Thinking of beginning

[madhusudan]

I'm interested in starting Yi Quan and have found someone who appears to be a reputable sifu within a distance that might allow me to visit and train once or twice a month.

Is this enough to make good progress in the art, if practiced alone for perhaps an hour a day? Does one need to be in closer contact with a master?

Of course, I understand I would get out of it whatever i got out of it, but would you consider the prospect a worthwhile use of time? As background info, I've about entered middle age, have some limited background in kung fu and MA from my 20s and am trying to develop a skill that will take me through the rest of my life. Thanks.

[sanjuro_ronin]

What are you hoping to get out of this?

[Lucas]

I see you are in Oregon. If you are talking about Sifu Gregory Fong. I would highly recommend him.

As far as benefits, it will depend on your goals, but I believe yes, you will have positive effects as long as you practice diligently on your own what you learn.

You'll likely start with a couple different standing postures that you can train each for 10-20 (depending on your body) minutes a day to start, then progress from there with more posture and increased time. If you're looking at Fong Sifu, you may want to train his yang or chen taiji as well along side the yi quan if you are able.

Just let the sifu know your goals and he can help plan with you what you will need.

[madhusudan]

Thanks for the speedy and thoughtful replies.

I suppose I looking to develop a form of exercise that will keep me very healthy that also translates to fighting ability. I'm particularly interested in fixing my body's structure, which I've started doing on my own sort of intuitively. God, I have allowed my posture to really become weak and horrible. I'm sure I can't do this on my own, so I've begun thinking of training opportunities. That's how I stumbled on, and then settled upon, the idea of training Yi Quan.

I still feel some strong affinity to the Lama Kung fu I learned long ago in NYC from Ross and Ventura. Later I did Kyokushin Karate while in Korea. Both were great experiences, especially the real-world resistance I encountered in the karate sparring. It was very humbling to have my ass handed to me. However, the style seems too hard for me now. I'm no longer a spring chicken willing to endure constant bruises and such from intense daily or weekly sparring.

For now, I'm exercising with Lama basics, bin, kahp, pau, chyuhn, gwa, so etc. Sometimes for flow and aerobics, sometimes with intent.

I am considering Fong Sifu, from what I have heard he is good. There is also another sifu by the name of John Koo http://www.chinesefistology.com/ . Thanks again.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I used to visit my Hung Kuen and SPM Sifu's a few times a month, and stay there and train for a good, oh...8 hours min.
Because I had a solid core to fall back on and knew how to train on my own and was conscious enough to know when I was doing something wrong, that type of training was fine.
I would not recommend that for anyone that is a novice.

[madhusudan]

To state it more clearly, I'm looking for union of my mind and body, as sought in many different disciplines - yoga being one of the best known. I don't know why I prefer fighting arts. I do like how you can pressure test to keep yourself honest. I know how easy it is to fool yourself. I have recently lost 30 pounds and have about 20 more to go. Even at my heaviest, I never really thought of myself as fat. Ha!

[Hebrew Hammer]

Plausible deniability...very nice. I go with positive visualizations...never look yourself in the mirror and take pictures in the back row.

[Lucas]

Yi Quan would be a great way to work on your structure and body alignment, thats a huge portion of what its all about. And its a very simple approach that can easily be done on your own. Gregory Fong has a pretty good record of 'fixing' people up. Mind/body/spirit conection is a major focus point at his school.

[Dale Dugas]

Shifu John Koo is a Jook Lum South Mantis teacher and has a high hand.

I believe he teaches internal skills as well.

[TaichiMantis]

Is a great friend to my Kung fu uncle Randy Choy, he would be a good choice to train under. I'm 52 and have phased out hardcore mantis training, focusing on tai chi and it's martial applications. My back and structure problems have definitely improved since my early 40s. Good luck with your training!