Diary of a New Tai Chi Instructor

I’ve been teaching Tai Chi for just over 3 months now. I’ve about 16 lessons underneath my belt. This is roughly how many lessons it took me to learn the short form! And now after these 3 short months, one of my students can do it by himself...

I always wanted to try Tai Chi since I was very into yoga for a long time. I heard they were kind of similar. One day, a leaflet came in the mail advertising night school courses. There was art, guitar, languages, gardening, all sorts of stuff. Of course I saw Tai Chi there and thought what the heck, why not try it! It was a 10 week course so I signed up and paid in advance.

At first, I didn’t like it. It was too slow, people there were much older than me, and we kept repeating the same moves over and over since we only moved on when everyone got it. No one practised outside class so it took us a long time to do anything.

I stuck with it though since I paid in advance and thought hey, I’ll finish the course and then I can say I gave it a fair shot and Tai Chi is not for me.

But in the 3rd or 4th class, during our little standing meditation, my hands suddenly started tingling like crazy. I asked my teacher what was up and he said it was my chi. I asked him if chi was real and of course he said yeah, he’s a Tai Chi teacher and I felt something.

Funny thing is I didn’t feel that again for well over a year after. So it was good timing I felt it early. Otherwise I don’t know where I’d be now. Call it fate or whatever but in that moment I knew what I had to do in life.

Fast forward, I’m in one of my first classes. This time I’m teaching. My hands are tingling like crazy again, not from my chi but from sensing my students. They’re buzzing, excited to try this mystical Tai Chi they’ve read about online. Probably from me, since I write sensationally at times. But the things I write are true for the most part!

I hope they stick with it to find out themselves since the benefits of Tai Chi manifest differently in different people. It’s probably for the best it takes time to develop.

I go through the lesson plan in my head. It’s only a rough idea. The format is the same as the classes I attended and still attend but I try to make mine extra fun! I get my students to partner up early, push each other, and feel the force between them. They seem to enjoy themselves here.

I’ve already learned a lot about teaching and Tai Chi from my students. In a way, I teach them and they teach me. It’s a circle.

They ask funny questions, questions I haven’t thought about, or ones that leave me scratching my head like “I don’t know, let me get back to you on that!” Then I scurry off to ask my teachers so I’ve got an answer next time.

Teaching is one of the best ways to learn so I’m glad my Sifu gave me his blessing to do it. I think he knows this too which is why he wanted me to teach.

I’ve enjoyed it a lot so far but it’s not all fun and games. Setting up classes, finding venues, insurance, advertising… all part of the gig now.

When I first started, I worried I wasn’t good enough to teach. But I thought about it and realised I only need to be one step ahead of who I’m teaching. Since I still attend 4 or 5 lessons a week, I’m always taking steps so I’d like to see my students try catch up, mwhahaha!!

Just kidding! I’m already very fond and proud of them! I think a noble goal is to train a student to be even better than you. I look forward to that day. I hope it happens. Then another circle will be complete.

So yeah, looks like I’m in this for the long haul. I don’t know if I can make Tai Chi full time just yet but it’s going much better than I expected.

Even if I fall back to part time, I know I’ll always find time to do Tai Chi in a park under a big tree. I know I’ll run a little class on the side and I know it was worthwhile to try, to reach for a goal that’s just beyond reach.

Whether I get there is on me now. With some luck, I will. But even if not, I’ll always remember the tingling in my hands that brought me here. I’ve no regrets.

Written 9th September 2025