Surrey and Hants Tai Chi and Qigong

How to Select a Tai Chi / Qigong Teacher

 "If you're going to give this person your time, money and trust, it pays to spend an hour or so beforehand to make sure you're not wasting your resources".

Unfortunately, at the present time, there is no industry standard or requirement for teachers of Tai Chi & Qigong.  

This means anyone can set themselves up and teach, after learning something from a video or attending a weekend seminar.  I am aware of teachers of other disciplines such as yoga & pilates who have taken a weekend course in Tai Chi and Qigong then offered classes in these ancient arts!  If the teacher can talk the talk it's likely that beginners will be convinced for a while.

The risk is that beginners, such as yourselves will stumble across such a teacher and then give up after a month or so because you fail to understand or feel inspired by what is being delivered.  If this has happened to you I urge you to keep looking. Don't give up on Tai Chi & Qigong because it is too valuable to ignore. 

So i encourage you to do some research and ask questions before deciding upon a teacher. A simple way to check this is to find out who they learnt their Tai Chi from,  over what period of time /intensity of training and how can you can trace their lineage back to Tai Chi roots in China.  If they can't give you a straight answer and the names they give you fail to come up again and again in an internet search, then they may not have a good 'pedigree'.

Look for supporting evidence such as photos of them training with their teacher, or find their teacher on the internet and email them to ask if they know / can recommend this person. - how long did they train with them - regularly for several years or a one off weekend seminar? If you're going to give this person your time, money and trust, it pays to spend an hour or so beforehand to make sure you're not wasting your resources.

Cherry's Tai Chi lineage is quite simple to trace back (in two steps) to the birthplace of Chen Taiji, Chen Village. Cherry's teacher's teacher is Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei, who holds the title of 'one of the top 10 foremost Martial Arts Grandmasters', bestowed upon him by the Chinese Government.   

Please click to read Cherry's bio here 

In the pics below Cherry appears with Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei and Master Wang Haijun at training seminars / camps which she regularly attends and organises. 

Cherry's Health Qigong lineage is also direct and sound - Cherry trains with and is qualified to teach by Faye and Tary Yip of the British Health Qigong Association - the organisation who owns the Health Qigong trademark and sister-organisation of the Chinese Health Qigong Association who have produced the sets of Health Qigong that we teach - you can find cherry's name of the BHQA's list of teachers on their website