Private online lessons and free videos
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 a visual record.
As with teaching in person, 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.
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 for 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 make access to the site FREE 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. Your financial support is greatly appreciated!
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 relatively easy… or as easy as Relativity. I will get there. This site will change from day to day.
