be happy with it – flow naturally into life
Gong Fu
真功夫 Über traditionelles Training im Gongfu
Dec 23rd
Xue Wu Zhi Jing
Deshalb liegt es an den Lehrern, auf allen Stufen, die Schüler auf die nächste Stufe vorzubereiten. Ihre Zeit nicht zu verschwenden, sondern ihnen möglichst sinnvoll und effektiv den Weg zu gutem Gongfu zu weisen. Doch genauso hängt es auch am Schüler sich über das gelernte Gedanken zu machen, gewissenhaft und fleißig zu trainieren und nicht seine Zeit (aber auch die seines Lehrers) zu verschwenden. Es ist also wichtig, dass beide, sowohl Lehrer als auch Schüler mit der richtigen Mentalität an das Gongfu Training herantreten. Was ist nun eine geeignete Mentalität? More >
Qingdao Learnings
Nov 21st
I’m back from Qingdao and because of the cold I caught these days, finally have time to write a little something (pictures are already up in the gallery Qingdao 09. My trip was really nice, most of the time I lived with my Shi Bo (Gongfu uncle) Yu Bin, who’s now proud father of a cute son. Our days were mostly very healthy waking up a t 6am for training, breakfast, relaxing/training, lunch, working, dinner, long talks about Gongfu and going to bed early at 10pm. Everyday I would learn a lot, but not forms (not counting the new Bashi (8 stances) we have in our family), but the very basics of energy and fighting. My notes for each day would be longer than they’ve been in years, learning about the small details and some traditional training methods of our family, but also clarifications of our history and theories. Even found out why our Beng Bu differs so much from other families.
Yu Bin gave me a task, which concluded writing an article about how traditional Gongfu (especially Tanglang Quan) should be trained and I’m happy to tell you, the first draft is already finished. For now it’s in German and will be posted here on this blog, but I’ll be working on a translation as soon as I finalize the German one.
We also talked about how to get the abstract theory and basics that are inherent to Tanglang Quan more clarified not just for students in our family, but for everyone out there. So (hopefully) starting soon, we’ll post more and more translations and explanations of the basic theories like 12 keywords, 5 principles, 7 long 8 short, 12 soft 8 hard on the website of the Wan Fu Qingdao School in the philosophy section (under training). Some are already online – thanks goes to Yu Bin’s Tudi Felix, who besides his job, managed to translate all those for the website. For now it’ll be just these bits and pieces, but maybe they’ll find their way into a book of sorts, but keep in mind all of these won’t make you a better practitioner, a good teacher and hard work does!
We’ll miss you Mike…
Jun 4th
Mike Martello was a great friend, a teacher and mentor to so many of us. On June 2nd 2009 he passed away doing what he loved to do: teaching martial arts. He devoted his life to bringing at least a little piece of the vast amount of experience and skill he had attained to everyone open enough to accept it.
The world has lost a great man, but he won’t be forgotten as he’ll live on in everyone of us, who were lucky enough to know him.
Also visit Jake’s blog for lots of memories and links to tributes to Mike.
There’s a new site dedicated to Mike at http://mikemartello.com/
青岛 – Qingdao
Mar 22nd
Yesterday in the morning we (Hanno and me) arrived in 青岛. 于斌 was already waiting for us at the trainstation and after some food and watching his pictures of 西藏 (Tibet) and 杭州 (Hangzhou) while having a good 崂山茶 (Laoshan tea) at his place we got some cheap and good accomodation right around the corner. In the afternoon we had our first training at the parking lot of the hotel. While Hanno got his 小翻车 (Xiao Fan Che) corrected, I was bound to start learning 拦截 (Lan Jie), which according to my 师伯 is the oldest 套路 (form) in 螳螂拳 and therefore called the mother of 螳螂拳.
After training we got invited to 火锅 (hotpot) with some chinese friends of my 师伯 and too much beer. So training today in the morning was accompanied by a little hangover. At noon we (together with a korean taekwondo master and two men from chinese customs duty) got invited to lunch by some co-worker of my 师伯. The rest of the day is still not planned out, but it’s also good to have some time for relaxing (and writing blogentries) right now.
Back on the Tanglang Train
Mar 17th
Today I called my 师伯 于斌 (gongfu uncle yu bin) to speak with him about when to visit him in 青岛 (Qingdao). So, this Thursday night we (Hanno and me) are goona take the night train to 青岛 where 于斌 and his student are gonna pick us up at the train station. My 师伯 was really happy to hear from me and me, I’m also really looking forward to meeting and training with him again. Hanno’s only gonna stay for the weekend, but I’m maybe staying a little longer to enjoy some more of the 山东螳螂拳 (Shandong Tanglang Quan).
Also I contacted Ma Wei Ling Laoshi today and will meet him tonight together with Hanno for some 马家螳螂拳 (Ma Family Tanglang Quan). I hope my 4 摘要 (Zhai Yao) are still correct and ok 
This is also a good opportunity for Hanno to get to know some other style of 螳螂拳 and be able to train some of it while in 北京 (Beijing).
Yesterday I met up with my gongfu brother Rene, who also used to train with Ma Laoshi and Mike Martello. He’s living in Beijing now and as the Massage Junkie that he is, he invited me to a nice Oil Massage, which was suprisingly light and unpainful. Afterwards we had some 韩式烤肉 (Korean BBQ). We’ll most probably meet up soon with him and Zhang Xin Bin Laoshi for some talks and 通背 (Tongbei) training. So it seems like I’ll be having some pretty gongfu filled time coming…
China revisited
Mar 14th
So I’m back in Beijing for more than a week now. Not much has changed – only some new buildings and the lack of restaurants I used to go. The weather is really nice and the air I got used to quite fast.
I’m staying with german friends (Hanno and Marcel) who live close to 五道口 (Wudaokou), which is my old neighborhood, so I can easily find my way around. They’re pretty cool folks so I’m most probably staying with them longer than planed. We get along quite well – training and partying together.
The first day already started quite nice. I arrived at 11 am and after getting some food and fixing my mobile, we already had Taiji training. Afterwards we invited my teacher to 火锅 (Hotpot) and had some beers. Then we went to meet some people at Lush and had more beer and some absinth And as it wasn’t too far we moved over to Propaganda for some dance action. Even this club hasn’t changed much, stll HipHop music and full of Koreans… ^^ and it was still fun, so that we were home at about 7 am. More >
Meridians actually made visible
Jan 12th
Meridians are the channels through which according to Traditional Chinese Medicine ([wiki: TCM]) the Qi flows in our body.
I just read a [http://www.br-online.de/umwelt-gesundheit/artikel/0507/21-meridiane-biophotonen/index.xml?theme=print|german article] dating July 2005 stating that a german scientist prooved this. Then I googled a bit and found out there is an article in a magazine dating May 2003 about the same topic. Pretty interesting.
Article from 2003:
Biophoton emission of human body, S Cohen & F A Popp, Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, Volume 41 Number 5, May 2003
