Did you know that YouTube is one of the top three most-used search engines?
The first is Google. The second is Google Images. The third is YouTube—which is owned by Google. So is YouTube helping or hurting Tai Chi?
YouTube is handy for when you need to know how to do something. Once, I had to change a type of recessed light bulb that I’d never seen before—you couldn’t just unscrew it like a typical bulb—and had no instruction manual for. I searched online and the only instructions I could find were in a single YouTube video. I hit play, and within minutes, was able to remove and replace the bulb.
It’s no wonder that “how-to” videos are the 2nd most popular category on YouTube, with educational videos following closely at number four.
And if you search for “tai chi” or “taijiquan” on YouTube, you’ll find a wide range of videos of almost every tai chi style out there.
So is this a blessing or a curse?
It depends. Let’s take a look.
The Pros and Cons of Tai Chi Videos on YouTube
I. Pro: Videos help preserve the history of Tai Chi forms and styles
I have never met my Grandmaster, Tchoung Ta Tchen. But thanks to YouTube, I can watch old footage of Grandmaster Tchoung doing the forms that I learned, practice, and teach to others.
I can also watch videos of renowned tai chi masters such as Cheng Man Ching or Kuo Lien Ying doing their forms. I can search for almost any form from any style of Tai Chi and find a YouTube video of it.
Whether the videos are any good or not is another story. Which leads us to…
Con: Videos preserve “bad” Tai Chi forms, too
Digital is forever. Once you put something onto the internet, it can be downloaded, copied, and reposted in perpetuity.
So if someone makes a mistake while performing a Tai Chi form on video, that mistake will live on in cyberspace—which may be just a minor embarrassment to the performer but could lead to others learning the form incorrectly and forming bad habits that are hard to break.
Years ago, I recorded myself doing a form that I posted as reference for my students. I later realized that I had added a move into the form that shouldn’t have been there, so I edited the video and replaced it.
The problem is that some of my students had downloaded the original video and were using it as reference for practice, so they could have formed a bad habit out of an error I once made in a video.
If you try to learn tai chi from a video but have never had any experience with it before, you wouldn’t recognize whether or not the person in the video is even doing the form correctly.
This is why video should be for reference only, to remind you of what an instructor has personally taught you. Video should not be the primary means by which one learns Tai Chi.
Yet, when used properly, videos can be a helpful learning tool.
II. Pro: Videos help students remember what was taught in class
When I was a Tai Chi student over 20 years ago, my teacher, Sifu Harvey Kurland, would give us printed handouts covering class material. During and after every class, I would jot down notes about the moves I learned that night while it was all still fresh in my mind: which stance to adopt, which hand to use, what direction to face.
I bound those handouts into a book that I still have today, and I still refer back to it to make sure that I’m now teaching my students the same way that I was originally taught.
But sometimes, handwritten notes are illegible or indecipherable after many years have passed. In these cases, I wished that I had a cell phone camera when I was a student so that I could have documented the moves as I was learning them.
Video alone is insufficient for learning something as complex as tai chi.
Today, instead of printed handouts, I publish class material on my website and send my students links to my own YouTube videos so that they can remember what they learned in class and practice the moves at home.
It saves paper and provides a visual reference that certain learners may find more helpful. However…
Con: Videos may encourage people to try to learn Tai Chi unsupervised
While video can be a useful teaching tool, it is precisely that—a tool, like a hammer or a chisel, which can be used to create wonderful works in the hands of an expert craftsman but can be dangerous in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how to wield them. Would you hand a hammer and chisel to a toddler?
Video alone is insufficient for learning something as complex as tai chi.
Just because Tai Chi is done slowly does not mean that you cannot get injured doing it. Improper alignment while doing Tai Chi could result in knee strain or micro-tears in the shoulder.
Taking a class with a qualified instructor, whether in-person or on Zoom, would help mitigate this risk. A live teacher will notice mistakes and offer corrections to prevent you from forming bad habits and/or getting injured.
We need live instructors to observe us closely and give us feedback so that we can avoid mistakes, prevent injuries, and improve our skills.
My son is in the process of getting his driver’s learner’s permit. He recently finished a 30-hour online course that included videos.
So does this mean he’s ready to drive?
No way. He still needs to take and pass a written exam before he can even start behind-the-wheel training, which is required before he can even take the exam to earn a provisional driver’s license.
We need live instructors to observe us closely and give us feedback so that we can avoid mistakes, prevent injuries, and improve our skills. We need qualified coaches who can give us personalized advice and offer wisdom. Some of the most valuable times I had as a Tai Chi student were when my teacher would start talking about something, unplanned, in the middle of a lesson. Oftentimes, this was in response to a question that a student had asked during class.
A video can’t answer questions or let you draw from deep wells of wisdom on the fly like you could with an actual teacher.
III. Pro: You can find videos of almost every form from every style of Tai Chi
Before YouTube, I was only familiar with Tai Chi styles and forms that I had seen in a class, at a park, or in a movie. This limited my world to the contemporary forms and traditional Yang style forms that I had learned, with glimpses of the Chen style forms I would occasionally see being done at Wushu demonstrations.
Today, I can go online and see what Wu style looks like. Or Hao style. Or Sun style. I can see how other people from the Tchoung lineage do the forms in other countries. YouTube videos can engross the Tai Chi enthusiast for hours on end.
Con: The sheer number of Tai Chi videos out there could cause confusion for the beginner
I teach traditional Yang Style Tai Chi; specifically, the Old Frame Yang Style that was passed down through the lineage I’m part of.
So every now and then, a student will ask me why the forms we practice don’t look the same as the form they saw on YouTube.
I then explain that there are traditional Tai Chi forms dating back to the 1800s and contemporary or simplified Tai Chi forms that were created by a committee in China starting in 1956. I then elaborate on the different styles of Tai Chi: Chen, Yang, Wu, Li, Hao, and Sun.
Not only does the variety of styles create confusion among these students, but so does the flavor exhibited by every Tai Chi practitioner out there.
Those who practice something like Chen style will demonstrate fast, explosive movements while those who do the 24 forms every morning in a park will likely be gentle and relaxed.
Some do Tai Chi to win competitions and are highly flexible and graceful while others do Tai Chi just to get some good exercise and reap its documented health benefits.
So when you watch Tai Chi videos on YouTube, you can’t really compare them unless you know that they are videos of people doing the same form or are practitioners from the same style and lineage of Tai Chi. Apples to apples, oranges to oranges. You really can’t compare cherries to pineapples and ask why they taste different.
Tai Chi practitioners and instructors, what do you think? Is YouTube helpful or harmful to the art? Share your thoughts in the comments!