What points do unveil my teacher in internal martial arts to be a good one?

Dear student,

To find a good teacher - or at least a teacher who seems to meet your individual needs as a student - there are probably several factors to consider.

One of the more obvious (yet often overlooked) ones is simply : 'do I like the person',
'do I warm to him/her as a person?'

Other, perhaps more conventional, factors to consider are to find out whether the students of that teacher are learning a complete system of any particular style, which would seem to be of fundamental importance in learning the internal methods of the martial arts in particular. You might also wish to ask to attend a training session (if appropriate) to get a feel for the dynamics of the school.

Another insightful way to determine a particular schools suitability for your needs as a student (keeping in mind, however, that these needs will change) is to look at and meet with the more senior students of the school - this is often a very insightful and helpful thing to do.

Such things as the 'lineage' of the school (and the teacher), and its association with other schools are also important to consider sometimes, yet it is not uncommon these days for schools (and teachers) to trade off this, 'talking the talk without having walked the walk', so the prospective student needs to keep this in mind.

Finally, I might add that not only should you as a student be considering what you can get from a school, but also what you can give to it.

Roy Jenzen

Ask me anything about chinese internal martial systems and daoist neigong