Dear All,

by now we have all come back safely from our trip to the Silesian Mountains, where we held our Karate spring seminar this year. It turned out  magnificent. Raw. Light. Seductive. Tiring. Relaxing. And Instructive.

It was also a great adventure practically from beginning to end. In the morning of our arrival day I looked out of the window and saw this: 10 cm fluffy snow that had fallen overnight. It’s a mountaneous area after all..

Needless to say, we won’t be stopped in our tracks by such  minor obstacles. The first morning unit took place in the barn adjacent to the house. This is how it looks, when the morning light strams through the door:

We shook ourselves a bit and relaxed deeply.

While we doing that the sun was at work already, burning the snow,  turning the world green again. For our late morning unit, we stayed close to the house, streched throughly, found our way back into our stances and fit them into Heian Sandan.

The afternoon was much tougher. We climbed the Hutberg, up the steep border path along the ridge of the  mountain. Every step a kick and every breath a balance exercise. Up there we easily practiced on trees and kicked away some dead wood. The rain barely bothered us. It was all a bit dark though.

We sheltered under the attic late at night to make up for the cold afternoon. I didn’t take a watch. 2 hours of hand techniques sitting on the ground went by on the fly.

Quiet practice in the morning on the house meadow was glorious.

Off we went into the forest in the afternoon. High above the rushing, snow filled Weißach we dug into the forest ground with bare feet and closed eyes. We kicked the air, trees and each other. The blind samurai waded through the icy waters at the end and walked home past the remaining patchces of snow.

The afternoon brought a change of perspective. From the other flank of the valley, we saw the Owl Mountains praciticing Katas.

At night the stars twinkled on the night sky. We had keys fr the museum ground floor, but no one wanted to practice indoors.

The night sky above Weißwasser is both clear and warm. In Brandenburg it is very clear, too but cool, amost icy. Here, it was lovely. That made repeating Katas easy. The deer were very impressed.

Late the next morning, we went up to the meadow of magic. It was bright and clear and the sun was shining. We learned to relax undeer th presence of our opponent. It worked out very well.

The little dark blot on the right in the picture is Jan taking his customary smoking break after practice.

And the it was all over again.  Faster than planned, but I think everyone took home something entirely new and original.

There was some absurd and comedic relief, provided by Don standa and Sancho Robert, out ultramarthon running Guru- Chef and his helper with an Indian, Sioux, soul.  Standa’s Knödel have set a standard for inner lightness that we all strive to achieve in our souls.

Barely had you left that the sun disappeared and the valley through on a thick coat of velvety fog. At times the mist parted and let the sun light it up ,but when at last I left, the whole valley  was all fluid and washed out. Pure Tao…

My determination to turn the Albrecht Home into our mountain residence has only increased. Weißwasser is lovely during the summer but in this unsteady, enervating non spring it has turned out to be truly magnificent.

We are back in July from 18th to 23rd..

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Malte