Marc started his studies in Martial Arts when he was 4 years old with Goju Ryu Karate. However due to his family being very poor and him being much younger than the rest of the students his parents withdrew him from the school. However the martial arts bug had in that short time bit him and he became obsessed with all kinds of styles.

Growing up in the 1980s and 90s there were no shortage of movies and shows on tv to keep his interest going and being that he started reading at the age of 5 years old, he would spend hours in libraries reading martial arts books for kids starting in first grade. 

Slowly he started to find some books which contained parts on philosophy and medicine and he became fascinated with those studies too. He began to study both traditional Chinese medicine texts and Taoist philosophy books separate from the martial arts wanting to understand more about how these things which appeared separate in the west, fit together in a cohesive whole. 

Eventually he would begin studying qi gong and principles of Baguazhang, Taijiquan and Xing Yi Quan with teachers who were willing to teach him for cheaper than average. it was at this point he found an affinity for baguazhang and it became a major pursuit in his life.

In time he would take up the study of modern Wushu and attend college at the University of Connecticut where he would study Biology and Physio-Neurobiology.

After graduating he would study Chinese Medicine at Swedish Institute in New York City graduating from there and then opening up a number of Chinese medicine clinics in New York and Connecticut. While living in New York he studied a few different marital arts systems but always being fond of baguazhang he continued to speak out teachers who taught it specifically.

It was at this time he would be part of online - kung fu forums where he befriended, Simon Lockett and the two would forge a friendship that would in time span the world.

This time in NY would eventually lead him to discover master - Xu Shi Xi, who he had previously seen on the internet but did not know who he was. Eventually through connections he would make contact with Xu Shifu and in the winter of 2013 he flew to Beijing to study with him. This experience made a very large impression on him and he decided to solely devote himself to studying with Xu Shifu.

Later when talking to Simon, Simon was excited to hear Marc was actively flying back and forth to Beijing to study with Xu and he said that was one of the people he had dreamed of studying with. He asked Marc if he would be willing on one of his trips to China to stop by Tokyo so they could formally meet and exchange martial knowledge.

In January of 2015 Marc stopped in Tokyo for 3 days and met Simon and his family and the two have been 兄弟 (Xiōngdì -brothers) ever since.

Eventually Marc would feel that with Xu Shifu getting older there was a window of time that he needed to be taken advantage of and the only way to learn the breadth and scope of the vast system of Baguazhang Xu taught was to move to Beijing and study full time with him. After much consideration he shut down his clinics in the US and 2016 moved to Beijing.

He and Xu trained nearly daily from 2 pm till after dark in Xu’s training area in the “temple of heaven”.

During this time he would regularly fly to Tokyo and train with Simon, sharing with him what he was learning in Beijing. In 2017 Simon flew to Beijing and Marc gave him an introduction with Xu and Simon became a formal student of Xu Shifu’s as well.

In 2018 Marc became Xu’s final disciple and it became Xu’s goal to impart an understanding of the entire system of Baguazhang he taught to Marc. Over the years Xu’s Baguazhang teacher’s daughter Zhang Rong Bao would come to visit and see Marc practicing with Xu year in and year out often just the two of them. 

She would eventually adopt him as her godson and pass on oral martial history of her father and their family. Eventually she and Xu would also pass down to Marc the handwritten text her father wrote outlining the system of Baguazhang he was taught and taught Xu.

Marc has devoted much time to becoming fluent in Mandarin so as to be able to understand Xu precisely and translate important books such as this into English. He feels it is important to have translations that capture the spirit of what was written from the pen of someone who is both a skilled practitioner of what they are translating and a person who is proficient in the language.

Xu and Marc’s godmother Zhang Bao Rong have requested that he produce a series of books outlining both Zhang Qing Lian’s teachings and Xu’s developments and teachings. He is working with Simon Lockett to do this and much more.