education & certifications
master ding academy (MDA) traditional tai chi school london HQ tai chi for health - certified 2025
two week-long intensive retreats and several four-day and week-long workshops completed (2024–2025)
i think it's a bit silly i have to show my credentials front and centre but hey i get it, there are some uhh questionable tai chi instructors out there. i got permission from my sifu to teach. in fact, he told me i should teach to learn more and i love to teach so here i am! i taught yoga for 4 years (part-time weekly) and am still actively attending on average 5 tai chi classes a week from my sifu and teachers that have been doing tai chi since before i was born. i'm always learning and there's a lot to learn but i think i'm pretty qualified to teach! also i think teaching in itself is another skill. idk how you can show you are a good teacher tho. idk how to write that down
style
yang style tai chi. i'm gonna say it. i know i shouldn't but i'm gonna. yang style best style
how i got into tai chi
i was really into yoga and had done and taught it for years. i heard tai chi was similar and wanted to try it. one day, a leaflet came in the post. it was advertising night courses at a nearby school: languages, instruments, art, and of course, tai chi
i signed up. it was a ten-week course. the first few classes were uneventful. it was slow, and no one there was my age. but i'd paid upfront, so i kept going
on the third or fourth class, during standing meditation, my hands started tingling. i asked the teacher what it meant. he said it was my chi. i asked if chi was real and he said, “you just felt it!” it was hard to argue with that
i don't think everyone will feel the tingling straight away. every body is different. but i always left class feeling calm. most people do. so why not give it a try? it's something you can do from young to old. there's always something new to learn. it’s a lifetime journey
the above is what i tell normal ppl. it's all true but i leave out some details for fear ppl think i'm crazy. i am 100% convinced i did tai chi in a past life. it's the only explanation to why i stuck for it for so long. interest waxed and waned at the very start but there was something inside me that felt comforted while doing it. there was familiarity in the weird movements. i can't explain it and it doesn't make sense but that's another big reason on how i got into it. plus i'm asian! i feel like this gives me a racial bonus!
how long have i been doing tai chi
i started practising in february 2023 in a MDA ireland branch. i relocated to london in 2024 (i relocated for tai chi. yes really) and currently train multiple times a week at MDA HQ in london. i regularly attend workshops and retreats to deepen my tai chi knowledge. i estimate i have done over 1000 hours of tai chi practice to date. i practise every day so i am quite enthusiastic about it! i'm doing roughly 20 hours a week and it still doesn't feel like enough but hey God loves a trier and i'm trying every single day!
what's the end goal? why are you doing so much tai chi??
i want to spread tai chi to more ppl! especially young ppl! the classes i attend are full of older ppl. while i love them, i think everyone could benefit from doing it and the younger you start the better since it takes a lot of time to git gud. i want to get better than i was yesterday! the more i practise, the better i will get! and a secret third thing that i cannot say in public! it may or may not come true but hey it was worth a try! maybe in the next life it will happen...