(gentle acoustic music) - [Narrator] Tai Chi for Beginners is designed to improve health, fitness, and relaxation. Dr Paul Lam, a family physician and Tai Chi expert, is a world leader in the field of Tai Chi for health improvement. Dr Lam and his medical and Tai Chi colleagues have created a series of Tai Chi for health programs, shown by medical studies to improve health and quality of life. His Tai Chi programs have impacted over two million people worldwide. How to use this program. - [Dr Paul Lam] Hello and welcome! Thanks for joining us. To get the best out of this program, please view the Introduction before starting the lessons. You'll find out why I have created this program, what is Tai Chi, what is in this program, and the benefits you can gain from learning it. When you're ready to start the lessons, please set aside a regular time every day to do my class. One hour, half an hour, or even 20 minutes will work well. Do consider to ask some friends to join you. I will be teaching you as though you were having lessons with me. Do follow my instruction carefully, and practice regularly. I recommend you practice for one or two weeks after each lesson. When it becomes so familiar with the movements that you can run through them by memory, then you're ready to move on to the next lesson. Remember, it's better to learn fewer movements well than rushing through too many. In the world of Tai Chi, more and quicker is not necessarily better. If one lesson is too much for you, and you can't remember one lesson in one sitting, you can stop the DVD any time, practice what you have learned until you're familiar with that, then, only then, you can move on to the next part of the lesson. During the practice time, you can go through the lessons again, or you can just follow me at that session, run through that particular lesson. Remember, if you're able to practice by memory, you can take your Tai Chi anywhere. Like me, when I do my Tai Chi anywhere, in an aeroplane, or as I'm waiting for somebody. If you can remember the forms, then you can also internalise it. That is the best way to improve your Tai Chi and to gain greater enjoyment and more health benefits. Finally, do persevere with your practice, and I'm sure you will enjoy your Tai Chi journey. I look forward to meet with you in person one day. You are welcome to email me through my website. - [Narrator] At the end of the DVD, Doctor Lam will demonstrate the entire set from the front, and then the back-on views. You can use the back-on view to follow him, and practice with him once you have learned the program. Be sure to view Stay Safe before you start practising Doctor Lam's lessons. (soft acoustic music) The Tai Chi for Beginners program is based on six easy steps. As you go through the lessons, you will learn these steps. They will be presented in a mixed order within the lessons. For example, Lesson one contains Qigong one and movement one, and lesson two contains Qigong two and movement two. All movements will be put together into a flowing set from lesson six. You can view a summary of the steps from the menu. Introduction. (gentle acoustic music) - [Dr Paul Lam] I have been working with my Tai Chi colleagues for many years to design a complete beginner's package. We constructed the six easy steps to be ideal for beginners. It is easy to learn, it will build a solid foundation, and improve health and wellness. If you're looking for something simple, something you can continue to practice for a lifetime, then this is the package for you. And if you want to explore further for something more challenging, then this could be the right package too because Tai Chi for Beginners fit seamlessly into to most popular Tai Chi set, the 24 Forms. (gentle acoustic music) - [Narrator] Tai Chi originated from ancient China. Nowadays, most people practice Tai Chi for health and relaxation. Created based on law of nature, Tai Chi strengthens the mind and body. Integration of the mind and body can be achieved through the ongoing practice of Tai Chi. It is suitable for almost anyone, and can be practiced anywhere. The flowing movements contain much inner strength, like water flowing in a river. Beneath the tranquil surface there is a current with immense power, the power for healing and wellness. - There are many styles of Tai Chi. Yang style is the most popular, and is characterised by slow, gentle, and expansive movements. The 24 Forms based on Yang style is the most popular Tai Chi sets practiced in the world today. This is why we have created Tai Chi for Beginners based on the 24 forms. The oldest style is Chen, which is characterised by fastness intermixed with slowness, softness complement the hardness. - [Narrator] Sun style was