Personal background
I was born in September 1968 into the Family Dynasty of Häberlin as the family was referred to in its heyday. The Family Dynasty of Häberlin was influentially involved in the top of all three federal levels (Switzerland’s Federal Council, Upper & Lower House, Federal Court) over the span of many decades, starting as early as the 1850s. Needless to say that my illustrious ancestors were also holding many different important key positions in various organizations, unions and associations of Switzerland. I grew up in the town of Biel, Switzerland. At the tender age of 9 I was sent to private boarding schools where I received my formal education. At age 7 my mother enrolled me in a Judo club according to my late father’s wish. And in my teenage years I trained in Jiujitsu and Shotokan Karate. At the age of 19 I came across Wing Chun which was still relatively unknown at the time in Switzerland and got intrigued by its approach to combat. Degree in economics, followed by employment at a Swiss bank. At the age of 20, I left Switzerland and travelled to Japan in order to be able to practice with the masters, first in Zen and later on in Kyudo. That marked the beginning of my martial arts journey.
Zen training
I entered a Buddhist temple and underwent rigorous Zen training for the next two years under the guidance of the prewar Zen master Ban Tetsugyu Roshi who was already in his 80s at that time. And so within the next three years I solved around 200 Koans, Buddhist Zen "riddles" as they are often referred to for lack of a better word; this included the Mumonkan, Hekiganroku, Denkoroku which are the most notable Koan collections to this day. Besides Zen I also wanted to immerse myself in a traditional Japanese martial art and decided to approach the essential core teachings from another angle. Since Zen and the Bugei (martial arts) are traditionally closely linked together, I decided to take up Kyudo - The Way of the Bow.
Meeting the last true lineage holder of the oldest Kyudo school
I had the good fortune to meet the last headmaster of Heki To-Ryu Insai-Ha which was the oldest archery school still existent in Japan at that time. Its headmaster, Inagaki Genshiro Sensei, was over eighty years old already. I was accepted and enjoyed the privilege of receiving personal instruction on a daily basis under Inagaki Sensei's tutelage. For the next year I trained every day for several hours. It was a very rewarding experience to meet such an extraordinary individual as Inagaki Sensei, because he was one of the last of his kind.
Wing Chun in Hong Kong, China, Canada, India
After Japan I went to Hong Kong where I met and trained with some of the most well-known students of legendary Wing Chun master Yip Man, such as: Lok Yiu, Chu Shong-Tin, Wong Shun Leung, Leung Ting, Koo Sang and also Yip Man's two sons, Yip Chun and Yip Ching. On a trip together with Yip Chun to his hometown of Fatshan I also met with Pan Nam - "Black Face Nam" as he was called due to his facial birthmark -, who was a well-respected Wing Chun master of another Wing Chun lineage and we had discussions and an exchange of Wing Chun techniques. During my stay in Hong Kong I met my future Wing Chun instructor Jarry Ahlowalia who had extensive training in various martial arts before encountering Wing Chun which changed everything for him and which he studied under a student of Yip Man who emigrated to Toronto, Canada, and only taught a very select group of people (bikers, brawlers and restaurant workers among others, in other words hard-core people). - After having witnessed Jarry’s superior skills while visiting together some of the established Wing Chun schools in Hong Kong, Jarry invited me to come to Canada and stay at his house for private intensive Wing Chun training. I took him up on his offer and went to Canada where I lived and trained in the house of his for the next 4 years. Training was every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, several hours per day. During this time I spent one whole year in Northern India, McLeod Ganj, at the foothills of the Himalaya in solitary training. Returning back to Canada after this intense retreat, I eventually completed the whole Wing Chun curriculum.
Further Kyudo practice in Japan
After completing the Wing Chun curriculum I decided to return to Japan to further my studies in the Art of the Bow. Subsequently, I spent the next 3 years with the study and practice of the Art of the Bow under the guidance of my former Sensei's top-student Mori Toshio Sensei since Inagaki Sensei regrettably had passed away in the meantime. With the intention of pushing my own boundaries to reach mastery. I trained daily shooting 300 arrows and more which is far beyond the intensity of anybody pursuing Kyudo even in Japan itself. At the same time I kept up my Wing Chun practice, and by request started to teach some private students. During this time I trained with some high-ranking teachers in Japanese combat arts, such as Daito-Ryu Aikibujutsu. This is the mother art of Aikido and its founder Morihei Ueshiba whose teacher was Sokaku Takeda, a truly legendary figure in the pantheon of Japanese martial arts. I met Kimura Tatsuo Sensei who is regarded as the top student of Sagawa Yukiyoshi Sensei - who is said to have actually gotten the concept of Aiki from the legendary Daito-Ryu master Takeda Sokaku Sensei. Later during this stay in Japan, I also participated and received training in Kenjutsu of the Kashima Shin-Ryu whose present headmaster is Humitake Seki Sensei, 19th Generation Shihanke.
