Author: Tom Bisio May 25, 2026
It is not surprising that many students and prospective students are confused about what it means to be an instructor in Xing Yi Quan or Ba Gua Zhang, or even a Qi Gong instructor. Because there are no ranks, belts, badges or other external signs of achievement when learning these arts, one can’t really make easily definable criteria as to exactly what someone’s ability is relative to someone else. Add to this that internal arts are about changing oneself internally both physically and as a person, and distinctions or categorization become even more amorphous.
Lacking visible criteria for progress and achievement, students often desire to become an instructor without understanding what that designation really means. For some it becomes about ego and external validation, for others it is a way to start a practice group to facilitate further training and understanding. In either case, in order to teach internal arts, one should have a grasp of the realities and responsibilities involved. The important thing to keep in mind is that taking on the role and “title” of teacher means that one actually is going to have students, and that one accepts the responsibility t0 teach them. Otherwise, one does not need this title and should not pursue becoming an instructor, but rather continue training and increasing one’s depth of knowledge in the art.
In the end, a teacher teaches. The title “Instructor” means one teaches students and takes on responsibility for their progress in the art, while continuing one’s own training and increasing one’s understanding – Nothing more, nothing less.
Ideally one should begin the study of internal arts in order to learn and understand the art as a means of self-cultivation and self-defense. Beginning training with the goal of being a teacher can actually be detrimental, because one is already looking outside and cultivating outside goals rather than looking inside and sensing what is happening inside. It is good to keep in mind the words of the famous Xing Yi Boxer Guo Yun Shen in relation to learning Xing Yi Quan: It is necessary not to seek it on purpose. If something can be obtained in seeking, it seems to exist but does not exist and seems to be true but is not true. It is necessary to obtain it by unhurried and steady steps, without forgetting or assisting it, without thinking and management of it. With internal martial arts, sometimes the harder one tries to get “something,” the farther away this desire takes you from real achievement. So one should enter into training with an open mind, and train hard without looking for external validation such as becoming an instructor. Becoming ready to teach will happen when you are ready for it, have no desire for it, and often when you least expect it
Not everyone is meant to teach. Some students want to train and practice and not teach – there is nothing wrong with that. One can become a great high-level practitioner and/or a fighter with a high level of ability without becoming an instructor. In every group in China that I have worked with there are long-term students, dedicated and often highly-skilled, who like to train and/or fight. They help the teacher when asked, perhaps attend tournaments, but they don’t necessarily teach or have their own students.
Normally it takes about ten years of on-going training to become a teacher of internal martial arts. Even if one has a lot of previous experience in external martial arts, is accomplished technically, and has teaching experience, it still requires time (years) to experience the internal changes and transformations of internal training and put them into practice – not only in the forms and methods of internal martial arts, but also in everyday life. Without fully understanding these transformations inside oneself, it is virtually impossible to teach others more than the external shape.
I have met several masters in China who were very accomplished in martial arts before beginning Xing Yi or Ba Gua, and yet they still had to go through three years of mostly circle walking, or three years of mostly just standing in San Ti Shi, before going on to learn the rest of the art and only then become a teacher. In addition, learning the art usually involves following one’s teacher for years, watching him or her teach, and accompanying them and assisting them at regular classes, demonstrations, seminars, retreats, etc.
This speaks to the absurdity of thinking one can become an instructor of internal martial arts through online training only, or by taking an “online instructor training course.” Learning this way one would merely learn the external elements of “internal” arts, a bit of an oxymoron. Chinese teachers would say that in taking this path, one can only understand the hairs of the ox, not the bones. Online training is useful and Internal Arts International has had students come out of our online program to take live, in-person instructor training with good results. The key being that these students had to also study and interact with the teacher(s), other instructors and students in-person for a period of time in order to achieve the level of instructor.
My own experience with Xing Yi was learning one style of Xing Yi Quan by closely following my teacher for many years and then teaching this style for years while continuing to follow my teacher, while simultaneously learning Ba Gua Zhang. When I switched to Li Gui Chang’s Shanxi Xing Yi, I had to stop teaching Xing Yi for ten years while I virtually relearned the art, correcting all my mistakes from my previous training. Similarly in Ba Gua, I had to stop teaching the art for several years at one point in order to correct errors that came from teaching too soon.
These kinds of experiences not only forge one’s internal boxing, they also are lessons in humility and they help one maintain a beginner’s mind – all things that facilitate becoming a good teacher.
In today’s fast-paced world, the kind of long apprenticeship described above may not be practical for everyone, particularly if they live far from their teacher and cannot afford to travel year after year across the country or make 20-some trips to China as I did. This leads to another model for becoming an instructor.
