I am now 57 years old. Much has changed during this period and I have been able to experience a lot. I always had a lot of fun as a swimmer, fencer, and later as a climber and runner. There was also a lot to experience personally during that time, but also to endure. The hardest blow was the death of my wife …
Five years ago I moved to Nuremberg for work. At the age of fifty you already notice that your mobility is no longer as good as it was when you were younger. So I looked for alternatives. Teakwondo – that was too hard for me, yoga – I couldn’t get used to it, so by chance I noticed Shaolin Kung Fu on a website. So I looked at two or three schools. Well, a trial training – the teacher was unkempt with greasy hair, a second – the “new one” was a welcome object to “test”, in the third school – immediately after the trial training I was given the contract – immediately and immediately signed . So it didn’t look so good. Finally I found a small school. There the teacher told me that he had so much encouragement and too little time for me. His suggestion was to go to Erlangen to train there. So I went to the school and got to know my teacher, whom I still value and respect very much as my teacher both in private and in Wing Chung. A very subtle but considerable difference awaited me here – it started with the fact that I was given four weeks for the free trial training. Then the training continued and I was allowed to learn what it means to practice martial arts. Martial arts and not martial arts, respect and respect – there were also relaxation methods from Qi Gong, completely new to me at the time and an introduction to TCM.
After my professional return to Saxony, I wanted to continue this martial art and very gladly pass it on. So I opened the Shaolin School in Dresden. I myself was still at the beginning, second grade, and was looking for a way to develop and learn.
And here too, through and with my teacher, I found the right path for me. This path was called once a month to Munich to the Wing Chun Academy. I have never regretted this. The welcome from my two masters, from all teachers and all other students, who were much higher in rank and experience, was so warm and warm, as if one had always been part of the family.
Here I got to know humility, never feeling better than others, an inner calm and serenity that I was then able to transfer into my daily work life, I learned that judgments about other people or biases are the biggest mistakes and that this is not necessary is. I was allowed to learn what it means to feel the energy between my hands and I was able to experience the indescribable response that the family members of my school in particular reflected to me.
Friends who have known me for a long time or for a long time now say that I have changed. Quieter, no longer spontaneously or with your head against the wall, being able to listen, let yourself finish – of course still like to go through the world laughing and happy – but also being the way you are, without a “mask” and above all “grounded”. With the help of my masters and teacher friends I was allowed to learn what is important and what is not. My masters helped me, among other things, in a six-day form, to come to terms with the death of my wife after ten years and to set myself free. And every training session at the Munich Academy or the training camps not only bring me new techniques, but above all the insight: I am – therefore I am!
In today’s world, where everyone thinks they know or do better, in a world full of contradictions, in a world in which one is very often of the opinion that the stronger is always right, in a world in which very often People claim that they are the only real people – in such a world it is very beneficial to see that there are still people who treat each other with care and respect and have fun together. This is our academy with its schools. It doesn’t matter what family background you have, it doesn’t matter whether you are Christian, Muslim or atheist, it does not matter whether you are bald, curly or straight hair, skin color, gender – it is all unimportant – is important togetherness, talking, listening, laughing and exercising, helping each other, even if it takes longer, but also a serious word – open and direct, as is usual in a family.
What did I want to express with these lines – yes, climbing, mountaineering, running is all very nice and I wouldn’t want to miss it (even if the walls have become steeper in the meantime), but the development through this martial art, especially through the system of the explosive wing Chun, in myself, is like nothing. Explosive Wing Chun is more than just a sport or a beautiful movement – it releases energies in you, I was allowed to and still learn what “inner martial art” means and you move differently in every sphere of life. From my point of view, this art is a way of life, because it permeates all areas of one’s own personality. I can’t just be the “teacher” on the mat – no, you have to show who you are in everyday life – even if that’s not always easy.
I almost forgot – another important point is that the health aspects of all the students, including myself, have improved significantly. Back pain has disappeared, the body becomes more flexible, the joints are no longer stiff, “you feel younger”.
Wing Chun is life and explosive Wing Chun is even more life.
In this sense, the question is also answered whether one can learn this art with a more mature age or with physical limitations – yes, one can and it brings everyone further.
My deepest thanks to my two masters Önder and Taner, my teacher Franz and all other friends who help me every time, as I said friends, and I look forward to the next steps with and through you.
~ Wolfgang Kießling, liaison officer