"I was born through the meeting of my father with my mother, probably like you.

I grew up in a family with its own values and beliefs that influenced me, just like you.

I have a body with scars from my life history, just like you.

I have gone through experiences that transformed me as human being, just like you.

I feel cold, warmth, happiness, sadness and fear in unique situations, just like you.

Father, Mind Body Therapist, Educator, 5º Dan Black Belt Aikido Instructor, Libertarian and with many other labels, I am a Human Being, just like you.

And in ressonance with the Tao, Tantra and Life I will die in a unique moment, just like you."

Saulo Fong

I grew up being influenced by Bruce Lee movies and several ninja movies that were released in the 1980s. Perhaps, that's why my first martial art was one that uses swords.

My initiation in martial arts happened through Kendo at the of 11 (1987) at the traditional Japanese community club called Associação Cultural e Esportiva Piratininga, located in São Paulo. However, due to my immaturity or because I was still exploring different experiences, I practiced for only 6 months. But somehow, the Kendo seed had already been planted in me, as I would return to this practice again a few decades later at the same club. 

After Kendo, still in my childhood, I also experienced the practice of a Kung Fu style called Yau Man for a few months. It was my Chinese side demanding a balance in my martial art experience. After that, I only came into contact with martial arts in my early adulthood when I moved to Seattle in the USA. 

For those who don't know, Seattle is the city where Bruce Lee had his first students and where he is buried. It was in 1994, at the age of 18, that I became acquainted with the school of James DeMille, one of Bruce Lee's first students in the USA. He is a former army boxer who had created his own style called Wing Chun Do. I kept practicing this martial art constantly and regularly for three years until the end of my stay in the USA, because I really enjoyed and it had direct connection with my childhood idol.

One of the principles of Wing Chund Do was that each practitioner was also responsible for developing their own martial resources that could come from any other martial art. It was during this 4-year period that I also participated in my first competitive fight and had a brief experience with Jiujitsu through a Wing Chun Do instructor. 

At the end of 1998, I had to leave Wing Chun Do because I decide to return to Brazil. 

A few months before returning, I had seen a flyer for an Aikido dojo in Seattle where there was a picture of a Sensei throwing two people at the same time. As I was already scheduled to return, it did not make sense to start a new practice at that time, but I had decided to learn more about this martial art when I returned to Brazil. 

As I have been practicing Wing Chun Do regularly for 4 years, one of the first things I did when I arrived in Brazil was to look for a new martial art to practice. I looked for Aikido and one of the oldest dojos in São Paulo was close to my home. It was Academia Central de Aikido run by Reishin Kawai Shihan. 

I made a first visit to get to know the dojo and already left as a registered student. I remember one of the first classes where Kawai Sensei came to the end and did Jiu Waza with all the students, including the beginners. I didn't know how it worked, but it felt good to be thrown by him from side to side. I remained as a student at the Academia Central de Aikido for 8 months taking my first belt exam in this dojo. 

Still unsure whether Aikido was the practice I would adopt for my life and with the intention of broadening my repertoire, I left the Central Academy and Aikido behind and began practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with a teacher affiliated with the Gracie family. However, four months after I started, this teacher left Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu due to disagreements with the Gracie family, and a new “instructor,” a purple belt at the time, took over the classes. Not feeling confident with the new leadership, I also ended up stopping my training at that academy.

That was when I decided to return to the practice of Aikido at the turn of the century (2000), but this time with a new Sensei and in a new dojo: Sensei Paulo Nakamura, who led the Shinwa Association of Aikido affiliated with Federação Paulista de Aikido (FEPAI).

At the end of 2004, I received my first-degree black belt (1st Dan) in Aikido.

In July 2005, I opened my own dojo at Instituto União, still under the supervision of Sensei Paulo Nakamura.

In May 2007, I was promoted to 2nd Dan in Aikido.

Also in 2007, I resumed practicing Kendo at ACE Piratininga, where my journey in martial arts began.

In 2010, I was promoted to 1st Dan in Kendo.

In November 2010, I was promoted to 3rd Dan in Aikido.

In 2012, I was promoted to 2nd Dan in Kendo.

In 2013, I was one of three Brazilian aikidokas selected by FEPAI to represent Brazil in the demonstration at the 2013 World Combat Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In February 2014, I was promoted to 3rd Dan in Kendo.

In November 2014, I was promoted to 4th Dan in Aikido.

In January 2022, I was promoted to 5th Dan in Aikido by the Aikikai Foundation of Japan.

In January 2023, I resume my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) journey at Alliance Butantã under the command of Sérgio Alves.

In August 2024, I receive my first graduation (blue belt) in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Today, I can confidently and consciously affirm that Aikido is the art I have chosen to practice and share for the rest of my life.

My journey into the process of self-awareness began during my teenage years, at the age of 14.

