping Yang style is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful forms of tai chi practiced today. The previous poster believes that the form taught in this book is not the "real" Yang form. But if there is any form of the Yang style which could be called the "real" form, the Kuang Ping form is the best candidate.