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As martial art schools around the world are going under, we struggle to make the transition to the online world, and to save what we can of our schools. As I struggle to learn the skills necessary to publish decades worth of curriculum to a website, I welcome your patience, and your financial support.  – Ian Sinclair

Can you learn tai chi online?

That is a popular question. Can things like tai chi, neigong, and martial arts be taught online? My view is yes. Of course they can. There are pros and cons to every format, however. Some things are best taught in person. But some things benefit from having a record that can be readily accessed.

Modern technology allows for more people to have access to private tutors from around the world. This is important, because not every teacher is right for every student, and not every student is right for every school. Online lessons increase the opportunities to find a teacher who is right for you.

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Teaching tai chi, qigong, and martial arts online involves several new approaches and a whole new set of skills. We are all learning and adapting. Old pedagogies have to change to accommodate the new reality. I find this challenging and exciting. I am adapting based on feedback from my students and from other teachers. The transition has been clumsy. But I am stumbling forward, and vow to pick myself up each time I fall, and to learn each time I fail.

I am not the greatest tai chi master, by any means. But I have an enthusiastic following. Students who like me, seem to like me a lot, and the feeling is mutual. I like teaching students who “get it.” For some people, the way that I teach really seems to work well for them. That is what keeps me going.

The goal fo this site is to present 4 decades worth of tai chi experience in a comprehensive and coherent manner. It will take many months to produce the lessons, so I will not be charging for access to the site until I have added a suitable amount of content. But this is more than a full-time job, and I will depend on voluntary support from visitors. Please click here to find out how you can help support this project.

There are many challenges to a one-person operation such as this. For one thing, the fact that I am self-employed means that my boss is a relentless jerk. Also, since my school is a hierarchy of one, it offers many examples of the Peter Principle, Parkinson’s Law and Hofstadter’s law.

I am working very hard to produce lessons and to learn how to manage this kind of website efficiently. It involves learning new software, website design, and honing my video editing skills. Compared to all that, writing lessons, designing curricula, and refining the adaptive pedagogy is easy (ahem). I will get there. This site will change from day to day.

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