Customer Reviews

Gentle Tai Chi

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This Tai Chi DVD is an excellent Guide for older people and young children (and anyone else who wants a gentle, thoughtful approach to useful gentle excercise. Those who want something more demanding (more vigorous) will look for more advanced lessons (on more costly DVDs).

The simplicity of the basic 12 traditional Tai Chi movements is taught and demonstrated by Dagmar Munn, a certified instructor, fitness expert and manager for St. Luke's Hospital, Center for Well-Being, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Dagmar holds a Master's degree in Dance and has taught Tai Chi, Yoga and Stress Reduction classes for over twenty years.

This DVD is professionally produced, and includes the following:

1. Gentle warm up exercises.
2. Classroom learning and various practicing and repetitions of the basic Tai Chi movements.
3. A guided demonstration of the routine to perform.
4. A demonstration of how to do the entire routine while seated in a chair (for those who are elderly or incapable of standing, or just too tired to stand).

The classroom demonstrations are performed by Dagmar along with an elderly female student, and a younger male student.

Overall this is an excellent product. My spouse and I have been using it daily for a month now, and we love it! There are only 12 basic movements to memorize, therefore this permits one to learn the motions quickly and then devote more time to the meditative part of executing each movement slowly, gently and accurately.

The regular practice of Tai Chi has been shown to provide health benefits which include a more peaceful attitude (less stress), better blood circulation, and improved balance.

Once you have "mastered" the content on this DVD you may want to learn a greater set of movements with more complexity via other DVDs, but this is not really necessary. This DVD could be the answer to meet most of your wellness needs.

This Tai Chi DVD is very good for seniors, beginners or people who may have injuries and physical limitations that would make it difficult to follow a regular exercise program. It moves slowly but carefully. I like the manner in which the DVD is divided into sections, giving you a warm-up, an overview of the movements and a chance to practice each one before launching you into the routine. For someone who is physcially fit and ready to move on, this DVD will be quickly outgrown and will seem boring after a few practices.