|
|
||||||
|
Sifu Kasper Lund Nielsen: His Path in WingTsun |
||||||
|
Great Grandmaster Leung Ting and Grandmaster Kernspecht appoint Kasper Lund Nielsen, 3. TG WT, for the new acting Chief-trainer of Denmark. In the following text Kasper describes his WingTsun-development |
||||||
|
In January 1989 I bought a ticket to Heidelberg with the idea of staying at the Castle for one year. I did not really know what to expect, but enjoyed the training and the atmosphere at the Castle, and from the very first day and increasingly during the first few weeks I grew particularly fond of Sifu Andreas Gross. He knew just how to handle a little Viking like me (the "Flying Dane", as he called me). The challenge for me was the high standard of teaching and the intensive training with other full-time students such as Heinrich Pfaff or Bernd Wagner. I held the 8th student grade when I attended my first seminar with Si-Gung Leung Ting, and was called upon to demonstrate the first section of Chi-Sao. It was an unbelievable feeling, as if Si-Gung was everywhere and nowhere. He bent like a flower in the wind, forwards and backwards, but still stood there as if rooted to the spot. In February 1990 I obtained my 12th SG and the time had come to say goodbye to Sifu Gross, Si-Hing Pfaff, Si-Hing Wagner and all the others, and to make my way back to Denmark. This first stay in Langenzell was a very valuable experience with many challenges for me. I was living in a foreign country and learned a great deal about other people, but above all about myself.
In July I passed my entry examination for the European Commission, starting my new job in Luxembourg shortly afterwards. A new phase of life began for me and my WingTsun, the WT principles accompanied me and furthered my progress through the institutions of the European Community and European agencies in France, Belgium, Italy and then back in Germany. In spring 1998 I was given the opportunity to work at a European institution in Frankfurt. At the same time I felt that I should resume my WingTsun training again, in order to live in harmony with myself. And so I left Italy and returned to the Heidelberg area. Full of nostalgia and the wish to return to Langenzell I contacted Si-Fu Kernspecht again. What an great joy it was to stand opposite my Si-Fu and Sifu Gross again after so many years. They had remained the same lovable people, and I was also pleased to see others I had left nine years ago. Si-Hing Pfaff was now Sifu Pfaff and Si-Hing Wagner had now become Sifu Wagner. I worked during the week and trained during the weekend, and after one year I gradually felt I was back on form. But still it wasn't enough. I had a dream and wanted to live it out, so I gave up my job and became a full-time student at Langenzell Castle again. I trained a great deal, almost every day, usually for six hours. A simple but mostly untroubled life. My WingTsun made progress and the harmony I was looking for began to set in. The months passed, Sifu Pfaff went, Sifu Schrön arrived and I continued to train, almost every day, usually for six hours ... Galileo Galilei once said that one cannot teach people anything, one can only help them to discover it for themselves. Sifu Thomas Schrön has helped me during the recent years of my WingTsun studies - instead of complication I increasingly see the simplicity. I have understood that learning a martial art requires honesty and patient work on yourself. Today I see WingTsun as one of many doors which can lead you to yourself, if you have the courage to open them completely and look inside yourself. Last year I obtained my third Technician grade. And I continue to train, almost every day, usually for six hours. My days are calm and at the same time very exciting owing to this martial art, to which I also want to devote my life in future.
factor. The idea of centrally stored motoric movement patterns and programmes has become a core component of information processing theory. Concepts have become accepted that describe motoric programmes as abstract, hierarchically structured memory components with just a few basic elements. These define the stable and invariable structure of a sporting technique. The range of possibilities our brain has to process and understand information is based on the assumption that the left brain hemisphere works analytically and the right hemisphere intuitively. The brain is unable to decide whether stimuli perceived by the right hemisphere are real or imaginary without subjecting them to examination by the left hemisphere. On the other hand, purely critical thinking without creative impressions would be sterile and rigid. Learning and achieving new skills always means falling back on experiences and behaving according to certain rules and patterns which our brain stores. Accordingly one may assume that the left side of the brain works well in situations where it can fall back on familiar routines, while the right hemisphere assumes primacy in unfamiliar situations where no system is to be found in the brain. The right brain hemisphere therefore plays an important part in the learning process for sports. The forms in WingTsun represent the grammar of our martial art, and are the basis on which we learn the basic movements we should ideally use in a combat situation. Regular training teaches us to deal with our body, which gains in consciousness while the subconscious is stimulated at the mental level. Images give us access to the subconscious, an ocean of visual impressions. By becoming conscious of this language and maintaining it, we awaken our intuition, which far exceeds our powers of imagination. People sometimes refer to this flow of unconscious life energy as "Chi". Our reflexes allow rapid and goal-oriented actions in situations where the separate stages of thinking, deciding and then acting would take too long. Our Chi-Sao training sharpens the ability of the right brain hemisphere to process tactile stimuli. So how do we learn WingTsun? Certainly not by the precise, analytical study of books. Knowledge without experience ends up as abstract, theoretical structures. Although we can certainly talk and write about WingTsun, a martial art cannot be printed out on a few sheets of paper. As in day-to-day life, we can only use words as a means of expressing various thoughts and observations. We learn WingTsun by seeing, feeling and hearing, and then imitating. We see a movement and try to reproduce it as well as possible with our own body. We learn by practicing WingTsun, and as a result WingTsun becomes a living system. It is important to note, however, that merely learning by rote is useless, and that a student who just "monkeys" his instructor will learn nothing new. What he/she needs to do is logically and receptively link the new material with previous knowledge on the basis of the motoric and mental starting position. And that is precisely what makes WingTsun special - anybody can learn it, for it builds on the psychomotoric capabilities and skills of normal people. During our study of this martial art, this previous knowledge distinguishes itself from our usual physical and mental capabilities and becomes an increasingly sophisticated skill. According I wish you lots of fun, patience and perseverance in your training!
Finally I wish to express my sincere thanks to Si-Fu Keith R. Kernspecht for his confidence in me, and the openness of his heart. I would also like to thank those people who have accompanied me more or less closely over the years - Sifu Andreas Gross, Sifu Heinrich Pfaff, Sifu Thomas Schrön and Sifu Bernd Wagner, but also my training partner Serdar Batmaz and all the others whose paths have crossed and enriched my own.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In
my view the aim of WingTsun lies in life itself, it is the path
we follow in order to become the way for others, in the hope of
always learning, being amazed and finding the answers to our
questions in ourselves. It was in 1986 that I first heard about
WingTsun, and I was immediately fascinated by this martial art,
but at the time there was no WT school in my home town of Odense
in Denmark. My first lesson took place in the cellar of an
apartment block. When it began we bowed before the picture of GM
Yip Man, then we learned the stance and the first few movements
of the Siu-Nim-Tau. I had become a "younger brother" (Si-Dai) in
the worldwide WingTsun family, which made a great impression on
me. I will never forget the first time I took part in a seminar
held by Si-Fu Keith R. Kernspecht. I looked at this big man with
his bushy beard, then he looked at me and suddenly said: "Don't
wait for even one second!". Then he came straight towards me and
continued: "Because in one second I can do twelve chain-punches!".
I wanted to die on the spot, but then Si-Fu said: "Let's begin,
children!", and I felt better. At the end of 1987 there was
another seminar with Si-Fu Kernspecht, and I took the
opportunity to ask him whether I could train at Langenzell
Castle for a while. A dream was about to come true, but my
father was not at all enthusiastic about my plan. But as long as
he was not expected to finance it, he did not stop me either.
