Chinatown Tai Chi Center

Sign up for our Basics Class today!

Past News Posts

Make It Fun
By Sifu Calph
On June 13, 2011 at 17:40

Having taught tai chi chuan for nearly 20 years now, I have been searching for a way to describe my wife's teaching philosophy to those who may ask about it. And my answer is that her teaching philosophy is simple but effective: Make it fun.

From the beginning, she always wanted to make her school full of energy. Work may be boring, even retirement for some people may be boring (not me), but when it comes to tai chi she wants her students to feel excited. She wants them to feel positive, look forward to exercising and working out, learning a traditional martial art.

This coming summer we will have been together for 43 years. Researchers speak of the "Michelangelo effect," referring to the manner in which close partners "sculpt" each other in ways that help them attain their valued goals. And it turns out that what people are really looking for in modern relationships is a partner who makes their lives more interesting. That need has been the case for me.

Not surprisingly, the qualities that have made her a good partner have influenced her teaching as well. Numerous students throughout the years have not only grown and expanded in the art of tai chi, but have found that their lives have become more interesting as a result of having had her for their teacher in an art that is as challenging to learn as to teach. She plans to retire from her daytime job in approximately a year and a half. But I hope that she will never "retire" from teaching the art of tai chi chuan.