Hello

[gironal]

I've been looking into various MA styles for the past few years. I have never taken any classes, though I have "sparred" with a friend of mine for several years (He was takeing Shaolin Kenpo).
I was in the USMC for 4 years, and during that time, I have aquired(sp?) several lasting injurys/illnesses. Most of the injuries i have sustained are along the lines of arthritus/bursitus in most of the major joints in my body. I feel that some form of internal MA would be very helpfull to recovering from these injuries. I am new to the area I am in, and was wondering if any of you all could possibly suggest a good teacher in the Albany, NY area. I am not set in any style I wish to learn, though I am intent on learning an internal style. Thanks for any help you all could provide me.

[RAF]

I met Dave Dolbear many, many years ago at the Tai Chi Farm. In fact, he primarily instructed me in Chen's taijiquan, pao chuei the first time I attended. However, his main style was the Northern Wu Style taijiquan and over the years (reading and meeting people) I have found this to be probably one of the best. Given your condition and location, you can e-mail him from the site.

Dave would probably not remember me since this was done in the late 80s, however, he really impressed me as an excellent instructor and his lineage hits the mark. It is similar to Wang Peiseheng's style and I think it is very much under-represented here in the states.

Here is his website:

http://www.northernwu.com/

Good luck.

[kungfu cowboy]

Hello gironal. Well, depending on the severity of your symptoms, and if you are specifically looking to learn a martial art or not, another option would be yoga. Here are a couple links about it's effectiveness with reducing the symptoms of arthritis.

http://www.arthritissupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/id/209/e/1

http://www.stfranciscare.org/healthyliving/Sep99MindBodyYoga.htm

[gironal]

I have looked into the possiblities of yoga, but as a personal decision, I have chosen (sp?) to learn a martial art, both for the physical aspect, and the mental aspect. As for the severity of my arthritus/bursitus, it is at a point that all the doctors I have seen tell me there is nothing they can do for it short of giving my motrin, and saying untill it reaches the point that it requires invasive(sp?) surgery that they can't do anything else. My goal is to try to correct the problem/ relieve the symptoms before it becomes that serious. :)

[RAF]

Gironal:

You also might want to explore the following method of qi gong:

http://www.chilel-qigong.com/

My TCM doctor studied with him and I also did about a 2.5 year studied under my TCM.

There are a lot of practitioners throughout the states and you might even try their seminars.

I am not crazy about its advertising but my TCM studied in Beijing's best TCM school for 10 years and he highly recommends this. They do wall squats and also in the second level, standing post exercise.

I recommended Dave Dolbear because he might be in Albany NY (or it Syracuse).

Also, try TCM acupuncture.

Regards.

[gironal]

RAF> How would I find inforamation about acupuncture in the albany,ny area?

[RAF]

Thats pretty tough to answer. There are some directories but I usually go by word-of-mouth.

In general, I would avoid most western doctors trying to sell themselves off as certified.

Go to:

http://www.drweil.com/app/cda/drw_cda.php

See what he recommends. He recommends a Dr. Zhang in New York city but I don't know if he does acupuncture.

Give it some time and this board will come alive with answers.

[kungfu cowboy]

Just as information, yoga is very much about the mind. More precisely, the union of body and mind. It is very much a moving meditation and also contains breathing techniques that directly effect the nervous system and endocrine function as well as the physical body. (It's all interconnected) Tai chi is really cool too; there are many similarities between the two. Good luck!:)