The Tai Chi Pyramid Scheme

Scrolling through social media it often seems that everybody is a teacher and there are not enough students to go around. No doubt there is a significant bias to this given the nature of the virtual company we keep.

The traditional model of a long apprenticeship before taking on the mantle of teacher feels somewhat unsustainable and often involves the undue lengthening of that process, the withholding of knowledge and a whole lot of politics. We have seen students train for a decade or more and surpass their teacher’s skill only to be denied instructor certification so that they don’t become competition (we have a much more liberal approach to instructor training, check out the FAQs for more information). This is exacerbated by the market having matured some time ago and the mystique long since having been lost. The niche trend of combining Tai Chi/Chi Kung with hermetics may have sprinkled some much needed pixie dust on the grey and faded image of a once mystical art.

The concept of the Tai Chi class may similarly be in it’s death throes as YouTube, apps and the internet writ large opens up a world of accelerated learning. However, it also opens up a whole world of “fake news”, but it’s not too hard to be discerning. Arguably the ability to cross reference and test information is the most important knowledge educators should be imparting now. That’s not to say people don’t want an IRL interaction, but maybe it should be a group session on the beach or a themed seminar rather than an every Thursday night church hall snoozefest.

This has led us to the world of Patreon/pay what you want commerce which seems like a healthy development. Hopefully that comment won’t come back to bite us on the behind commercially speaking, time will tell. There is no doubt that infinite growth capitalism needs an overall, maybe not tipping the board entirely but a strong and ethical tweaking. We are endeavouring to strike a good balance between providing free lessons with paid lessons/subscriptions. We are also working hard developing merchandise for some retail therapy combined with a show of support for the free lessons, blog posts and interactions by email or whatever other means.

You’re probably now thinking that this is some thinly veiled advertisement disguised as a blog post. Oh you cynic you! On an unrelated note the first batch of Wu Xing Taiji Boxing Alliance stickers have landed and are available in the store.