Hi Shooting Star - thanks for the link. I had an idea on the main styles but it's nice seeing them summarized as they did the link you provided. I've been wanting to do this for years but there aren't many options in central Indiana.

Is the Chen style best for me? Not if I were actually approaching it from a martial arts perspective, but I'm not. Most of his class members are older, and from what he said yesterday, they just spent a couple of YEARS on a beginner's form from another style. I was struck yesterday about how none of the moments were contraindicated for me and had no ramifications that I can tell. Prior to the class he demonstrated the entire form he just started teaching the class and it was just so beautiful and flowing. There were a couple of movements in it that I may not be able to do - but if I wind up strengthening the right places before we get there that could change.

As this class is my only option south of Chicago, I hope it works out for me. Interestingly enough, a good percentage of the warmup exercises were very much like that we used in our competition kettlebell training - but our KB coach used to teach T'ai Chi as well so that may not be a coincidence.