Taking care of your patients or clients can be stressful and can drain your energy. People complain to you all the time. Having worked as a general practitioner for forty years, whilst I felt fulfillment from helping people, it could also feel quite draining at times.

Tai Chi Instructors training workshop Dr Lam at center, next to Dr Lam Hillary Simon and Mark Hoyle are both physiotherapists

Teaching tai chi can be a very effective form of therapy for yourself and your students, and is evidence-based. There are over 500 studies showing that tai chi can improve practically all aspects of health, and more than 30 studies specifically on my Tai Chi for Health programs. Teaching a suitable Tai Chi for Health program will help your clients to gain mental and physical health benefits, become happier and, just as importantly, it will revitalise you and make you healthier. You will also learn more about your clients from a different perspective.

I have been practising tai chi for over 40 years to help me manage my arthritis. It certainly has transformed my health, and helped me to become a better doctor and more harmonious person. When I started teaching tai chi, I discovered the importance of effective teaching methods based on the most up-to-date research and the importance of modernised tai chi, especially for therapeutic purposes. I have been working with teams of health professionals to create a series of Tai Chi for Health programs.

Sonia physiotherapist at Tai Chi for Health instructors training workshop in Sydney 2016

VIDEO: What is Tai Chi? (4:29) VIDEO: Can You Tell Me More About Tai Chi? (3:09) VIDEO: How Does Tai Chi Work? (5:06) VIDEO: Documentary about the story of Dr Paul Lam and Tai Chi for Health, “Anyone Can Learn and Enjoy Tai Chi” (20:33)

You can also go to the Tai Chi for Health Institute’s website to find an introduction to the Tai Chi for Arthritis and Falls Prevention program, recommended by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov) and used by Arthritis Foundations around the world and Health Departments throughout Australia.

If you would like to be an instructor or learn just for your own benefit, then you are more than welcome to join my workshops or join workshops conducted by our Master Trainers. We have Master Trainers throughout Australia and the world. Some of them are physiotherapists themselves and some are health professionals, but all of them are well prepared to equip participants to be safe and effective instructors. All studies on the Tai Chi for Health programs used instructors trained by these Master Trainers.

Tai Chi for Arthritis instructor training workhsop in Sydney 2018 mostly health professionals

Being a health professional will give you an advantage to learn these programs. If you haven’t done tai chi before, then you will need to spend some time and prepare with my easy-to-learn tai chi lessons in DVD or online lessons. You can come to a two-day face-to-face workshop; with reasonable preparation you would learn and be certified to teach and help your clients. After the training you will be able to access support through the Tai Chi for Health Institute and many useful materials.

Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention has been taught all over the world to millions of people. We now have approximately 70 Master Trainers who train instructors and around 100 Senior Trainers who assist Master Trainers and conduct skill development workshops. We have trained over 40,000 instructors worldwide.

Tai Chi for Arthritis Training workshop in Netherland with Dr Lam

The Tai Chi for Health Institute is a non-profit organisation registered in Australia. Its purpose is to maintain quality and facilitate training for the Tai Chi for Health programs.

I hope you can join us at some stage. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at service@tchi.org or call us at +61 2 9533 6511 (Sydney, Australia).

July/August 2020 Tai Chi for Health Workshops in Sydney and Cairns - Learn More