Tai Chi for Kids – Tai Chi lessons for Life

Tai Chi for Children

Enter most external martial art classes nowadays such as Karate, Taekwondo, and Ju-Jitsu, most of the participants will be Kids. But with Tai Chi for Kids it generally the case that the internal systems are not taught to children in the west.

This is a great shame as the benefits of practicing regular Tai Chi are enormous. Daily Tai Chi practice is indeed a lesson for life, even for the young. All martial arts take many years to perfect and to become proficient in.

This is even more fundamental when studying an internal martial art system like Tai Chi. Because Tai Chi for children has no official grading system, progression seems to be unmonitored, improvements are very slow and feedback from the teacher is kept to a minimum in most traditional schools.

The essence of Tai Chi for Kids can easily be lost, especially at the beginning. As the most important feedback is what is actually going on inside our body. This concept is very difficult for even most adults to comprehend, let alone a child. Due to the complexities of learning Tai Chi and the initial slow movement, it is generally considered that Tai Chi is unsuitable for teaching to children.

With external systems it is usually easier to monitor a student’s progress; movements are generally learnt at a much quicker pace and are normally the main focal point of study. With Tai Chi it is a much more holistic approach than this, the main focal point being the mind and the internal workings of the body.

Life in the fast lane

In the modern era we now have everything at our finger tips. With the advent of computers, mobile phones and the internet, technology has advanced to such an extent, that our lives have inexplicably changed forever during the last century.

Whilst the benefits of this change have many positives, the daily pressures involved to keep up to date with these technological advancements are enormous. This change has been felt no more keenly than by the young. This generation is the most tested and academically prepared, more than any previous generation gone before. 

We put huge pressures on our young to achieve, to prepare them for an ever decreasing job market. But all this has come at a price as our young are rebelling in their droves. Much of our youth are becoming disenfranchised with society. We have all seen the latest headlines; numerous kids are turning to drugs and drink as a means of escaping reality.

The streets are generally thought to be less safe now than a decade ago. This may or may not be true, but the public’s perception is that society has changed for the worse.

So where does Tai Chi fit into all this?

Obviously Tai Chi cannot sort out all of society’s ills, but Tai Chi taught in schools at an early age as part of the curriculum could address some of these problems.  The teaching methods would need to be adapted and refined especially for a child.

Feedback and progression would need to be more structured than it currently is in a traditional class. The long term benefits of this could prove to be life changing not only for the child, but also to society as a whole. It is believed by traditional tai chi exponents that there would be no wars or terrible crime if we all practiced the gentle art of Tai Chi.