Exploring the Depth of
Yang Style 24 Forms Tai Chi
© 2026 Tai Chi Productions
For over 30 years, Dr Paul Lam has run his 'Exploring the Depth' workshops around the world, for people who already knew a specific tai chi set and wanted more from it. Many have travelled thousands of kilometres to attend these workshops, and some have come back several times. Exploring the Depth of Yang Style 24 Forms is now available as a self-paced online program you can work through in your own time, and return to as your tai chi develops.
Watch Dr Lam's introduction to the program
This is the introduction video from the program itself, exactly as you will see it when you begin. Dr Lam explains why the 24 Forms holds so much depth, tells the story of how the set came to be, and walks you through what the lessons cover.
Is this program right for you?
About Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi
This program is for people who already know the Yang Style 24 Forms. It does not teach the movements. It takes you into what sits inside them.
The Yang Style 24 Forms was created in 1956 to bring tai chi to as many people as possible. It worked, and millions of people have learned it since. It is now the most widely practised tai chi form in the world. Ask almost anyone who does tai chi what they practise and the answer is usually the 24 Forms.
The ancient practice of tai chi is clinically proven to be one of the most effective exercises to improve health, fitness and relaxation. While there are many variations, the version of the 24 Forms Dr Lam works with is one of the most authentic.
These lessons take what you already know further.
You are ready for these lessons if:
☑️ You have learned the Yang Style 24 Forms, whether from an instructor, from Dr Lam's Online Tai Chi Lessons, or from the DVD.
☑️ You can perform the set from memory, without following along.
☑️ You want to go further into the set rather than learn it for the first time.
If all three are true, you will get a great deal from this online program.
Exploring the Depth is Dr Lam's teaching for people who have learned a form and want to go further into it. The foundational programs teach the movements. These lessons take you inside them.
The series covers several forms, each as its own program. This one covers the Yang Style 24 Forms. Others cover Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention and the Sun Style 73 Forms, with more to follow.
The 24 Forms was designed to be learnable, and that is why it spread so widely. Easy to learn is not the same as easy to master. Inside those twenty-four movements sit the essential principles of tai chi, the ones that give the art its power to improve health and build inner strength, and there are layers there to work on for a lifetime.
What you will work on
Learning the movements of a tai chi set is only the beginning. Tai chi is a mind-body experience. The real journey is discovering what lies within those movements.
What lies within is how the body, mind, breathing and internal energy work together.
So these lessons look at more than what to do. They look at how and why. Dr Lam goes through the set form by form, examining the structure of each one and the internal energy within the movements, and shows you how to apply the tai chi principles at a deeper level.
Much of the work is with internal energy. You will practise:
➡️ Using the Yi (mind or intention) to cultivate the Qi (vital life energy or internal energy)
➡️ Converting the Qi into Jin (internal force)
➡️ And using the Jin to generate a more powerful wave of Qi.
The lessons begin with Dr Lam's Dan Tian breathing method, a qigong exercise built on authentic tai chi breathing and refined with modern medical science. Dr Lam has worked as a Western-trained doctor for over 40 years and also practises traditional Chinese medicine, and he has drawn on both to make the breathing simpler to do and more effective at growing Qi.
Warm-up and cooldown exercises are designed to prepare the body for tai chi and reduce the chance of injury.
Along the way he gives you points of improvement and a direction to work in, so you finish with a clearer sense of where your tai chi goes next.
These techniques apply to all styles of tai chi, so what you learn here will carry into whatever else you practise.
His hope is that by the end you will not simply perform the 24 Forms better. You will feel them differently, understand them more deeply, and have a clearer pathway to keep improving your tai chi for many years to come.
Dr Lam describes the work as climbing a mountain. The direction is simple enough, but there are potholes and turns along the way, and it helps to have someone who knows the path. He guides you as far up as you wish to go, in the most enjoyable and safe way.
Why 'Exploring the Depth' is now available online
Dr Lam has taught Exploring the Depth workshops for over 30 years, and they have always been among his most popular. People asked for an online version for a long time.
He waited. The internal aspects of tai chi are difficult to explain even face to face, and he wanted to be sure it could be done well. After teaching these workshops for so many years he has a clear sense of what people are looking for and where they usually run into difficulty. That understanding is what these lessons are built on.
He compares it to fruit that takes a long time to ripen. Hopefully, when it is finally ready, it tastes even better.
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 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by health departments and arthritis foundations around the world. 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 improvements in muscular strength, flexibility, fitness, relaxation, balance and immunity.
He has written best-selling books, including Teaching Tai Chi Effectively, along with instructional DVDs and online 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. These lessons are where he shares what he has found.
Go deeper into the world's most popular tai chi set.
For people who know the Yang Style 24 Forms Tai Chi set and can perform it from memory.
US$129 per year. 14-day money-back guarantee.