Leaving the Far East and coming back to Europe with a year-long interim in China and Canada for further private practice
During this period and the various encounters with other martial arts it became more and more obvious to me that Wing Chun is the martial system which covers it all. It is principle-based, therefore logical, simple yet sophisticated and extremely effective if applied correctly. I started more seriously teaching upon request, and was asked by a good friend and student of mine to come to his home country - Slovenia - to teach people who are looking for a traditional martial art applicable in modern times. I moved back to Europe in 2002 where for the next six years I trained a small number of people to improve my teaching methods and this gave me at the same time the opportunity to internalize the system more. During these experimental years of teaching and researching I noticed similarities between the various styles & systems disregarding of different cultural & historical backgrounds. Back in Ljubljana, Slovenia, I was intrigued by the body structure & power generation of ChenShiTaijiquan - the mother art of Yang-, Wu-, Sun-style Taijiquan - because of the apparent resemblance displayed by seemingly so different styles as Daito-Ryu (Japanese martial art) and Taijiquan (Chinese martial art). In order to better understand Taijiquan and knowing that one-on-one training would be invaluable, I spent a couple of months in China and trained privately as a live-in student with the present Chen Family Taijiquan headmaster Chen Xiaowang and his eldest son Chen Jun in the family village of Chenjiagou and the city of Zhengzhou where we spent most of the time practicing. While in China I also went to the Shaolin Temple and was introduced to one of the elder monks living in the old temple. Subsequently, I received some private teaching and training in Qigong from this elderly monk. This stay in China was immediately followed by further Taijiquan private trainings in Canada for the reminder of the year 2004. From then on the pieces of the martial puzzle started to form a coherent picture. - Disregarding the differences in culture and styles, size or body build, essentially we have the same human structure and thus the same laws/physics must apply, that "simple"!
Teaching Wing Chun in Tokyo, Japan & encounter with Yip Man's private disciples
This period in Ljubljana, China and Canada was followed by me returning to Tokyo where I started teaching a select group of mostly expats among a few Japanese, while attempting to resolve some of the issues I have encountered with Wing Chun, as it is traditionally practiced. This time became the defining moment in terms of the practical aspect - the martial application per se - when I met SiFu Duncan Leung, presently the last private disciple of the legendary Wing Chun master Yip Man! Although he already retired from teaching Wing Chun, he agreed to share his knowledge with me. In an intense stay in Hong Kong with SiFu Leung, practising and discussing Wing Chun, I encountered fundamentally different teachings of Wing Chun from the ones I had come across so far. From the man who trained SEAL teams and the FBI and literally hundreds of bare-knuckle fights in Hong Kong, Australia and the U.S., the saying of "The Verification of Truth lies in Application" was a statement one couldn’t argue with. Duncan Leung, the man behind those stories is as fearless and feisty as one could think of such a person even at the advanced age he is now. Mr. Leung introduced me to the late Allan Lee, the last private disciple of the late Yip Man. - Despite differences in age and cultural background we seemed to go along well and spent all the remaining days of my stay in Hong Kong together at the insistence of SiFu Lee. After having witnessed the knowledge and technique Yip Man transmitted to his private disciples of which there were only about five to six, I decided to further my trainings with SiFu Lee for extended periods of time during the next 2 years for further gaining knowledge and insight into the theory and practical application of Wing Chun. Various intensive training periods followed in Panyu (Mainland China) where my training partners were special undercover police; and practice was from morning until late at night. The last private practice session SiFu Lee organized for me at his home/school in Queens, NYC. Sadly enough it should also be the last time I would see this outstanding, humble and generous man; he passed away shortly afterwards. In my thirst for knowledge I have attempted to train with many different practitioners of the system, to observe how each made Wing Chun suit himself, such as Steven Leung, a first-generation student of Duncan Leung back in the early 1970s in New York City. His reputation as a fierce street fighter and excellent source of information on Wing Chun's famous Chi-Sao was unparalleled. Franz Schmutz, another long – time practitioner of Wing Chun, was particularly generous with his knowledge and as though as they come, solid as an oak and resilient as a willow when needed.
Testing Wing Chun's theory and application, Tokyo
Throughout my training of Wing Chun, to test my understanding and to see how different martial arts are practiced I have practiced also Daidojuku Karate, which seemed to me too sports-oriented and Daito-Ryu Roppokai which seemed so far removed from any realistic scenario and had no chance of working against a fully committed aggressor in confined environment. I had encounters with exponents of various different martial styles, including Aikikai Aikido, Kickboxing, Karate, Taijiquan, Shorinji Kempo, Kodokan-Judo, Chin-Na practitioner, Kali, Krav Maga, Western Boxing, VTAA Wing Chun, IWTA Wing Tsun. - The major lessons from these encounters were that it is not just about proper frame of mind and technique, but it is also about physical conditioning which is the only way to prepare a student for the ugly truth of a real-life encounter, where there are no rules, no judges, no protective gear. When one's life is hanging in the balance, one better has to be prepared for that one encounter, where it is not about winning points, but about being safe and to survive. And some students due to their preconceived ideas about what a martial art is and how it should be done are not able to handle the truth about this reality.
Reconstruction of the core of Wing Chun & teaching Wing Chun
Through my trainings and exposure to different martial arts, I have noted that there are some biomechanical inconsistencies/issues with the way Wing Chun is being taught, as well as some areas that in the current environment (considering constrictions of the modern life-style) are not any more applicable. Also on the theoretical level it seemed too fragmented; in order to connect the remaining bits and pieces into a coherent whole I started working intensively with Mr. Mitja Perat (CEO of Institute for Development of Human Resources), Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the reconstruction of the core of Wing Chun Kuen. For this crucial task I left Japan and moved back to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Over the course of the next 1 1/2 years we worked together on a daily basis and finally succeeded in wrapping up this truly phenomenal undertaking in a successful manner.