created by Mister Sun Lu Tang in the early part of the 20th century. It contains a unique and powerful Qigong. All styles of Tai Chi share the same essential principles. Understanding and incorporating the Tai Chi principles is what makes Tai Chi so unique and powerful for health. - Tai Chi is for yourself. I do Tai Chi to make me feel good, and that is actually the most important purpose of Tai Chi, it make you feel good, and it make you feel healthier. - [Narrator] In recent years, numerous medical studies have shown Tai Chi improves almost all aspects of health. Tai Chi improves physical health, especially muscular strength, flexibility, and fitness. It relaxes the mind and improves mental balance to help manage stress. Tai Chi brings harmony and tranquillity, providing us with inner peace and enabling us to listen and understand others better, thus improving relationship. - Tai Chi is also a very nice social exercise because it's different, so it's refreshing. And because it's non-competitive, you can do that with your friends, your family, your work colleagues, and it's wonderful to build bondings between friends, and it's fantastic to build team spirit between your work mates. - [Narrator] Learning Tai Chi empowers us to improve health and quality of life. It can be an enjoyable exercise for a lifetime. Lesson with Doctor Lam, lesson one. - Welcome to lesson one, we're going to start every lesson with this greeting, which is a universal greeting in the Tai Chi world and it's a way to show our mutual respect. The right hand in a fist means strength. The left hand with the fingers close means friendship, and the thumb banked means humility. And hands together, feet together, it's a greeting for mutual respect. In this lesson, we're going to do the first Qigong exercise and the first foundational movement. - [Narrator] Let us start with warm up exercises. - The warm up exercises are designed to prepare you for Tai Chi so your body gets warmed up, your joints get gently stretched. This is called one, two, three warm up and cool down exercises. Number one is walking around, loosening up your joints, and warm up your whole body. Number two is two stretches in each part of your body. Starting from the neck, two neck stretches. Then the shoulder, then the spine, hips, knees, and ankles. Three is three cooling down exercises. We'll do that at the end of the lesson. - [Narrator] Warm up exercises. - Walk around, smile to everybody, exercise your cheek muscles. Standing upright, but not tense, and standing about shoulder width apart. Now, let's start, hands up slowly, breathing slowly. Turn your palm. As your palm gently push towards you and I would like you to gently push your chin back. Then, push your hands forward, and slowly, slowly bend your neck. Hands up again, breathing. Do everything slowly, smoothly. Push back, chin back, push forward and down, neck bend gently. For the third time, hands up, breathing, gently push your chin back, forward, down. The second neck exercise is same. We're going to bring our hands up first, and then let your left hand turn, face you, and gently push the right hand next to the hip. And now, we're going to turn your neck with your hand, but the first time turn to 70% of your normal range. Come back. Change hands, and turn to 70% of your normal range. Come back. Each time, we're going to turn just a little bit more. Come back. And turn. So, for the third time, each repetition we're going to just turn a tiny little more. Come back. And to the right side. The next exercise are the shoulders. We're going to roll our shoulders forward gently once, twice, three times. And then we're going to roll them back gently, once, twice, three times. And the second shoulder exercise, open up your hands, breathing, breathing up, and then breathe out and gently press down, bending your knees just a little. Up, breathe in. Down, breathe out. That's great, let's do that again. Breathe in gently, breathe out, press down gently. Now, we go down to the spine. The spine stretching exercise start out with both hands in front as though we're carrying a large beach ball. And we're going to take the bottom hand, more it up, as though the ceiling is falling down and we're going to hold it up with one hand, and push down the other hand. Now, we bring our hands back and change hands. Hold up the ceiling and pushing down with the other hand. When you bring it back, you can bend your knees a little and when you push you can stand up. And one more time, carry the ball. As you stretch, visualise your spine stretching gently. One more time each side. As you stretch, visualise your spine gently stretch. And back to carrying a ball and stretch. The next spine exercise, still going