A Western Foundation for Teaching

This 4 week, online training explores the basic building blocks of teaching in the west including western anatomy and physiology, learning styles and a range of teaching, coaching and mentoring strategies.

Unlike the fully accredited course, joining this modular training will only provide you with a certificate of completion and we will not be asking you to submit work for marking and feedback. To find out more about the fully accredited training, please visit the Teacher Training page

Week 1 (17th Sept) – Basic Communication Skills for Qigong Teachers

With a strong focus on feedback, questioning and listening skills, this lecture/discussion explores the importance of communication both in teaching and in peer support. It is an important foundation for the rest of the training as we will be using these skills extensively in the coming months in order to support each other.

Week 2 (24th Sept) – Western Anatomy and Physiology for Qigong Teachers

While Chinese Medicine underpins the practice of Qigong, most people who come to a qigong class will only understand the body in western terms. From this perspective it is important to be able to relate to the western perspective of anatomy and physiology so that you are able to express your self clearly and have the ability to explain both the eastern and western perspectives.

Naomi Merritt will lead this session. Naomi worked for years and as a paramedic before moving into medical research. She combines her wealth of experience in Western medicine with her experience in qigong as a practitioner and teacher, working in Oxfordshire in the UK.

Week 3 (1st October) – Teaching Methods and Aids

Understanding the different ways that people learn means that we are able to teach diverse groups of learners more effectively. In this session we will explore the importance of tailoring your teaching to the group so as to gain maximum engagement and benefit.

Week 4 (8th October) – Presentation Week

Each month we will have one week that is run as a presentation week with peer feedback, In the western foundation month we will be asking you to present for 3 minutes on the basic concepts of Chinese Medicine for an audience of people who are only familiar with Western medicine. The presentations will be peer reviewed so this is also an opportunity to try out different teaching styles, share different perspectives and learn from each other.