My regimen is in transition
Sadly, Yantuo left our school. He's now with Shaolin Shaolin Martial Arts with Yanqiang and Yankuan. Yan Fei is back leading our class.
I'm still doing baduanjin daily. At practice, I'm doing xiaohongquan, dahongquan, qixingquan and taizu changquan fairly regularly. Sometimes I'll still do changhu xinyimen, qixing tanglang, yinshougun, sisanqiang and meihuadao. I've recently learned qimeigun and damo meihua guai. I may let qimeigun go. I'm trying to focus upon damo meihua guai for reasons that will soon become apparent.
Like I said earlier, Yan Fei has both
He's from Shandong originally, so he has the Yu Hai form, which he teaches to the wushu kids if they are interested, as well as the Songshan qixing mantis form, which is a regular part of our Shaolin regimen. Yan Fei's Shaolin has a heavy Shandong influence, which fits his body frame. He has that classic long and tall Shandong physique, perfect for mantis.
When I was younger, I regretted not pursuing mantis more seriously. I went to Shandong and learned a beng bu, and Wing Lam had three mantis sets, which he just kept for fun. I learned two of them and the style fit me well, back when I had much faster hands. Beyond that and Shaolin qixing mantis, I never studied it. That being said, if you're just going to study mantis, a master that just focuses on mantis is surely best. But if your going to study Shaolin, you'll get a little taste of everything.