School Director, Associate Instructor

I was born in 1954, and martial arts interested me since my early years. While being a college student In Bucharest I begun practicing shotokan karate and judo in 1974. Later on I continued with aikido, and in year 2000 I discovered Tai Chi Chuan, practicing it in modern (Beijing) style.

Since then, I practiced Tai Chi Chuan under the guidance of my late daughter, Anais (she left us in 2009), who was a certified instructor by the Romanian Federation of Martial Arts. In 2006 we have founded a sports club, “Ming Dao” (“Shining Path”), in order to practice Tai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong. Beginning from 2009, I serve as president and main Tai Chi Chuan instructor of the club.

The motto of our club is “Be all that you are”, stating that most of us are not even aware of our qualities and endowments, while martial arts, mainly Chinese internal arts, are a marvelous way to discover them, and put them into light.

In 2008 I felt a very strong need to improve my practice of Tai Chi Chuan. I was attracted by the Tai Chi Chuan of Yang Family, and I started to study it by myself. Later on, by the benevolence of Grandmaster Yang Jun and with the kind support of my new martial friends from France, Italy and Greece, I made steady steps in mastering Yang Family Tai Chi, and in transmitting it to my students.

In June 2011 I organized a seminar in Cluj-Napoca, led by Grandmaster Yang Jun. “Ming Dao” sports club is a noted ambassador of the Yang Family Tai Chi, being invited to various public events, often in cooperation with the Confucius Cultural Institute from Cluj-Napoca.

In June 2012 I took part in the European Tai Chi Championship, being awarded a bronze medal.

To my opinion, the force, the steadiness, constancy and elaboration of the Yang Family Tai Chi, as well the overwhelming history of the Yang Family matches perfectly my desires of personal development, as well the needs of my social endeavor.

Nowadays I am deeply interested in Chinese culture. I published in Romanian translations I made from Lao Tse (Tao Te King) and Confucius. I am quite convinced that, besides scholarship (I am Ph.D. in economics), book writing and business, Tai Chi Chuan has become for me one of the best ways to train, to teach and to elevate my human fellows.

One of the important points of my martial life is the undergoing building of a martial arts Academy, meant to serve the practice of Tai Chi Chuan, as well the rise of the quality of life of all our practitioners.

Email: mihaiserban@yangfamilytaichi.com