to start carrying the ball, and make sure you bend your knees just a little, and we're going to take the ball and turn it to one side. Only just a little turn. And then we're going to change our hands. And when we turn, turn with your torso, so your torso's, change your hands, your torso turn and your hands move with it. Change your hands. So we're not gonna turn in too far, just here. Change your hands, and turn to the left. And one last turn to the right. Next, is the hip. The first hip exercise we're going to bring our hands forward slowly and then as your hands go down you bend your knees a little bit. And then you take a small step forward and push your hands back to balance. Then you can have a rest in the middle, and step back. Have a rest in the middle, step forward. Or, you can just move through if you're comfortable to do that. Forward, backwards. Let's do the same the other side. Forward, backward. Forward, backwards. Then the next hip exercise, we're still going to start, slightly bend your knee. Imagine there's a wall on one side and you're going to push on the wall, and your left hand is just below the right elbow, and gently stretch the left foot. Then we're going to change sides and stretch the right foot. Let's do that again. Push the wall, stretch. Push the wall, and stretch. One more time each side, stretch. And, the other side. Next is the knees. We're going to start turning your toes out just a little bit and make two fists next to your hip, but make sure your fist is loose and comfortable. Bend your knees and take a small step forward, touching down on the ball of the foot and gently punch forward at the same time with the other hand. Let's do the other side. Right toe on the ground and punch the left fist. Come back. Now, if you're comfortable you are, can stretch a little further if you like. Come back. If you're not too sure, do a smaller stretch or hang on to a chair or something to support you. One last stretch with the knee, and then we're going to do the second knee stretch. Still starts the same way, but we're going to touch down on the heel first, then put your foot down with all your weight, and then shift your weight forward and gently punch forward. Come back. Same with the other side, heel, foot, and punch the opposite fist. Come back. Step, gentle punch, come back. And step, gentle punch, come back. One more time. Now we're going down to the ankles. Bend your knees a little bit and touch the heel, the toe, heel, toes, heel and then toes. And let's do the same the other foot. Heel, toe, heel, toe, heel, toe. And now, we're going to just gently turn your ankle inwards and outwards. Inward and outwards. Make sure you don't put weight on it. And the other side. Inward, outward, in, out, in, out. Have a little shake. - [Narrator] Learn new forms. - Qigong is one of the oldest exercises in history, dating back to thousands of years in China. It encompasses a variety of breathing and meditative exercises, some of them with movements, and some of them are stationary. The first Wu Chi means life energy within a living being. And the second Wugong means a method or a formal exercise. So, simply, Qigong is an exercise to cultivate the live energy. According to traditional Chinese medicine, a person with good Qi is healthy and strong. The core power of Tai Chi is Qi. So, Tai Chi is a form of moving Qigong. I'm going to teach you the essential Qigong that will help you internalise the Tai Chi, and thus make it more powerful. This Qigong are easy to learn, and with practice you can incorporate them into your Tai Chi forms. The first Qigong exercise is an exercise for posture. It's called posture of infinity. When the universe started, it was infinity, it was huge. And, it's standing upright without being tense, your feet parallel, about shoulder width, so you are in good balance. Your body is upright, as though you are a string, and you're stretching that string from both sides, looking eye level and quiet your mind. Staying for just a little while, 10, 20 seconds. When you feel comfortable then you can just let go, relax and shake your legs. I am going to follow a similar format with all my lessons. Firstly, I'll show you the entire movement. Then I'll break it up into small parts and teach one part at a time. But I'll always start from the beginning of each movement. The foundational movements are the most important movements in the set. So we're going to do left and right side of the foundational movements, and each movement have a beginning and an ending. And to the left and right side, we're gonna do it twice, so it's like a little miniature, flowing set. I'm gonna show you the first one first, which is walking forward. You start with your hands in