The Good Qi at Tianmeng Shan
Sometimes in life, unexpected things happen and new paths open while old ones close. I’m unusually honest: I had a hard time after leaving Weihai at the end of April last year.
Life led me to Tianmeng Shan Martial Arts School, a very nice small school by Yimeng Shan. When I arrived, everything felt calm and peaceful, with no stress. The students have a lot of freedom; the school offers small single rooms, a kitchen with a fridge, and the classes aren’t too strict.
The quiet surroundings and friendly people helped me settle a bit. But I also faced new challenges.
Training at Tianmeng Shan
The day starts with one hour of Qigong in the morning for everyone. After breakfast, there are two hours of Kung Fu or Qigong (you can choose), and in the afternoon another two hours of training. You can again choose between Qigong and the Kung Fu program (Sanda, Power Training, Forms, etc.). Since I had just learned Mantis, I chose not to learn a new style and focused on repeating my forms, refining details, and becoming more fluent and powerful. I also joined the regular classes; basic Kung Fu training was similar to other schools, with a bit more jumping. They mainly teach Meihua Quan and Shaolin here.
My favorite was Sanda training. Our Shifu is fairly young and very powerful. We do warm-ups, technique training, and a lot of bag and pad work. The class finisher could be strength training or free fighting, which makes the session quite intense.
Experiencing Chinese Culture and TCM
The headmaster offers many opportunities to experience Chinese culture. There are evening cultural classes after dinner where he talks about many topics, including Chinese language, Kung Fu, and traditional Chinese medicine. He even invited a well-established Chinese doctor to offer treatments for the students. We regularly do hikes to Tianmeng Mountain, which is a really nice day trip. He also organizes trips to temples, Chinese doctors, and other places. Once we joined a tea ceremony with Buddhist monks, which was a special experience.
Babysitting and Teaching at Tianmeng Shan
The headmaster and his family live at the school. He has two young sons, and some students help out by playing with them and teaching them foreign languages, which can be quite a challenge. Between training and the summer heat, I often felt exhausted, but over time I relaxed, enjoyed playing with them, running in the school yard, and conversing in German and English. During the summer, older Chinese kids came to learn English, and I taught them. I never thought I’d enjoy teaching kids that much. I even started working online for a teacher in Beijing, teaching Chinese kids German and chemistry (in German), and I really like it.
The Tianmeng Kung Fu Family
In a school like this, people come and go, and I got to know many nice people. We supported each other and shared our life experiences and ideas. I’m still in contact with some of them. And of course, the Masters family, Wang Shifu, and the cook, who also became a good friend. While helping with the cooking in the evenings, we talked a lot, and she taught me how to make baozi and jiaozi. I really enjoyed making the food with her.
The time at Tianmeng Shan helped me grow as a person. I feel more relaxed, stronger, and more stable. Thank you to all the masters who taught me during this time! I’m very grateful for the experience.