Practice Leader Versus Teacher

View a curriculum comparison of the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi (IIQTC) Tai Chi Easy Practice Leader and the Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Trainings.

Tai Chi Easy™ is an approach to Qigong, as most consider Tai Chi a kind of Qigong. Anything that fosters or represents the forces of nature in balance is called Tai Chi, according to the Chinese and to anyone who cares to understand Qigong and Tai Chi deeply.

Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan) is an internal martial art. It is theorized that this "internal" work was discovered and developed by ancient Daoists (Taoists) to increase their health and spirituality, many thousands of years prior to making its way to martial arts.

While it would take years of dedicated study and practice to use Tai Chi Chuan effectively as a method of self-defense, the physical, emotional, and health benefits of practice can be realized much more quickly. Tai Chi Easy™ creates a profound way to access these benefits.

Tai Chi Easy™ includes the Four Essential Baskets of Qigong Practice:

• Body posture and movement
• Self-applied massage
• Breath practice and
• Meditation, focus, relaxation

The Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader Training is a 25 hour subset 25 of the 200 hour Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Training Curriculum of the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi (IIQTC).

Tai Chi Easy™ includes:

• Body Basket - Bu Zheng Qigong (a simple form of medical Qigong referenced in The Healer Within), five traditional Tai Chi movements, Tai Chi walking, Qigong walking, standing and sitting Qigong or Tai Chi Meditation Posture
• Massage Basket - a handful of self-applied massage
• Breath Basket - Essential or Tai Chi Breath, Remembering Breath, Gathering Breath, Xi Xi Hu Breath
• Meditation Basket - Internal Body Scan and Release

View a curriculum comparison between the IIQTC's Tai Chi Easy Practice Leader and Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Trainings.

In addition to the Tai Chi Easy™ components, the 200 hour IIQTC Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Training Curriculum includes:

• Integral Tai Chi (13 Movements)
• Integral Qigong (the 9 phases)
• Seven Precious Gestures
• Connective Tissue Transforming Practice (Tendon-Changing)
• Marrow Bathing Practice
• Inner Alchemy Practice (Cultivation of Small Heaven-Microcosmic Orbit)
• Advanced theory
• Physiology (Western and Traditional Chinese Medicines)
• Energy medicine training
• Preliminary Qi Transmission
• Tapping the Primordial Qi and more

Every person who has studied the IIQTC 200 hour Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher curriculum is by default a Tai Chi Easy™ Teacher. In addition, many will become Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leaders. However, only those who graduate from the 200 hour Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Training Program are eligible by the rigor of their training to be Tai Chi Easy™ Teachers.

In the Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader Training, the practicum (practice teaching) equals approximately 6 hours. For the Integral Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Certification course the practicum is over 30 hours. The extent to which one is trained in the Teacher Curriculum clearly exceeds that of the Practice Leader Curriculum, in total training hours and practice teaching experience.

Photo courtesy of Jeanny Tsai, and was taken at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, Summer 2007.