Tai chi videos and tai chi books seem like good tools to help you learn. Sadly, the opposite often happens:
people realize they can’t follow the videos/books, so they quit. This does not need to happen! I’m going to share with you, 4 tips on video, and one extra written tip at the end of this post, on how you can easily follow tai chi videos or diagrams/drawings. If you know these little “secrets,” you will start being able to follow along and teach yourself! Here we go…

…and here’s the 5th tip I promised you:

Did you ever look closely at the old tai chi exercise diagrams or sketches? Look closely again – you’ll see that the arrows depicting the movement are sometimes a solid line or sometimes a dashed line. The solid line always depicts the right side of the body while the dashed is for the left. So if you get confused, just remember that!

And here’s another little tip (while I’m at it!): If you look at those old school tai chi moves sketches, notice the shadow by the figure’s feet. A long shadow means the foot is solidly upon the ground bearing weight. The less the shadow, the less weight (and sometimes none) is on that side of the stance.

Now you’re an expert! 🙂