The new phenomenon: the Free Daily Tai Chi & Qigong Lessons

Late Friday 03/13, I received a broadcasting message from my supervisor at one of the fitness centers where I was teaching Tai Chi (Taiji) and Qigong. It stated due to the Coronavirus, all active older adult programs would be cancelled. The message stopped short telling what classes are classified as active older adult programs. I sent a follow-up message and was told that Tai Chi classes are part of the cancelled programs. I was little annoyed by the stereotypical thinking that Tai Chi is for older adults; I wasn’t going to argue. I was concerned about my students who are dedicated to the class. They came to the classroom rain or shine and some would take three or four classes each week. What are they going to do when classes are cancelled?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, which may cause illness in animals and humans.  In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and the current COVID 19. The most common symptoms of the COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, dry cough, and shortness of breath. Some patients may also suffer from aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and start gradually. What is scary is that some infected people don’t develop any symptoms but are still contagious. There is no medicine yet to treat the disease. Due to the shortage of the test cases, we really don’t know how many people are infected in the U.S. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, indicated the condition in the U.S. would get worse before it get better. About 80% infected people recover from it without needing any medical treatment. The rest becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing. Older people and those with underlying medical conditions like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness. It is clear to me that the virus is beatable if we have a strong immune system.

Scientifically proven, Tai Chi and Qigong can boost immunity and reduce the chronic illnesses of high blood pressure, cardio and pulmonary diseases, and diabetes. It is more than ever that people should learn Tai Chi and Qigong if they have never done so and the people who have learned the healing art should routinely practice it. But how can I help my students with their healthy routine without the in-person classes?

I have experience in remote teaching. They were one-on-one classes though. How to render a user-friendly online class to a mass is a challenge since I am not technically savvy. I did much research Friday night and Saturday. I evaluated a few platforms and decided on Streamyard, which does not have many bells and whistles but it is simple enough for me to operate. Saturday afternoon, I announced on my Facebook profile page and sent a message to my students and friends that I would offer a free daily class starting the next day. This was a totally unfamiliar territory to me. I was nervous.

I received more than a hundred feedbacks after the class via email and online. People thanked me for doing this at this difficult time. One person told me that she lives in Porto Rico and felt totally stressed out and my class provided a much needed stress relief. People know me that I have a heart of 5 year old and never know how to act my age. I asked my student David whether I was too goofy on the screen. He replied, “No, you do not act too silly.  In this serious time it is very soothing and therapeutic to have some lighthearted, warmhearted, friendly human contact.” He forwarded my Facebook link to his family. With suggestion from the audience, I also demonstrated how to do the exercise sitting.

With the strong support of many by sending messages to family and friends and posting on the social media, the viewership has grown exponentially in an organic fashion. At the end of Sunday, there were 500 people either attended the class live or watched the recorded session. People that I did not know wanted to friend me on Facebook. I maxed out on both my Facebook profile accounts with 10,000 friends. A student taught me how to create a Facebook page – I still feel funny since I am not a celebrity. From the responses, I realized the need for this type of service. I whipped out a credit card and purchased a professional version of the live streaming service so I could do unlimited live streaming instead of 20 hours a month with the free version; I can also post the class to more than one site with the professional version.

Due to my own ignorance, I was not able to live stream to other sites until Tuesday 3/17.  Currently, I am live streaming to my three Facebook pages and Twitch.tv https://www.twitch.tv/violetlitaichi/. I have over 2,000 friends on LinkedIn but I can’t service them by streaming there yet despite Streamyard is capable of handing that. I was baffled. Eventually, I found out that I need a special permission from LinkedIn. I filed a request. I am waiting the LinkedIn’s response with my fingers crossed.

The 3/17 show had 1,000 plus views when I went to bed that night and it had over two thousand views the next morning. Currently, the total viewership is approaching 10,000.

President Trump confirmed that we are in a long haul in the war against the virus. I started to contemplate whether people really like to see my not so attractive face everyday. I toiled over this and could not sleep well for a couple of nights. Then, the light bulb came up. There are hundreds of Tai Chi and Qigong styles and forms. They are different but all beneficial. My teacher Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei always stresses that Tai Chi is one family. Yes, I will extend my show to include other excellent instructors. In my tenure of writing articles on the subject, I was fortunate to interview hundreds of them. Of course, not everyone can conduct online lessons. First, they have to speak English because most the audience is English-speaking. Secondly, they have to have high-speed Internet access. Thirdly, they need to have a room big enough for videographing. The platform does not allow me to use recorded video. With the time zone differences, it would not be polite to ask masters to get up in the middle of the night to teach ;-). Nevertheless, my Rolodex is big. I sent many invites out and got some responses. They are very generous with their time and knowledge and they will teach for free. So, starting from Sunday 3/22, we will extend the classes to an hour. We will have guest instructors to surprise you!!! Yeah!!!

Note: Just in case you wonder where to take the daily free lessons, you can click on this link https://www.facebook.com/St-Louis-Tai-Chi-Qigong-for-Health-with-Violet-Li-112417357049040/?modal=admin_todo_tour. You don’t have to be my Facebook friend to attend the classes. They are all open to the public. You can also take them at a time that is convenient for you from anywhere in the world.