the back, like this, palms facing out. Let me show you. - [Narrator] Movement one, stepping forward. (gentle acoustic music) - Start with your feet, toes pointing up a little, and slightly separate to a comfortable stance for you. And then bring your hands to the back so that the wrists are resting on the back here. Then you bend your knees to what's comfortable to you, shift weight to the right, and then take a step straight with the left foot. Take a small step, just a step that's comfortable to you. Put your foot down and then shift your weight forward. Then as you shift your weight back, lift your toe up. I'd like to introduce Janet. - Hello. - Janet is a doctor and a Tai Chi teacher. Bending your knee might look simple, but sometimes it takes a lot of your muscle power. One of the things in Tai Chi, when we bend our knees, it's a good idea not to over bend it, because if bent too far, you lost the balance. Let me show you what I mean. Janet will turn to the side and show you if she bend down, the knee cap to the toe, if you draw a line, then that kneecap should never go past that toe. So she shouldn't bend so far that her kneecap pass the toe. This would be just nice. It's must better to bend less, stand up more, that's totally okay. 'Cause if you're not used to bending down with your knee sometimes you can just put too much muscle strength. So when we teach you this movement later on, as you bend down, and then you can continue to keep that bend position, but if you feel that's a little tiring, it's quite okay to stand up. That will release the tension. Later on, as you practice more Tai Chi, and your legs get stronger, then slowly, slowly, you can stay slightly bent. And after weeks and months, when your muscle gets stronger, then you can bend a little lower and a little lower and that's a good way to build your strength. - [Narrator] Follow Doctor Lam. - Bend your knees, weight on the right, take a step on the left, foot down, weight forward, and then weight back. Left toe up. Let's do that again. Bend to what's comfortable to you. Shift your weight, take a step forward, weight forward, weight back, lift up the left toe. One more time. Bend your knees, take a step forward, foot down, weight forward and weight back. Then you turn with your hip or your waist, so that your toe turns to the left. Then put your foot down, weight forward, and then bring the right foot closer to the left but not too close. Follow me. Bend your knees, take a step forward, foot down, weight forward, weight back, toe up, turn with your waist to the left. Foot down, weight forward, and bring the right foot closer to the left. Let's do that again, step back. Bend your knees. Take a step forward, foot down, weight forward, weight back, toe up. Turn to the left, foot down, and bring the right foot closer to the left. Let's do that one more time. Bend your knees, step forward, foot down, weight forward, weight back, turn. Foot down. The great thing about Tai Chi is the training us to balance. Physical balance helps us to be stronger and less likely to fall, or reduce falling. Mental balance helps us to be mentally strong. So when you're physically stronger you're also mentally stronger. The mind, the body is connected. To train you to have better balance it's really important to train you to be aware of your weight and to step in the right way. So it might seem very simple and not very exciting to start with, but this a really good foundational exercise if you can just put up with it and take your time training these leg muscles, training that weight transference is going to make the rest of your Tai Chi so much easier and so much more enjoyable. So, follow me again, I'm going to do the other side similarly, and then I'm going to join it so that we're going to do two left, two right, stepping forwards. Bend your knees, step forward, weight forward, weight back. Turn your waist, put your foot down. Weight forward, bring the right foot closer to the left. And the same way, we're going to step the right foot forward, put the foot down, weight forward, weight back. Lift the toe up, turn and then shift your weight forward, bring the left foot closer to the right. And then we continue to do one more on the left, foot down, weight forward, weight back, turn. Foot down, weight forward. Let's do one more time with the right. Foot down, weight forward, weight back, turn. And then you can have your left foot closer to the right, back to where we started. - [Narrator] Follow Doctor Lam. - Bend your knees to where is comfortable. Take a step forward, weight forward, weight back, turn, put the foot down. Right foot closer to the left. Step forward with the right foot, foot down, weight forward, weight back, turn