Tai Chi for Energy
Tai Chi for Energy is an eight-lesson program by Dr Paul Lam that combines sixteen forms from two tai chi styles, the explosive Chen style and the gentle Sun style, to build internal energy and help you manage stress.
Unlike most tai chi, it moves between fast and slow, which makes it lively to do. You can learn it with a certified instructor, through online lessons, or on DVD.
On this page
- What is Tai Chi for Energy?
- Why did Dr Paul Lam create Tai Chi for Energy?
- Who is Tai Chi for Energy for?
- How does Dr Paul Lam teach Tai Chi for Energy?
- What are the movements in Tai Chi for Energy?
- How do I get the most from Tai Chi for Energy?
- How can I learn Tai Chi for Energy?
- What is Tai Chi for Energy Part 2?
- How do I become a certified Tai Chi for Energy instructor?
- About Dr Paul Lam
What is Tai Chi for Energy?
Chen style is vigorous and complex, combining fast and slow movements with powerful spiral force. It generates explosive power. Sun style brings agile stepping and unique qigong (life energy) movements, traditionally used to support healing. They cultivate inner energy. These two seemingly contrasting styles have complementary internal energy.
Sun style was created by Sun Lu Tang in the early part of the twentieth century. He placed great emphasis on the inner aspect of tai chi, which makes his style especially effective for cultivating internal energy, and its smooth, gentle movements mobilise and strengthen the qi.
Using his deep understanding of tai chi principles, Dr Lam carefully combined forms from both styles because they complement each other and work well together. The result is a powerful synergy, one that gives you more energy than the sum of the two styles. With regular practice and in a relatively short period of time, this program will help you acquire better health and wellness, internal energy, and ability to manage stress.
Why did Dr Paul Lam create Tai Chi for Energy?
Dr Lam composed this program in answer to two things people kept telling him.
The first was that tai chi was too slow for them, and that they would take it up when they were older. Neither holds. Chen style brings fast movements alongside the slow ones, and anyone can learn tai chi, including children.
The second was that they were too busy. His answer is that the busier you are, the more stressed you are likely to be, and the more you stand to gain from tai chi. It is not how busy you are, it is where you place exercise and your health in your priorities.
Who is Tai Chi for Energy for?
You can start tai chi with this program. The forms are taught in small sections, there are adaptations for people with different abilities, and no previous experience is needed. Dr Lam has students in their nineties who continue to learn and progress.
Dr Lam describes it as a good first set if you do not mind a little more challenge, and a great second set for anyone who has already learned a Tai Chi for Health program. It is slightly more challenging than his other Tai Chi for Health programs, because of the Chen style movements. That is worth knowing before you start rather than after.
If you would like a gentler start, Tai Chi for Rehabilitation can be done seated, standing or even lying down, and suits all ages and physical abilities. Tai Chi for Energy is a natural sequel to it.
How does Dr Paul Lam teach Tai Chi for Energy?
Dr Lam teaches as though you are in his class. He shows you the entire movement first, then breaks it into small parts and teaches one part at a time, always returning to the beginning of the movement so the whole form stays connected. You will see each form from different angles, with close ups, repetitions, and diagrams and footprints to follow.
He also explains the tai chi principles behind the forms and the inner meaning of the movements, because it is the principles that make tai chi effective. The first of them governs the control of movement: keep your movements slow, smooth and continuous. Moving slowly lets your mind and body connect. Moving smoothly keeps your mind calm. Moving continuously keeps the internal energy flowing.
Each lesson opens with warm-up exercises and closes with cooling-down exercises. At the end of the program, Dr Lam demonstrates the entire set from the front and then from the back, so you can follow along with the back view once you have learned the forms.
What are the movements in Tai Chi for Energy?
Tai Chi for Energy has sixteen forms, taught across the eight lessons.
- Commencing form
- Golden guard stamping ground, right
- Open and close
- Single whip, left
- Wave hands, left
- Open and close
- Punch with covered fist, right
- Open and close
- Punch with covered fist, left
- Open and close
- Single whip, right
- Wave hands, right
- Open and close
- Golden guard stamping ground, left
- Open and close
- Closing form
How do I get the most from Tai Chi for Energy?
Set aside a regular time each day. An hour, half an hour, or even twenty minutes is enough, and you might ask a friend or two to join you.
Dr Lam suggests staying with each lesson for a week or two, until the movements are familiar enough that you can run through them from memory, before moving on to the next. If a lesson is too much in one sitting, stop and work on what you have learned until it settles. In tai chi, more and quicker is not necessarily better. It is better to learn fewer movements well than to rush through many.
“It is always better to do less than too much.”
— Dr Paul Lam
Once you can do the forms from memory, you can take your tai chi anywhere, in a queue or while you are waiting for someone. That is when you can begin to internalise it, which is the best way to improve and to gain more from it.
