When I decided to take up tai chi I began looking around my area in NY to find classes that would be appropriate for me and that would also enhance and enrich my well established yoga practice.  Finding any class at all proved to be a challenge.  Classes were few and miles away and for the most part they were sporadic, starting and then abruptly stopping for various reasons.  I did find one class given about 20 miles away in an art center.  I signed on.  This was a great class and my appreciation and respect for the art was fostered but after a year the teacher became ill and had to leave. I was on my own.  For another year I tried two other classes: one in a Martial Arts center and another in a local YMCA.  One class taught (or didn’t) by having participants just follow along.   I found this style of teaching very difficult and after 6 months I felt that I hadn’t learned anything.  The YMCA class eventually disbanded and moved to another locale.  My experience with tai chi was becoming frustrating.  The teaching styles were fragmented; the teachers who were themselves excellent at playing tai chi were not trained in any methodology of teaching.  Even when I talked with others about tai chi few people could even tell me what type or tai chi they were learning or what forms they were practicing.

I finally found a wonderful class about an hour travel from where I live that I now attend 3 times/week.  It was here that I began to learn about the essence of tai chi.  It was here also that I learned that there is little in the way of regulating who teaches tai chi, how they teach or what they teach.  However, it was through this group that I was introduced eventually to the tai chi for Health program instituted by Paul Lam who is a Master tai chi player, medical doctor and teacher.  His mission is to advance tai Cchi to the whole world and he does this through workshops, educational materials, research, and yes, a certification program for teachers of tai chi.  His website is  Tai Chi for Health Institute. 

Dr Lam oversees the certification program for instructors, senior instructors and master instructors for Tai Chi for Health programs.  His programs are endorsed here in the US by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  He requires on-site participation in his certification workshops, re-certification in person every two years and demonstrated knowledge of how to teach tai chi effectively to various population groups.

A section of his vision statement says:

“… to monitor the quality and standards of the training and to provide support for instructors.”

There you have it.  It is the only program regulating Tai Chi (Tai Chi for Health program) in the US that I know of.