How the program is structured
FOUNDATIONAL VIDEOS
Introduction and Stay Safe
Qi and Breathing Method
Dan Tian Breathing Method
Tai Chi Principles
THE FOUR SECTIONS
01 Forms 1 to 5
02 Forms 6 to 9
03 Forms 10 to 15
04 Forms 16 to 24
TO CLOSE
Demonstrations
The program opens with foundational videos, then moves through four sections. Each section includes warm-up and cooldown exercises, as well as reviews of previous sections as you go along. Demonstrations of the full form with front and back views are also included at the end.
You will still need to put in some work yourself. As Dr Lam puts it:
✓ Exploring the Depth of Yang Style 24 Forms Tai Chi video lessons taught by Dr Paul Lam in full (including foundational videos, four sections including warm-ups, cooldowns and run-throughs, and demonstrations)
✓ High-definition videos (Full HD 1080p)
✓ Watch and learn on a computer, tablet or mobile phone, anytime, anywhere with an internet connection
✓ Watch and re-watch videos as many times as you wish for as long as you have access
✓ Twelve months of access, renewing annually
✓ Cancel your subscription at any time with just one click in your account
✓ BONUS #1: Access to the Tai Chi for Health Global Community video library, updated monthly
✓ BONUS #2: Access to the private Tai Chi for Health Global Community Facebook group
BONUS 1: ONGOING INSPIRATION
Tai Chi for Health Global Community: VIDEO LIBRARY
Your subscription includes full access to the Tai Chi for Health Global Community video library: A carefully organized collection of hundreds of additional videos, with new content added monthly. Everything is in one place, structured for easy browsing and on-demand viewing.
(Note: These are not instructional videos)
You can explore a wide range of topics, including
➡️ Interviews with tai chi and medical experts
➡️ Inspirational stories
➡️ Dr Paul Lam's Recipes for Health
➡️ Webinar recordings
➡️ Tai Chi Demonstrations
...and more!
BONUS 2: CONNECTION AND SUPPORT
All Online Tai Chi Lessons subscribers are invited to join a private Facebook Group shared with Tai Chi for Health instructors worldwide.
This is a supportive space where you can:
✓ Ask questions about your practice
✓ Share experiences and progress
✓ Learn from others on the same journey
✓ Feel connected to a global Tai Chi for Health community
Access is limited to Online Tai Chi Lessons subscribers and accredited Tai Chi for Health instructors, helping keep the group focused, respectful, and supportive.
Tai Chi for Health Global Community: FACEBOOK GROUP
US$129 per year*
☑️ Exploring the Depth of Yang Style 24 Forms Tai Chi online video lessons by Dr Paul Lam.
☑️ Access to the Tai Chi for Health Global Community video library.
☑️ Access to the Tai Chi for Health Facebook group.
*This is an annual subscription. It renews automatically each year until you cancel. Cancel any time with one click in your account or contact us.
Covered by a 14-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
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Try the lessons for two weeks. If you decide the program is not right for you, email us within 14 days of subscribing and we will refund you in full and cancel the subscription.
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Learn the set first. Dr Lam teaches the Yang Style 24 Forms Tai Chi set with step-by-step instructions of each form, close-up views and practice sessions, along with Qigong exercises and foundational movements. Come back to the depth lessons once you are comfortable performing the set from memory.
Dr Lam still practises this program regularly himself, and still finds more in it.
Your subscription inclusions and benefits
Tai chi cannot simply be given to us. We have to practise it, feel it and gradually make it part of ourselves.
Work through the material at a pace that suits you, stopping to practise as you go.
Dr Paul Lam and the 24 Forms
In the 1950s the Chinese government recognised how much tai chi did for people's health and wanted more of the population practising it. The traditional 108 long form was the obstacle. It was difficult, and it took too long for most people to learn. Four leading tai chi experts were invited to create something simpler, and in 1956 the result was the 24 Forms.
Dr Lam began learning the set in the late 1970s, from Professor Men Hui Feng, then Head of the Wushu Department at the Beijing Sport Institute, now Beijing Sport University. Professor Men was also China's chief national tai chi judge and coach, and he was closely involved with the development of the 24 Forms.
For many years Dr Lam travelled to Beijing to learn from him personally. Professor Men also came to Sydney, stayed in Dr Lam's home, and taught at his school, Better Health Tai Chi Chuan.
In 1983 Master Fu Zhong Wen, the chief creator of the 24 Forms, also stayed at Dr Lam's home and taught at his school. Dr Lam knew how rare these opportunities were, so he learned the set thoroughly beforehand to make the most of every minute with them.
Tai chi cannot simply be given to us. We have to practise it, feel it and gradually make it part of ourselves. - Dr Paul Lam
He has kept practising the 24 Forms in the years since, alongside many other styles and sets. Each style offers another perspective, rather like looking at different parts of an elephant, and together they have made the deeper meaning and energy of tai chi clearer to him. He has also brought his medical knowledge and his understanding of research into his tai chi, which has helped him identify more precisely which elements make tai chi effective for health, internal strength and quality of life.
