Beginnings

I have studied martial arts off and on throughout my life, beginning with Karate as a young child, then studying Kenpo when I was in middle school and Ishin Ryu when I was a teenager.  I stopped training when I went to college and laid fallow for most of a decade.  After the birth of my first child, I realized that I needed something to help me find my center once again, so resumed training.  This time, I felt like I should do something different, so I decided to try my hand at Chinese martial arts and have practiced Choy Li Fut for almost ten years.

Then, after an unrelated neck injury, my doctor told me that I had to stop.  I didn't know what to do, as my martial arts training has been such an important part of my life (and tool for preserving both my physical and mental health).  In addition to Choy Li Fut, my school teaches Yang-Style Tai Chi Chuan, so I asked if I could practice that... and my doctor gave me a very enthusiastic "yes".

So, here I am with most of a lifetime's experience in hard style, external martial arts, trying to learn the one of the quintessential internal martial arts.  I've long felt like a tiger in my martial arts, ferocious and energetic and strong... but now it's time for the tiger to learn a new way.

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