Originally Posted by
qiew
There is no reason why one shouldn't start 5 animals at younger student.
5 animals qigong has many variations but mainly focus on breathing and generating qi.
Your sifu may be reluctant to teach you as it is Chinese tradition to believe in teaching qi to loyal students only after years of following the sifu.
Also your sifu is probably more specialize at Bak Mei and TCC which are his rice bowl.
BTW TCC is closely related to qi initiating movement. I believe BM is the same.
Mixing too many styles would not make a person an expert.
TCC is a life time learning perfecting day by day.