Excellent
Extremely good Chi Kung routine.

I bought this one a bit skeptically, for the Tai Chi section, but enjoy the Chi Kung routine immensely and do it regularly. It is straightforward to do, is demonstrated by 5 people (Carradine, Dr Tayam, an athletic man, and 2 athletic women), and the music is calm ambient with some oriental flutes, and the visuals behind the 5 people are really wonderful : time lapse of clouds rolling over the grand canyon, of a boat ride up a fjord, of a journey through the solar system etc... all with Carradine and co doing the movements in front.

It's just great.

You can be skeptical about Carradine, but you know what he's a real person and so are the other 4, Dr Tayam is there for correctness, but they are real people and it feels good. (some other videos have super fit Californian types in lycra with picture postcard teethwork, well that's not what I want).

My body tingles when pulling the heavens down or doing the heart exercise.

I did Kung Fu for 5 years a while back and wanted to reconnect with the ancient Chinese exercises ... and this is it - I was suprised, but this is it for me.



Six stars.
Firstly what is a 'Chi Energy Workout'. Well basically this DVD is two sessions on one disc, the first session an hour of Tai Chi and the second sesion an hour of Chi Kung. I would describe Chi Kung as the Chinese version of Yoga, although people more familier with Chi Kung may or may not agree with that.

Do not confuse this with Carradines 1980s video's which have been repackaged in DVD format as 'An Introduction To Kung Fu And Tai Chi'. The above mentioned has been subject to some bad reviews mainly on Amazon.com and rightly so due to less than perfect production and terrible 80s shell suits, big hair and leg warmers.

Not so this production which I believe is a repackaging of two of Carradines 1990's videos's. I could not find a fault even if I wanted to. Both sessions are superbly demonstrated by a true Master by name of Arnold E Tayham and backed up by what appears to be a small group of experts. Carradines narration is very clear, calm, relaxing and instructive and a pleasure to listen to.

Carradine also joins in with the others and appears quite competent although Mr Tayam is the one to watch, not because anyone else demonstrates bad form but because Mr Tayam seems to have that extra special something about his form that you just cannot put your finger on.

The soothing music of John Serrie and the background sequence of ever changing nature footage is almost hypnotic along with Carradines calming explanations of the flowing of Chi energy and controlled breathing.So much so that I sat and watched the entire two hours almost in a state of meditation and felt has if I had gained from this DVD before I had even tried it.
Joining in was a dissapointment only in my own limitations as I discoverd that I couldn't get into the half lotus that Carradine 25 years older than me sat in for the medditation at the start of the Chi Kung session.

Also at the end of the Tai Chi session in the attempt to do the continious form and follow along I found out that Tai Chi is not as easy as it looks. This though is part of the challenge and the learning of the continiouse form gives something to aspire to. It is certainly not the fault of the production which at the end of the session films Master Tayam performing the form many times over from every concievable angle including from behind.

However this DVD is not ment to be used only when you have an hour spare for the Tai Chi or an hour for the Chi Kung. It is cleverly separated into several segments that are quite benificial on thier own.

I gave a review of David Carradines 1990's video's repackaged into the DVD entitled 'Shaolin Cardio Kick Box' and I wanted to give it 5 stars but only gave it four because I considered this Chi Energy Workout deserved an xetra star and there is no provision for six stars.

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