While the slow, flowing movements of tai chi may look relatively simple, understanding this meditative art from the inside out takes a lifetime. In traditional tai chi schools, teaching others is one step toward advancing your practice. Tai chi does not usually involve external forms of validation like certifications, levels or belts: Your teacher determines when you're ready to teach, according to the website of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Before you're ready to form a class of your own, there's a lot you can do to prepare yourself to teach tai chi.
Step 1
Join a tai chi class with a teacher whose philosophy of teaching resonates with you. Attend two or more times per week to ensure that you are learning at a steady pace.
Step 2
Ask your instructor about his expectations and standards for teaching tai chi. While some schools allow people to teach beginners after only a few months of training, others require that you reach a high level of proficiency and practice for several years or more before allowing you to teach.
Step 3
Practice the techniques you learn on your own time as well as during classes. If you want to teach tai chi, it will have to become a part of how you move and think habitually.
Step 4
Tell your instructor that you would like to teach tai chi. She may offer you additional instruction or give you chances to mentor less advanced students in the class if she knows you have an interest in teaching.
Step 5
Observe your teacher's approach to correcting tai chi students who make mistakes as they practice. A good tai chi teacher will choose one or two key areas of focus to help a student take his practice to the next level and avoid overwhelming him with corrections.
Step 6
Offer to teach beginners who come to your instructor's class. Teaching while under the watchful eye of your own teacher is a solid way to receive feedback and make sure you're on the right track.
Step 7
Look for opportunities to teach tai chi in your community, once your teacher agrees that you are ready. Community centers, your YMCA, and senior centers often want tai chi instructors to give limited term classes in sessions of eight or 10 weeks.
Step 8
Form your own class, with your teacher's approval. Continue your training and stay in touch with your teacher as you begin to teach. Having students of your own will raise many questions about tai chi, how to help your students and your own practice.
Tips and Warnings
- Mastering the tai chi form and demonstrating your ability to teach it are the two main criteria of being approved to teach, according to the Patience T'ai Chi Association's website. Chances are your teacher will want to see you confidently and repeatedly demonstrate both of these skills before allowing you to form a class of your own.
- Demand for "certified" instructors of traditional arts like tai chi and yoga has led to an increase in organizations that have attempted to standardize tai chi and yoga teacher training, but not all certification programs are of equal value. Any program that offers online, instant or distance certification is less likely to be worth your time or money.
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