with your hip. Weight forward, left foot closer to the right, step your left foot forward, weight forward, weight back, turn, foot down. Follow step, step forward, weight forward, weight back, turn. And left foot join the right. And slowly, slowly, stand up. - [Narrator] Run through lesson one. - Quiet your mind. Stand for just a little while, 10, 20 seconds. Bend your knees to where is comfortable, take a step forward, weight forward, weight back, turn. Put your foot down. Right foot closer to the left. Step forward with the right foot, foot down, weight forward, weight back, turn with your hip. Weight forward, left foot closer to the right, step your left foot forward, weight forward, weight back, turn. Foot down, follow step, step forward, weight forward. - [Narrator] You can continue to walk forward for as many times as you like. Stop and repeat whenever you wish. Cool down exercises. - Now we're going to do three cooling down exercises. First one, gently tap your thigh. Lift your knees to what's comfortable to you. And the next one, we're going to gently clench your fists. Breathe in, and tense your body, and then let go. Breathe out. Gentle clench, tense, relax, let go. Breathe in as you tense, breathe out as you relax. And the next cooling down exercise, breathe in, and breathe out as you gently press your hands down. Breathe in, and out. And one more time, breathe in, and out. - [Narrator] Message by Doctor Lam. - Another great thing about Tai Chi is that it doesn't matter how old or how young you are, you can learn Tai Chi and continue to progress, and if you wish, a lifetime. I heard from the tennis world, they talk about the top tennis player, they say when they reach 30, they're too old, and that's ridiculous. With Tai Chi, I have students who's over 90 year old. They learn Tai Chi and they continue to progress, enjoy, and grow in Tai Chi. See you next lesson, remember to keep practising . - [Narrator] Previews. - Hello and welcome, in 1974, when I graduated from medical school, my arthritis become worse. I took up Tai Chi to help me manage the condition. It has been a life-changing, and still is, a life-changing experience for me. Tai Chi certainly improved my arthritis and enabled me to enjoy my chosen and very busy lifestyle. I've seen the same impressive result with thousands of people over the years. By now, numerous study has shown Tai Chi improve almost all aspects of health. In particular, a good number of study has shown our program are effective at improving quality of life, health, and improving balance, leading to people with less pain and less falls. - [Narrator] Doctor Marlene Fransen, chief investigator of the largest ever published Tai Chi for arthritis study, explains the results of her study. - In our study, we found that Tai Chi for arthritis greatly improved joint pain and physical function for people with osteoarthritis of the hips or knees. - [Narrator] Dr Paul Lam's team of Tai Chi and medical experts have produced several series of instructional DVDs for students of varying interests and levels. These range from beginner series to improve health and lifestyle, to the advanced series to expand your skill. Using his simple and proven teaching method, Doctor Lam will show you the forms step-by-step from different angles, with close-ups, repetitions, illustrating them with diagrams and footprints. He divides the form into small sections, so you can follow him with ease. He also explains the Tai Chi principles, and the inner meaning of the forms, and how to improve your Tai Chi. Doctor Lam has taken much time and care to make every DVD useful. When producing the Tai Chi for Arthritis DVD, he worked closely with the Arthritis Foundation of America to maximise the health benefits for the users. Doctor Patience White, chief public health officer of Arthritis Foundation in USA, explains the reason why Arthritis Foundation collaborates with Doctor Lam. - We at the Arthritis Foundation are excited that you're interested in Tai Chi for Arthritis, brought to you by Doctor Paul Lam, a worldwide renowned expert in Tai Chi, and the Arthritis Foundation, your number one place to go for arthritis information. - [Narrator] Tai Chi for Energy and Tai Chi for Beginners are presented as virtual lessons. It will be like as though you are participating in Doctor Lam's class. Here is a list of beginners, health, intermediate, and advanced series. (gentle acoustic music) - Our Tai Chi and medical team really enjoy making useful material that makes a difference for people. And I look forward to hear from you. - [Narrator] For a complete range of Doctor Lam instructional DVDs, books, music CDs, and charts, please visit Doctor Lam's website at taichiproductions.com.