When we arrive at Here and Now I see a nice porch with an open house, very cozy. I am warmly welcomed and after the car is unloaded we walk a little down the mountain to a beautiful building which will be my house for the coming time. Everything is very big. My room is wonderfully white with a large bed and a desk and in the bathroom I can dance in, wonderful.
Next to my room is the kitchen with a fridge and a lovely seating area so that I can write something when I’m not training. Here I can stand it, very curious about the view tomorrow morning. I have the whole house to myself and I also get private lessons, what a luxury! Quickly to bed because the last night in Bangkok I had not much sleep. I have a wonderful night, except for the few mosquitoes under the mosquito net. That was another real hunt, I can tell you.
The next morning when I open my door I am happy, so happy. What a view I have. The only thing I hear are the animals and nothing but silence. Here I am going to enjoy, blissfully. We start with some warming up. Well, I can assure you that this is already difficult. So much is required of my balance, concentration, multi-tasking and muscles. Soon I lost my head. Martin is a very cheerful man with a lot of humor. He brings everything very meticulously but also with a joke and a smile. The warm-up is only over after half an hour, huh? Okay, that was quite intensive then.
Then we start with the Qigong movements, no matter how difficult. It really looks very simple and you think: “Oh, if that’s all”. But even with the smallest exercise I really do everything wrong. It is a totally different way of moving. For example, you don’t move your arms at all, everything comes from your hips and your arms automatically go with you. And in the end even that is not true, because in the Taiji only your fingers and toes exist.
Martin says everything is very relaxed and lazy. Well, my body thinks this is all but “relaxed”, I can assure you. My legs are not used to being in a squat position for two and a half hours. “See you again at four,” says Martin. Okay, let’s do it! My body also thinks it’s all crazy. So many new movements, so much concentration and so much strength and energy. After three days I notice that I am really tired, I can´t go on any longer.
So on the fourth day we cancel the afternoon training, my body needs rest. We do a morning session and in the afternoon I lie flat to let my body recover. Everything is in a kind of reset. My body has endured so much in recent years and has been in a “wrong position” for years. So I see this as something good, to let the energy flow again. And I feel that. On some days the Qigong makes me feel dizzy and I my legs are shaking.
The nights are not getting any better and the necessary dreams ensure that I already have the feeling that I have run a marathon in the morning. Still we continue training. I really think it’s good for me. Martin is super easy and fully adapts to the times and schedule that I want. What a luxury to have such a teacher.
Every morning he comes down with delicious fresh fruit. And after the afternoon training, Ron, his wife, cooks the most delicious meals. It is always a surprise what we get and everything is just as tasty. She has laid out the garden herself and there are quite a few flowers and plants.
Halfway through the week he asks me if I could make some pictures of the “Music room”. He has arranged a very beautiful space under the house with drums and guitars for music sessions. A wonderful place for everyone who wants to make music. Unfortunately for me it is all a bit too many incentives so I have to skip. Otherwise I would have had drum lessons, how nice is that!
For now too few people know where to find Martin and Here & Now. I ask him a few questions about Facebook and his website and take a look at it. I tell him that both the website and the Facebook page can use an update. A lot can improve. He is not a fan of Facebook and would rather not start it. He is getting tired of simple “chit chats” talks. I totally understand, I’m not a fan of it either. Yet Facebook is a great medium for letting people know where you can be found, certainly travelers.
He is therefore fully immersed in it and follows nearly all of my tips. How cool to see that someone who has nothing to do with it goes to work so fanatically. Every morning he comes down with a paper and the necessary questions and lists, I think it’s great! The website becomes more and more beautiful during the week. I am so proud of Martin, what he has learned and done in such a short time. I would really like it if you all give him a like or share on Facebook, he more than deserves that.
The last days I get even more specific lessons in how to exactly keep my hands, fingers and wrists. I Feel the energy rest and wake up again in different movements. Guys: what is involved! And my knee is never really in the right position. But slowly I more and more get the feeling of what the intention is. Now I hope that I can remember everything, after I leave here next Monday. Fortunately I have the videos, should I have forgotten something. And we are also busy updating the website in the last afternoons. We are quite a good team if we say so ourselves, haha.
For everyone, young and old, Taiji and Qigong are a great thing to learn. And also very healthy for your body and mind. It is really hard to stay in the “here & now” and be totally concentrated in every movement of your body. You can literally feel your blood flowing through your body during certain exercises.
Thank you dear Martin for your attention, lesson, humor, insights, commitment, support and socializing. It were a great ten nice days. And dear Ron, thank you so much for the delicious food, my clean clothes and the snack for the way back. Thank you for this great “home”.
I’m not saying goodbye, but goodbye!
