Online TCC Classes Reach Distant Students

When I found Tai Chi Chih, there were no certified teachers actively teaching where I lived in the Dallas area, and we didn’t have Zoom. I relied upon Justin’s Photo Textbook and DVD as well as YouTube videos to learn the basics before attending retreats or workshops in New Mexico for several years. After I met teachers Cindy Dunn and Winston Deane who lived six hours away in Lubbock, I joined their Saturday morning silent practice and individually worked with them via FaceTime until I could attend an intensive and a teacher accreditation course. Learning through a two-dimensional video meant I’d missed out on some subtleties from the 3-dimensional, in-person, interactive instruction. 

Earlier in this year during COVID-19, when teachers started offering Zoom class, I was hesitant because I knew how much could be missed with a two-dimensional delivery. However, Sandy’s weekly practices on Zoom have revealed aspects of the movements that can best shown by a teacher turning 45 degrees and 90 degrees to give students more than a front-on view. Another advantage of these weekly practices has been acquiring Sandy’s words to describe subtle aspects of the movements: “notice the curve of the arm”… “sinking, rising” … “sink into stillness.” Since I never experienced being taught in a weekly class, I hadn’t acquired the language that teachers absorb from their teachers and pass on to students.

I tried teaching via Zoom over the summer and then I offered an 8-week online class through the local recreation center in the fall. Friends in Texas, Wyoming and California who had previously said “I wish I could take a class from you” signed up. I hope to entice other friends who don’t have a TCC teacher near them to join my winter 2021 online class.

One silver lining of this pandemic? We’ve learned that online Zoom classes can reach people who don’t live near an accredited teacher, thus expanding the opportunity for TCC to benefit many more students than local in-person classes may reach.