Dream of Being a Mermaid with Me and Sing "Under the Sea"!

Whether it's the double-tailed siren on the Starbucks logo or Disney's Ariel, our imaginations run wild with fantasies about mermaids — befriending sea creatures, luring sailors with enchanting songs, and more.

Mermaids aren't just for women. For men, the mermaid physique is a prime opportunity to train core strength and lower-body power. Watching a merman glide effortlessly through the water — droplets sliding off his skin as he surfaces — is inexplicably sexy and utterly captivating.

What You Should Know About Mermaiding

As the scuba diving craze continues to grow, more and more people are embracing the ocean. Aquatic modelling, underwater dance, and underwater photography have all become niche business opportunities in the age of social media. Mermaid training institutions around the world include MSA and AQUAMERMAID in the United States, IMSIA in Germany/the Philippines, FFFSSM in France, and MFI in Hong Kong. Systematic mermaid training courses are relatively rare in Taiwan, with the MFI system promoted by the Taiwan Mermaid Art Academy in 2018 being one of the better-known programmes in recent years.

The Taiwan Mermaid Art Academy was founded by Maggie Yang (Mermaid Heart) and focuses on promoting professional and recreational mermaiding, as well as developing training courses for mermaid performance and underwater performing arts. On the recreational side, the academy guides beginners toward their mermaid dreams through fun and safe instruction. Its professional mermaid and underwater performance programmes bring the art of the underwater world to a wider global audience.

Taiwan Mermaid Art Academy founder Maggie Yang (Mermaid Heart) has decades of experience in aquatic activities. Having deeply felt the inseparable bond between people and the sea, she hopes that through this unique water sport, more people will safely connect with the ocean — and fall in love with it, and protect it. Her vision is to "give voice to marine life in the form of a mermaid," and she hopes everyone can use this platform to find their own inner "Mermaid Heart."

Do You Need to Take a Class to Become a Mermaid?

Mermaiding uses freediving techniques to enter the water, but unlike regular diving, both legs are bound together inside a tail. For those of us accustomed to kicking freely with two separate legs, the moment you slip into the water it's easy to feel insecure — flailing and splashing at the surface. That's where an instructor's guidance comes in, helping you achieve graceful, captivating movement. Once you've put on the mermaid tail, you also need to factor in water pressure, equipment, and buoyancy, as well as which movements and angles let you conserve energy while still meeting the photographer's requirements.

Rough around the edges by nature, I was exactly like this at first. I assumed that years of water experience meant I could handle it easily. While I could manage to move around on my own, without an instructor's tips and corrections, every movement was painfully ungraceful — imagine a maggot wriggling in slow motion!

Being a mermaid is an attitude, and the golden rule is: "Look graceful at all times." Even when you're completely out of breath, or resting at the poolside — the moment you put on that mermaid tail, you must maintain an air of effortless elegance.

And do you think those impossibly beautiful mermaid photos are just candid shots? Think again! There is so much muscular endurance and technique behind each one. Without an instructor to teach you the tricks, you'll be left doing nothing but staring enviously from the sidelines.

Poise and Grace — Mermaid Style

• Body conditioning class: Mermaid yoga

The body conditioning class is the foundation of any mermaid training programme. Flexibility is essential for mermaiding — the sport primarily engages the shoulders, back, core, and waist. To help students achieve proper, fluid posture underwater, the stretching exercises in mermaid yoga must be practised diligently. Spinal extension, core training, and movement fluidity all affect performance underwater. During wave training in particular, instructors constantly remind students that facial expression also matters — staying relaxed and projecting a sensual look. This guidance genuinely carries over once you're in the water.

• Water session: Calm-water pool

Sessions are divided into static and dynamic components. For the static portion, students use neutral buoyancy control to practise hovering motionless in the middle of the water column, striking poses such as the Titanic, the Needle, the Swan, and other artistic positions so the photographer can focus and shoot. The challenge is staying underwater for as long as possible without taking a full breath of air — a paradox that static posing demands you conquer.

The core of dynamic training is learning how to dive down in a mermaid tail and glide horizontally, roll, swim on your back, side-swim, and execute tail-flick techniques — all with effortless elegance. It also includes underwater facial expression training and simple interactions with the camera (such as blowing a kiss or making a heart). If you want to look beautiful, go slow! A horizontal glide may look absolutely graceful, but inside, you're nearly out of air.

Mermaid Q&A

Q: Do you need to get certified? What does the course mainly cover?

A: The mermaid certification programme is divided into theory, body conditioning, and water sessions. This article covers the M1 Foundation Course — the introductory level of mermaid training — which includes academic study, mermaid yoga, and three pool sessions, totalling approximately 12 hours. Course fees cover venue admission, equipment rental, certification exam fees, certification application, and a scale-print swimsuit, coming to approximately NT$15,800. Note that beginners do not wear a full mermaid tail from the start — you begin in a scale-print swimsuit. This makes it easier for instructors to correct mistakes during training (such as knees splaying apart), while also avoiding unnecessary physical contact when offering corrections.

Learning Levels

M1: Focused on foundational learning — building the skills for going Under the Sea

M2: Entry into the professional realm — eligible to perform commercially and compete

M3: Moving into open water — learning environmental assessment and underwater photography with marine life

A Baby Fish's Honest Thoughts — The Practical Side

If you want to look beautiful, you have to go slow! The instructor's expressions and movements are so enchanting that I kept losing focus and staring — which is probably one of the reasons I wanted to learn mermaiding in the first place: to find my own sense of femininity.

Getting great photos and videos doesn't happen overnight in just a few classes. It depends on your mermaid technique and your level of commitment. More practice always makes a real difference. But not everyone lives near a pool deep enough for mermaiding, or one that allows fins and offers equipment rental. Rubber monofins can also easily chafe and scrape the ankles and heels during practice, so it's recommended to wear a short pair of ankle-high dive socks.

Once you have the basics down, the urge to shop will set in. Think: thermal dive socks, a wetsuit with adequate thickness — reasonable purchases if you want to keep training at the pool through winter. But then comes the rabbit hole of ordering custom mermaid tails and accessories from overseas for the sake of gorgeous photos, and that's where things get really expensive. Then again, which sport doesn't work this way? There will always be trade-offs. As long as you embrace the philosophy of "enjoying every moment of it," your investment will pay off. Most importantly — as long as you're happy!

Related links:

• Mermaid Heart – Taiwan Mermaid Art Academy

• 攝粒子影像設計

• The Ultimate in Freediving — Becoming a Real-World Mermaid