Hello, sorry I didn't check this in a while
Born in USA, lot of chinese culture growing up (parents came from communist china back when it wasn't that developed and pretty closed off, so very little strong western influence), mainly hang out with chinese/mandarin speakers, speak mandarin pretty fluently, working on reading -- I can't read ancient chiense .
Did some taichi as a kid (classes were mainly little kids + seniors), didn't like the insane amount of forms, so I chose baguazhang instead lol.
I have no formal study or training in buddhism but I went to Hsilai temple often as a child, and remember fondly the buddist monks. I will definitly check out those books you mentioned and watch that video (i'll get back when I'm done lol) -- tysm!!
I deeply appreciate all welcomes and the time you guys took to read and respond to my post