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Finding the Heart: Principles for Tai Chi and Life

"To find and to understand the principles means to find the heart." - Hilmar Fuchs

Uli and I have been practicing various forms of martial arts for over 25 years. We learned Karate, Kobudo and Tai Chi from our teacher Hilmar Fuchs. We studied Aikido for a while with a friend. We explored Jodo with one of the leading experts in North America. We spent some time learning the Yang family style teachings in the school of a direct decedent of the Yang family and current leader of the style. We learned how defensive shooting techniques and empty hand fighting can be combined into a coherent system.

Most of the principles and thoughts in this book come from what we have learned over the years from our teacher Hilmar Fuchs. Some were inspired by other leaders in martial arts and outside of that realm. And yet another set was driven and inspired by questions from students in our classes. Occasionally we had some insights on our own.

With that, we hope you will enjoy the book, find a few things that make sense to you and maybe enrich your own practice. We cannot teach universal truths, but we aim to offer ideas for your own explorations.

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While we prefer the printed version for fidelity and better ability to be used as a working book during your practice, we also have a Kindle version of our book.

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Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First

A practical guide to living healthier, happier and more successful in 52 weekly steps

"You will read about many of today's energy sources and drains in this book, while also finding excellent tips and suggestions on how to manage them. Decide and pick the ones that are working best and are most meaningful for you.

With this book, Alfons and Uli offer a plan in simple weekly steps and short, clear chapters that can be readily applied. Look at those suggestions as a menu, a selection, an offering of ideas, impulses, and opportunities that are both simple and proven over time.

The key is to do it and to find the right balance. The same is true for deliberately doing nothing. I hope you will enjoy this straightforward, beautiful and inspiring book."

- Thomas Aschenbrenner, 2019

LIVE HAPPIER, HEALTHIER AND MORE SUCCESSFUL IN 52 WEEKLY STEPS

At many points in my professional life, I felt challenged to ‘go all in’ and sacrifice family health or my personal passions for success at work. Not that I was asked to do it, but I thought I had to. Luckily, I caught these imbalances early enough to avoid going down on a doom spiral. I started to pay close attention to principles and methods that helped me be more efficient and allowed me to have both a great professional career as well as a healthy and fulfilling personal life.

Live is a marathon, not a sprint.

Our lives must be balanced to have sustainable success and fulfillment. In this book, I want to share the principles that helped me achieve that balance. Those principles and methods are based on scientific research as well as what I learned from mentors and role models at work and in my personal life.

Much of what you will read stems from martial arts lessons and strategies I learned in business. A significant contribution also comes from my wife Uli and her thoughts on minimalism, simplification, the arts, and focusing on experiences rather than material possessions.

None of what you will read is rocket science or my own discovery. However, it is a summary of principles and approaches that worked for me over the past 25 years, leaving out all the things that I learned the hard way not to work. Those principles helped me stay sane and healthy in environments of extreme challenge and pressure.

Buy on Amazon - paperback

While we prefer the printed version for fidelity and better ability to be used as a working book during your practice, we also have a Kindle version of our book

Buy on Amazon - Kindle

Your Review Matters

Authors depend on book reviews for their work to be seen and considered by readers. Can you help?

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Please leave a review on Amazon.

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Thriving in High-Pressure Environments

Lessons from Amazon, a global pandemic, and other crazy times

Forged by fire

In April 2020, our family moved to Bozeman, MT, where I took on a new role as Managing Director Strategic IT at Montana State University. From my first day on the job, the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic forced us to think on our toes, constantly change our strategies and tactics, and always be ready for surprises.

Applying my learnings from high-stake, high-pressure roles in Amazon allowed me to help transform the organization and culture while rebuilding team morale and keeping motivation high. During the pandemic, my team delivered high-impact outcomes at an unprecedented velocity and volume. We were rewriting every process in the book while running at top speed, keeping up with ever-changing demands and constraints to serve our customers during those challenging times.

The world population lived through challenging, demanding, and emotionally taxing times in the year 2020. Times like that make you break or come out stronger on the other side. I tried to help my team come out stronger by sharing my learnings from the decades with Microsoft and Amazon in what I called ‘weekly reflections’. Most often, those reflections discussed approaches and thought models to deal with specific issues that I observed during that week.

A different set of challenges presented themselves when Uli took over a role as Site Manager for the Montana State University COVID Testing Center and later their COVID vaccination program. Some of my thoughts and lessons were inspired by those challenges.

This book summarizes the lessons, approaches, and principles that I shared with my team as we all did our best to deliver exceptional service to our customers in circumstances that no one was prepared for.

I hope that some of the strategies and principles will work for you as beautifully as they did for me. I hope they will help you thrive in challenging situations and help you get one step closer to your dreams.

"This common-sense approach to discussing what has been learned is easily understandable and was readily adapted to a variety of challenging situations that we as business people experienced in the recent past. It also provides a structured guide to apply those same “learnings” as we move through future weeks, months, and years.

If you seek theory, you will be disappointed. If you pursue reality and the associated efforts of discovering new and creative ways to resolve issues, you will be very satisfied. A concept that I encourage and attempt to adhere to myself is “change, assess, and then change again”. This book will provide the foundation for taking action, assessing, learning, and taking action again."

- Michael Trotter, Vice President and CIO, Montana State University

Buy on Amazon - paperback

While we prefer the printed version for fidelity and better ability to be used as a working book during your practice, we also have a Kindle version of our book.

Buy on Amazon - Kindle

Your Review Matters

Authors depend on book reviews for their work to be seen and considered by readers. Can you help?

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Please leave a review on Amazon.

Review on Amazon

Der Tanz des Kranichs: Tai Chi für Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden (German Edition)

A great Tai Chi book, written by our teacher. It explains the Tai Chi we have learned, coupled with lots of valuable insights and advice. However beware: it's written in German.

Um das Jahr 1200 lebte in einem Tempel in den Wudang-Bergen ein daoistischer Mönch mit Namen Chang San-feng, ein Meister der Kampfkünste, um ein Leben im Einklang mit der Natur zu führen und den Regeln des Dao zu folgen. Der Legende nach beobachtete er eines Tages den spielerisch wirkenden Zweikampf eines Kranichs und einer Schlange. Der Sieger war Chang San-Feng: Nach Beobachtung und Analyse dieses Kampfes entwickelte er den Vorläufer des heutigen Tai Chi.

Das Wissen der "Alten" in ein neues Zeitalter zu überführen, ist das Anliegen dieses Buches. Im Unterschied zu anderen traditionellen Formen werden in der Kranichform des Tai Chi Bewegungen von Füßen und Zehen, Händen und Fingern stärker betont, um die Blutzirkulation, die Funktion des Lymphsystems und letztendlich den Fluss der Lebensenergie in den Meridianen zu fördern.

Die Kranichform des Tai Chi ist für jeden, der nach Verbesserung von Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden durch ein sanftes, leicht erlernbares Bewegungssystem sucht, geeignet. Die jahrzehntelangen Erfahrungen des Autors als Kampfkünstler – er trägt den 8. Dan im Karate – und Heiler sowie profunde Kenntnisse auf dem Gebiet der klassischen chinesischen Medizin machen dieses Buch auch besonders wertvoll für Praktizierende von Kampfkünsten, die einen Ausgleich zu den harten Techniken ihrer Kunst suchen.

Zusätzlich zur Kranichform des Tai Chi, deren essentiellen Bestandteile ausführlich und nachvollziehbar vorgestellt werden, enthält das Buch auch eine detaillierte Darstellung der über 2000 Jahre alten Qigong-Form "Die sechs heilenden Laute".

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