Someone wanting to open an internal arts club or practice group in order to train and improve by working with others could become what I would call a Foundational Level Instructor after 2-4 years of training. This training may begin with an online course, but must later continue in-person with a teacher. A Foundational Level Instructor is capable of teaching the basics of the art, leading students through exercises and basic forms, and guiding them in practicing simple applications and partner drills. The Foundational Instructor stays ahead of his or her students by continuing to progress in the art, and to some degree the teaching itself helps their progression. Because the Foundational Instructor is still studying with their teacher, his or her students also see this instructor receiving corrections and progressing over time. This not only keeps everyone humble, it allows students a window into the developmental process. As they see the teacher change and improve, they also change and improve.
Over the more than 20 years I trained in Xing Yi Quan with Song Zhi Yong, a disciple of Li Gui Chang and my Senior School Brother, I got to watch him transform, his movements becoming more subtle and his power more mysterious. Song’s expectation was that we would transform and change with him and we did. Sometimes he would change a movement or change the way he did a movement and look at us askance if we did it the way he had previously showed us. He implication was that we should bow to the process, not be fixated on things being set in stone, but instead continue to change and transform.
What I am calling a Foundational Level Instructor is a person responsible for teaching what he or she knows of the art as correctly was possible with the understanding that they can fall back on their own teacher to help them convey information, fill in knowledge gaps, and demonstrate applications that they may know but are not yet comfortable with. This instructor is on the path to higher levels of engagement and responsibility in teaching the art, and teaching students is a part of this process of engagement, one that pushes their boundaries and spurs them on to continue to train and learn.
A Senior Instructor is someone who has trained for at least 8-10 years. In becoming a Senior Instructor this person is accepting the responsibility of passing the art and lineage on to others, a commitment that often takes decades to achieve. It is less an honor than an acceptance of responsibility and at times, it is even a burden.
Becoming a Senior Instructor requires knowing the basics of the history of the art in general and the history of the specific lineage. Becoming a Senior Instructor also requires a breadth of knowledge and some experience in teaching the art, even if only as assistant to their teacher. This does not mean one has to know every advanced form and weapons set, but it does require having a broad knowledge of the key forms and methods of the art and an ability to present them in a way that can be adaptable to different students who have different needs, different physical abilities and goals. A Senior Instructor continuously cultivates himself or herself in order to gain deeper levels of understanding, that in turn aid their teaching. A Senior Instructor must also be capable of developing students to a level at which they could themselves become instructors one day.
Lastly, being a Senior Instructor is not just about how many forms and techniques one knows, it is also a state of mind and spirit, and being a positive example to students and having a commitment to preserving a tradition.
In China, all of the above is understood implicitly, but in the West this kind of responsibility to lineage and the past is rarely acknowledged. Hence, it requires effort on our part to preserve these traditions that produce high-caliber practitioners of the internal arts who can pass the art on to succeeding generations.
This brings up the idea of disciples. In China, teachers take disciples who then follow the teacher and the teaching, perhaps eventually going on to also take on their own disciples when they reach a level where they can teach. Becoming a disciple usually involves a formal ceremony, the details of which can vary to some degree, however in general one kowtows three times to the teacher and offers some payment to the teacher – traditionally cash and in a red envelope. The ceremony is understood to mean that this person is your teacher for life, and that the student will follow, learn from and support the teacher financially or otherwise and help him or her, particularly in regard to disseminating and carrying on the art. Thus, one has accepted a serious responsibility. From the teacher’s perspective, it is also a huge responsibility. He or she is now responsible to the student for life and must teach them correctly and aid them as much as possible.
This kind of relationship is difficult to foster in the West. In the past there were commitments between artisan and apprenticeships that were similar, but the modern business and educational model has done away with apprenticeships and many professions, including Chinese medicine (unfortunately) discourage real apprenticeships in favor of going to school and passing tests. Hence taking on disciples as an internal martial arts teacher is difficult because it is antithetical to our culture.
So as someone who has walked the line between being a disciple of a Chinese teacher and studying with other teachers when I was not a disciple but still had to fulfill the requisite responsibilities, I have been on both sides of the question. My personal feeling is that disciple-teacher relationships are not well understood in the West and it is better to try and foster clear relationships and guidelines for students, instructors and senior instructors.
In the end we can simply say that a teacher teaches. So, becoming an instructor requires that one actually teach students, and accepts the responsibility of guiding them through the training process of learning and self-cultivation.
Lastly, I think it is important to add that the great teachers of internal arts that I have met, never take on the air of having “arrived” and resting on their laurels. The great teachers continue to train and deepen their understanding of the art for their whole life. This in turn is an inspiration to their students
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