How Many People Could You Help If You Were A Teacher?

Teachers are in the business of helping people. There is no doubt about that. Think back: has there been a teacher who had a profound impact on you? Who really helped shape your life? Who really helped you? Maybe there were many. How would you feel about making the same sort of change in other people’s lives? Who can you think of that you could really help?

How much you get out of teaching depends entirely on how much you put in. For me it has been my life. I have put everything I have into it and got a huge amount back.

I taught my parents. My dad continued practising right into his old age. He was a very quiet man, who preferred to train quietly on his own. He never gave up, though. His final months were spent in a care home as he was suffering from dementia but the other residents and the staff were fascinated watching him practise his Suang Yang art and often commented about it. My mum was very different and is something of a legend in Nam Yang. She absolutely loved teaching. She gained quite a following in her Shuang Yang and Qigong classes and one of her classes is still going strong now, nine years after her passing, obviously thanks to her assistant teachers who stepped up to take over. Perhaps her greatest fame, though, was for her children’s classes. She was great with small children. She had worked most of her life as a primary school teacher and had exactly the personality and energy that goes with the job. Really she was quite scary!!! It often worried me that she was a bit too strict with the children but they certainly did what they were told and their parents loved it! Discipline was what they wanted for their children and they got it in abundance. And as a result the children learned fast. She loved her students and continued teaching in her unique style right up to age 85. She only stopped when she was finally hospitalised - if she could get to the classes then without any shadow of a doubt she would be there!

Sheila Armstrong demonstrating our Shuang Yang art.

My older daughter, Lucinda, wasn’t particularly interested in martial arts but when she was 17 and taking the Duke Of Edinburgh award course she had to qualify in a sport. She decided that Shuang Yang and Qigong sounded better than any of the more strenuous options so along she came. Then, during her first-degree course at Oxford, when she was under a great deal of pressure, she turned to Qigong and meditation to give her the calm, relaxation and focus that she needed. She is still at Oxford. Having completed a Bachelor’s Degree and two Master’s degrees she is now working on her doctorate. I like to think that what I taught her helped.

3 generations: Master Iain with his mother Sheila and daughter Lucinda practising Qigong together.

I taught my brother Kung Fu. He stuck it out for a few years and it proved good for his health and fitness but eventually he stopped due to work pressure.

Then there are Tommy and Freya, my younger children. We did well for a while! Freya became quite good at Kung Fu and very flexible. Tommy developed some good sparring skills. For now, Kung Fu is just not a strong enough appeal to separate them from their screens but I still hold out hope for the future. I think that when the time is right they will return to training with both motivation and maturity.

Freya and Tommy Armstrong

This is only a small part of the story, though! I now have students all over the world with whom I am still in contact. I have helped a great many people, often at the most difficult times in their lives and this is something that they will never forget. Many of them look on me as their ‘second dad’, especially those who I looked after during their teenage years and provided a stable place to train when they had no stability at home. Sometimes I don’t hear from them for years - but then they reach out again.

Not every student is grateful to their teacher: but most are. And many form a deep bond that endures throughout their life. The Chinese have a saying regarding this:

Many people are looking for deeper meaning in their lives and inner satisfaction. We know that money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness but we often forget that the single biggest factor in determining happiness is the quality of our relationships with the people who matter to us. If we can form these deep, positive relationships we achieve a deep happiness which is hard to find.

If you could be a teacher, who would you teach the first? Would you start with family members - for example ailing parents or children needing focus? How about your friends - what could you do to help them? Or would you just open your teaching to whoever needed it the most? Only you can decide but it is an idea worth thinking about. Why not give it a try? Why not take the decision to make a real impact on people’s lives and offer real, tangible help - the sort that makes a difference? We can make it happen for you so why not check out our teacher training courses?

A little bit of recent feedback:

Two responses to my Shuang Yang course in 11-12 London, May 2024. I have chosen not to publish the names of the authors as the content is quite personal - the truth is, of course, that our arts touch people in a way that is extremely personal - that is what makes them special.