At that time, my goal was to become a professional tennis player. I had been practicing since I was 12 and loved watching matches featuring players like Boris Becker, Michael Chang, and John McEnroe. The only problem was that I lost every match in the tournaments I participated in.

In 1993, I moved to Seattle, USA, to study, and my dream of becoming a professional tennis player gradually faded away.

However, it was there that I first came into contact with Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) through a cassette tape course by Tony Robbins called Unlimited Power. I listened to those tapes for several days but didn’t delve deeper into the subject at that time.

In 1998, back in Brazil and starting my career as a professional photographer, I began to rekindle my interest in personal development, especially since Aikido also embraced the principle of self-development. I remember that the first books I acquired during that time were The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray.

At that time, I also attended my first workshop led by photographer Cláudio Feijó, aimed at broadening my perception as a photographer. The name of this workshop was Descondicionamento do Olhar (Unconditioning the Gaze).

But it was in 2002 that I truly began making significant strides on my journey of self-awareness and personal development when I participated in the Leader Training conducted by Núcleo Ser. The transformation and sense of fulfillment were so profound that my priority became my own development as a human being.

I completed all four other trainings available at the time (Transcending Your Limits, Rebirthing with Love, Ancestry, and Identity Mentoring), and then I began seeking out all the certifications and programs the trainers had in their résumés.

The experience, knowledge, transformation, and desire to share were the reasons that led me to leave my photography career and found Instituto União in 2005.

Since then, I have continued my journey to this day, teaching and participating in courses, workshops, trainings, and certifications.

If you want to see all the certifications in my résumé, click here.

Like almost all human beings, my journey into hormesis began unconsciously from the moment I was born (or perhaps even before that). Stress has always been, and will always be, a part of life because it is essential for shaping our development.

However, it was in 2012 that hormesis began to consciously integrate into my life. I wasn’t yet familiar with the term, but I already understood that controlled stress brought benefits to my physical, mental, and emotional health. That year, I was forced to take cold (or at least room-temperature) showers every day, even during the winter.

São Paulo experienced a severe drought that year, which led the city to adopt water rationing. When water was available, the pressure was so low that it couldn’t activate the gas heater in my shower. I decided to embrace the challenge and treat the situation as if hot water no longer existed. The result was remarkable: my health improved immensely!

I rarely got sick, and when I did, I recovered much faster than before, without using any medication. That’s when I decided to research more about the benefits of cold showers and came across several articles.

In 2018, I attended the first workshop on the Wim Hof Method held in Brazil by one of its instructors, where I experienced my first ice immersion. It was an incredibly painful but fascinating experience! The next day, I did the immersion again and took the photo that illustrates this page.

I researched further on the subject, delved into Wim Hof’s work, and discovered the term HORMESIS, a natural phenomenon where living organisms benefit from exposure to a certain level of stress. I immersed myself in studying and applying hormesis in my life, consciously adopting practices such as intense physical activity, sauna (heat exposure), cold showers and ice immersions (cold exposure), intermittent and prolonged fasting, specific phytochemicals, and more recently, voluntary blood donation.

In September 2021, I began sharing my knowledge and experience about this fascinating practice through an experiential workshop called Hormesis in Practice, which I have been conducting ever since.

I went through various professions before officially becoming a therapist and educator.

While studying in the U.S., I had the opportunity to work at the college, supervising the computer lab, organizing the library, welcoming new students arriving from other countries, and tutoring math for students struggling with the subject.

During the last year of my stay in the U.S., I started working full-time as a photography assistant for a successful photographer in Seattle.

Upon returning to Brazil in 1998, I opened my own photography studio, where I worked with publishers and advertising agencies. Photography was the profession I had chosen for my life, and working with light and shadow to create compelling images was my main focus.

Then, in 2002, I was invited to participate in a high-impact experiential training that would completely change the course of my life. It was the Leader Training, which was still relatively unknown at the time.

The experience and impact of the training were so profound that I began investing a significant portion of what I earned from photography into self-awareness and personal development trainings.

My personal growth became my top priority. I pursued certifications in Rebirthing (Breathwork), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Hypnosis, Reiki, Meditation, Family Constellations, Transpersonal Therapy, Tantra, and various other courses related to spirituality, self-awareness, and personal development.

It was in 2005, driven by the profound transformation these trainings brought to my life, that I decided to transition from photography to personal development. Together with my ex-wife, I founded Instituto União. I often say that I used to work with physical light, and now I work with the inner light of each individual.

Since then, my understanding of the human being has continued to evolve, and today, I am clear in my mission to support the development of mental and emotional maturity in those who seek my guidance. Whether through Aikido classes, in-person or online therapeutic sessions, my online programs, or workshops, courses, and lectures for companies and organizations, my focus remains on fostering growth and transformation.

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