At the age of 16, when my mother fell seriously ill, I began developing a keen interest in health and movement. My journey started with learning Shiatsu in Munich, followed by training in Kung Fu and Taiji under Master Lao Vongvilay, who had just opened his school in Germany. In my quest for a mentor who understood the secrets of living in harmony with oneself and nature, who prioritized health and taught a practical life philosophy, Master Lao Vongvilay became a crucial guide on my path. For 12 years, I trained intensively with him (five days a week, 3-5 hours daily), during which time I also became a geriatric nurse and worked in home care for three years. These experiences with elderly individuals proved invaluable in my later career as a physiotherapist. I observed various ways in which people age and cope with the inevitable ailments that accompany aging. This background freed me from the illusion that any ailment could be completely reversed through repeated exercise. I learned that, particularly in advanced age, it is beneficial if discomforts can simply be alleviated, even if the underlying cause cannot be fully remedied.

During my physiotherapy training, my Kung Fu teacher, a Thai national, introduced me to traditional Thai massage, which became an integral part of my patient treatments. After completing my physiotherapy education, I attended numerous workshops, training sessions, and conferences whenever possible. I obtained additional certification in manual therapy and took several courses on osteopathy and manual therapy for pain relief. I also completed courses focused on infants and children. As a physiotherapist, I worked in a practice in Munich that treated a diverse range of patients, including stroke survivors, disabled children, wheelchair users, children with scoliosis, pregnant women, and individuals with general musculoskeletal pain. I found particular success in alleviating shoulder, knee, and cervical spine pain.

Early in my career, I also learned manual lymph drainage at the Wittlinger Therapy Center in Austria, one of the world’s most renowned institutes for lymph drainage. Professor Wittlinger had learned lymph drainage directly from its inventor, Emil Vodder. Initially developed by Alexander von Winiwarter and Johann von Esmarch in the late 19th century, Vodder refined this idea into a specialized technique in the 1930s. He worked in France in 1932, where many English patients with swollen cervical lymph nodes sought treatment. In 1967, the “Society for Manual Lymph Drainage according to Dr. Vodder” was founded by Emil Vodder, Johannes Asdonk, and Günther Wittlinger, Professor Wittlinger’s husband. I had the privilege of learning directly from their sons and occasionally from Professor Wittlinger herself. I later had the honor of teaching my Fascia Qi Gong and traditional Thai massage at the Vodder Institute.

Another significant influence in my education was Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt, a renowned German orthopedist and sports physician. He served as the team doctor for FC Bayern Munich (1977–2015, 2017–2020) and the German national football team (1995–2018). His manual diagnostic skills, which were even more precise than an MRI in identifying ligament tears, greatly impressed me.

Professor Joachim Buchmann Senior also inspired me with his extensive experience and sharp analytical mind, particularly in holistic osteopathy and manual therapy. I completed numerous courses at the Berlin School of AEMM (Physician Association for Manual Medicine) under his guidance.

Throughout my career, I developed the CrossPhysio Fascia Massage Method, combining various Asian and Western techniques. From 2011 on, I taught this method in two to three-day workshops for experienced physiotherapists and massage therapists at the Vodder Institute in Austria, the Döpfer School in Nuremberg, the Hagen Continuing Education Institute, ImPuls Hamburg Continuing Education Institute, the AkuMax Continuing Education Center in Switzerland, and an international yoga center in Lisbon, Portugal.

After receiving my master level in Sua lag hang Kung Fu/Taiji/Qi Gong from Master Lao Vongvilay in 2005, I grew increasingly interested in modern training methods and began attending international courses, including those by Ido Portal, the Fighting Monkey group, Tom Weksler and Exuberant Animal.

In 2010, I co-founded a martial arts school near Munich with a Kung Fu partner, where I taught Kung Fu, Taiji, and Qi Gong until 2016. We had approximately 100 students, half of whom were children and adolescents. I occasionally taught Theravada meditation, which I learned from my teacher, the former Thai monk Ajahn Lao Vongvilay.

Zen philosophy also greatly influenced me, particularly the “Tiger Report” by Shunryu Suzuki, which I encountered as an audiobook around 1993. During my visits to Japan in 2002, I developed a keen interest in Japanese culture, including Kyudo, Japanese archery, which I continue to practice occasionally.

Just before relocating to Japan with my wife, I began collaborating with Saxion University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. They now send motivated physiotherapy students who have completed over three years of training, to study with me in Japan, a collaboration I eagerly anticipate continuing.

Over the years, I authored several books on pain and the holistic understanding of its intensity, Fascia Qi Gong, and posture exercises. I also produced online courses on similar topics, which have been successfully sold on Udemy and Amazon for seven years. In the future, I plan to create more online courses in English to share my knowledge with as many people as possible.