Tai Chi is well known around the world for promoting longevity and managing stress due to its meditative forms of movement. Most Tai Chi practices can be performed by nearly everyone. This opens up better opportunities in acquiring students than for most other martial arts. In addition, it's practice is safe, simple and can be done alone and anywhere. Becoming a certified instructor isn't difficult and certification is available in a few forms.
Locate Tai Chi Lessons
Numerous home instructional videos or DVDs are available to purchase or rent. You may be able to locate a Tai Chi instructor in places such as a YMCA or at a gym you may be a member of. Training centers or studios also specialize in Tai Chi and are generally a part of an association such as the American Tai Chi and Qigong Association or the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi.
Learn Tai Chi
Learning Tai Chi from an existing certified instructor is a great start. It allows you to have another practitioner maintain records of how many hours of practice or training you'll have to present to associations for certification. Learning with others also enables you to get an adequate feeling for the movements and their timing. It may be difficult -- but not impossible -- to attain certification if your training comes from a video recording.
Adding to Expertise
It may not be enough to know only Tai Chi to make a living on teaching others. If you were able to learn and certify in teaching Tai Chi inside a year or two, then any student you take in could complete their Tai Chi education just as quickly and leave your school. Adding other arts to your repertoire for teaching can make your school competitive. Many supplemental arts are Tai Chi-related, which include Qigong or Chigong training, acupuncture or herbal medicine and even Yoga.
Variations of Tai Chi
Other styles of Tai Chi are structured for self-defense. Among the most popular are Yang-style and Wu-style Tai Chi. These styles can be taught to be used for combat, depending on the place that is teaching them. Yang and Wu Tai Chi are similar, but maintain separate principles on how the art is used.
When Completing Training
Becoming a member of a Tai Chi association is helpful to gain recognition of your Tai Chi abilities and acquire certification for instruction. An association may require you to follow a set curriculum of teaching Tai Chi to be recognized as a certified Tai Chi instructor. Others may only require proof that you have the experience in training and some teaching to be approved for certification at certain levels. If you learned at a Tai Chi academy or school, certification is often done after a test and perhaps a small ceremony.
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