Jackie Watt – The Tai Chi Lady Everyone Knows
"Aren't you the Tai Chi Lady?"
It's a question Jackie Watt can't seem to escape.
Someone calls out as she's crossing the road. Another recognises her in the supermarket. The teller at the bank smiles knowingly. Throughout Melbourne's Bayside suburbs, Jackie isn't simply Jackie—she's The Tai Chi Lady.
After spending time with her, it's easy to understand why. Last year, at the age of 84, Jackie officially closed the business side of her tai chi school after more than forty years of teaching. But don't make the mistake of saying she's retired. "Oh no," Jackie laughs. "You never retire from tai chi. Tai chi becomes part of who you are."
True to her word, now aged 85, she still teaches two volunteer tai chi classes every week.
A Gift That Changed Everything
Forty-one years ago, Jackie's life took an unexpected turn. Her beloved son Nick was seriously injured in a car accident, leaving him unable to care for himself. Overnight, Jackie became his lifelong carer. Years later, her husband Max would develop Parkinson's disease, and Jackie found herself caring for both the two most important men in her life.
The remarkable thing is that tai chi entered her life at exactly the right moment. In 1983, before Nick's accident, Jackie's stepdaughter Claire had given Max a term of tai chi classes as a gift. A few weeks later, after the family was overwhelmed by tragedy, Max gently encouraged Jackie to come along with him. It became more than exercise. It became breathing space. It became healing. It became something they could still do together. Max eventually stopped practising, but Jackie never did. More than four decades later, she's still learning.
Forever a Student
One of the first things you notice about Jackie is her humility. Despite over forty years of teaching and studying tai chi, she still talks like an enthusiastic beginner. "I always think there's more to learn," she says. That attitude led her to study with some of Australia's and China's finest teachers.
Her first classes were with Master Gary Khor at the Australian Academy of Tai Chi, before undertaking teacher training every Monday evening at the Royal Melbourne Hospital with Master Han Jin Song, a program organised by her lifelong tai chi friend, Angelina. Later, Jackie established her own school, Bayside Tai Chi.
Around the same time she met the teacher who would shape much of her journey, Master Shao Ming. For decades she attended his classes, quietly absorbing not only his knowledge, but also his way of being.
Eventually the demands of caring for Nick and Max meant she could no longer attend weekly lessons. By then, Master Ming's teachings had become part of her.
Friendship and Sun Style
Jackie has travelled the world through tai chi, but one of her favourite stories begins in Sydney. In 1998 she spotted an advertisement for Dr Paul Lam's very first week-long workshop.
She convinced two tai chi friends, Susan Berryman and Lai Kwan, to come with her. "I thought it would either make or break our friendship," The three women learned Sun 73 together that week, and decades later they're still close friends.
Susan and Lai Kwan went on to become the first Master Trainers for the Tai Chi for Arthritis program. Before long Jackie joined them, becoming one of the program's Master Trainers and spending many years training instructors throughout Victoria.
Today, hundreds of instructors continue sharing what Jackie taught them. That's quite a ripple effect from one workshop...
Breakfast with Tai Chi Legends
Jackie's travels opened doors that most practitioners only dream about. She trained at the Beijing Institute of Sport with the legendary Professor Kan and Professor Men, both instrumental in developing internationally recognised tai chi forms.
Jackie vividly remembers Professor Kan arriving at 6 a.m., weaving through Beijing traffic on a bicycle as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Professor Kan spoke very little English. In fact, Jackie remembers one phrase. "One more time." Which, unsurprisingly, meant they repeated everything... ...one more time. ...and then probably one more time after that.
One morning Jackie was invited to breakfast with Professors Kan and Men and the Director of the Beijing Institute. "Breakfast" turned out to be an enormous banquet. Jackie politely sampled dishes she admits she would normally never have chosen. "When you're in China," she says with a smile, "it's important to save face."
Before leaving, Jackie presented Professor Kan with a mug decorated with a kangaroo. Years later, whenever they met again, whether in Australia or China, Professor Kan would greet Jackie by grinning broadly and hopping like a kangaroo. Not everyone can say they've become someone's favourite marsupial.
Behind the Temple Gates
Another unforgettable experience came through Master Liu, a former Shaolin monk, who guided Jackie through areas of the Shaolin Temple rarely open to tourists. She witnessed demonstrations few visitors ever see and experienced the Temple from the inside rather than the sidelines. For Jackie, tai chi wasn't simply taking her around the world, it was opening doors.