Dr Lam also offers a warning worth taking seriously. Tai chi looks easy and is not. It is a mind and body exercise, and modern life has separated the two, so reconnecting them takes time. Moving slowly and mindfully is how you do it. Persevere, and once you have the rhythm and the feel of it, you will enjoy it.
How can I learn Tai Chi for Energy?
- With a certified TCHI instructor. You can learn from a class with a certified instructor of Tai Chi for Energy. Instructors have trained with Dr Lam or one of his Master Trainers, assessed for teaching safely before they are certified, and update their qualifications regularly.
- Online. Tai Chi for Energy is available through a self-paced, online streaming video subscription at Online Tai Chi Lessons, so you can learn from anywhere with an internet connection.
- On DVD. The Tai Chi for Energy instructional DVD is available from Tai Chi Productions.
The full introduction and first lesson are free to watch.
Free first lessons are also available for other Tai Chi for Health programs.
Before you start
Every Tai Chi for Health program is designed in consultation with medical experts in their respective fields, with safety as the top priority. Tai Chi for Energy is no exception, and the Chen style movements have been adapted with that in mind.
Even so, Dr Lam’s own guidance is that force-delivering Chen style movements carry a higher risk of injury than gentler styles, so take extra care and check with your health professional if you have any doubts. If you have a health condition, take medications, or have any concerns about exercising safely, speak to your healthcare provider before you start. If you are managing a health condition, learning with a certified instructor is the better option, because instructors are trained to teach the program safely and can advise you on precautions that apply to you.
Work well within your comfort zone. The first time you do a movement, stretch to about seventy percent of your normal range and build from there. If a movement is beyond you, do what is comfortable and visualise the full range instead. Keep your knees no further forward than your toes. Wear loose, comfortable clothing and well-fitting shoes. Stop and rest when you feel tired, are in pain, or lose concentration. Build up gradually, aiming for around twenty to forty minutes on most days if you are an older adult, using the length of time you can walk comfortably as a guide.
Dr Lam asks you to watch the program’s Stay Safe section before you start the lessons. The information on this page is for education and is not medical advice.
What is Tai Chi for Energy Part 2?
Tai Chi for Energy Part 2 is the sequel. Learn Tai Chi for Energy well first and be familiar with it before you begin, whether through online lessons, a certified instructor, or the DVD.
Dr Lam let the idea for a sequel settle for a long time after students asked for one. It came to him suddenly while he was practising, and he kept refining and testing it until he was satisfied. The program adds three new Chen style movements. The Sun style movements from Part 1 worked so well that he kept them unchanged.
Part 2 goes further into the spiral force, chan ssu jin, and into using the dantian to direct movement. The dantian is the centre of the body and the store of qi, the internal energy, sitting roughly three finger breadths below and inside the navel. In tai chi it is called the commander, because every movement in the body is directed from it.
The new forms are demanding. Dr Lam’s advice is to take one lesson at a time, divide a lesson into as many parts as you need, and practise until each part is familiar before moving on. Less is more. He suggests training daily for at least three months, and says the power of the set becomes clear by around six months.
The free introduction and first lesson are available to watch.
Part 2 is available through Online Tai Chi Lessons, and as the Tai Chi for Energy 2 DVD from Tai Chi Productions.
How do I become a certified Tai Chi for Energy instructor?
If you would like to teach Tai Chi for Energy, you can train to become a board-certified instructor of the Tai Chi for Health Institute. Instructors come from a range of backgrounds.
There are four steps:
- Register for a tai chi instructor training workshop, run by TCHI Master Trainers in person or online.
- Prepare by completing the Self-Paced Instructor Preparation Package for Tai Chi for Energy (SIPP-TCE), an online course in which Dr Lam guides you through everything you need to know about teaching this program safely and effectively, and by reading Teaching Tai Chi Effectively.
- Attend the live workshop, where you are assessed on your tai chi and on your ability to teach the program.
- Then join the Institute as a board-certified instructor and are listed in the tai chi instructor directory.
Learn more about becoming a certified Tai Chi for Health instructor
About Dr Paul Lam
Dr Paul Lam is a retired family physician and tai chi expert from Sydney, and the Founder of the Tai Chi for Health Institute. Millions of people have learned his Tai Chi for Health programs.
His programs are supported by health departments and arthritis foundations around the world, and his Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention program is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 35 published peer-reviewed medical studies have examined his Tai Chi for Health programs. Over 500 medical studies have looked at tai chi more broadly, showing stronger immunity and improvements across almost all aspects of health, including muscular strength, flexibility, fitness, relaxation and balance.
He has written best-selling books, including Teaching Tai Chi Effectively, along with instructional Tai Chi DVDs and Online Tai Chi Lessons. He has travelled nearly two million miles teaching, and has a knack for making complex theory easy to follow.
He has spent more than 50 years working out what makes tai chi effective for health, inner strength and quality of life. That experience shapes every Tai Chi for Health program, including Tai Chi for Energy.
Dr Lam has developed Tai Chi for Health programs for a range of ages, abilities and health conditions.