"I Just Love to Share"
Ask Jackie why she became a teacher and her answer is beautifully simple. "I love to share." That's it. No talk of careers. No ambitions. Just sharing. Sharing knowledge. Sharing friendship. Sharing tea. Sharing laughter. Sharing the joy of movement. Her background as a special education teacher naturally shaped her approach. Everyone belonged. Everyone could participate. Everyone had something valuable to contribute.
One of her favourite memories is teaching tai chi at Sandringham Primary School. A young boy with additional needs struggled to keep up. Rather than helping him blend into the background, Jackie placed him proudly at the front of the class, holding the expanding "tai chi ball" that set the breathing rhythm for everyone else. The little boy beamed, so did his classroom teacher. Jackie has always had a gift for seeing strengths before limitations.
Building Community, One Class at a Time
Jackie's oldest student was 96. Her youngest was still in primary school. Some arrived seeking exercise. Others came because life had become difficult. Many stayed because they found a community. Jackie remembers Colin, who regularly drove a group of older students to class. "You may as well join in while you're waiting," she suggested. He did. He became hooked.
When students were struggling financially, Jackie's response was equally simple. "Don't pay," she'd say, "but please keep coming." For Jackie, people always came before profit.
Tai Chi Has Excellent Travel Companions
Jackie loves travelling. Fortunately, tai chi fits easily into a suitcase. Wherever she goes she practises outdoors, and almost inevitably curious people wander over. "What are you doing?" "Can we join?" Before long she's made another friend.
While visiting Sri Lanka she contacted a fellow Master Trainer from the Tai Chi for Health Institute and arranged to practise together. As Jackie has discovered, the tai chi family extends well beyond Australia.
Retreats, Rain and Remarkable Timing
Over the years Jackie organised seven tai chi weekends away where twenty to thirty people gathered in forests and beside the ocean to practise, meditate, cook Chinese food, learn calligraphy and simply enjoy being together. Everyone contributed. Massage therapists offered treatments. Others shared skills. It became less of a retreat and more of a temporary village.
She also organised more than 200 outdoor practice sessions. At the end of every term student’s from all her classes gathered in parks and on beaches, often attracting well over one hundred participants. Then there's the weather. For more than twenty-five years every single outdoor event stayed dry. Not once did rain interrupt. Melburnians know that's bordering on miraculous.
At Jackie's final outdoor practice in November 2025, rain poured beforehand, stopped exactly for the session, then resumed the moment everyone packed up. Coincidence? Jackie simply smiles.
The Flash Mob That Fooled Everyone
Perhaps the most entertaining chapter in Jackie's teaching career involved a farmers' market. Her students scattered themselves among the shoppers, pretending to browse vegetables and homemade jam. At an agreed signal, one person quietly began practising tai chi. Moments later another joined. Then another. Soon forty people were moving together in perfect harmony. The unsuspecting public thought it looked wonderful and simply wandered in to join them. Meanwhile, volunteers casually handed out flyers promoting Bayside Tai Chi. Brilliant.
The footage still lives on YouTube under Bayside Tai Chi Flash Mob and remains as joyful today as it was then.
A Life That Inspired Others
Jackie's influence stretches well beyond forms and techniques. Students have written poems about her. Painted her. Composed songs inspired by her teaching. When someone inspires creativity in others, you know they've shared something deeper than movement. They've shared themselves.
Where Tai Chi Might Lead
After more than forty years, countless students, international adventures, lifelong friendships and one unforgettable flash mob, Jackie offers one final piece of advice. "Everyone should take up tai chi," she says. "You never know where it might lead you." For Jackie, it led to China, Sri Lanka, lifelong friends, extraordinary teachers, a community that became family, and a lifetime devoted to sharing. Not a bad journey for someone who simply accepted her husband's invitation to try a tai chi class all those years ago to help manage stress from a very traumatic life event.
Although, if you happen to be wandering through Melbourne's Bayside suburbs and hear someone call out, "Aren't you the Tai Chi Lady?", you'll already know exactly where that journey led.
Article written by Rani Hughes. This article was polished for clarity and grammar using ChatGPT, with final editing and factual review completed by Rani and Jackie.
