Alessandro Panunzi

Alessandro Panunzi’s martial arts journey spans more than thirty years of practice across a wide range of disciplines. After an initial period studying Judo, from 1997 onwards he deepened his experience in Yi Quan, Shaolin Mon Karate, Cheng Ming school Tai Ji Quan, and I Liq Chuan/Zhong Xin Dao, while also exploring Kickboxing, Thai Boxing, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. When he discovered DECODE in 2018, he brought with him an extensive technical background, together with a growing need to reconsider the way he used his body.

It was above all the work on Song that marked this turning point. Practices he was already familiar with, such as Zhan Zhuang, Shi Li, Tui Shou, and Fa Li, gradually took on a different meaning. Alessandro began to recognise how unnecessary tension and previously acquired movement patterns had influenced his practice, and this new perspective also led him to reassess fundamental concepts such as Hun Yuan Li. In his work with Master Mauro A. D’Angelo, he particularly values the theoretical and methodological clarity of his teaching and his ability to make subtle concepts tangible through direct bodily experience — a particularly challenging achievement in the internal martial arts, where such principles can easily remain abstract.

As a university lecturer in Linguistics, Alessandro studies the relationship between language, mind, cognition, and action, with a particular interest in models of embodied cognition. This field of research now intersects with his DECODE practice, especially in exploring the relationships between the body, perception, mental imagery, emotion, and cognitive processes.

Alessandro teaches Internal Alchemy in the Florence area through weekly classes and seminars, including residential programmes, while also developing his work in the Combat discipline. DECODE training has transformed his approach to teaching: what began as simply “practising together” has evolved into a more structured method, focused on identifying the essential principles of each practice, avoiding unnecessary distractions, and guiding each student in developing a personal path of learning.

Today, he is particularly interested in exploring the application of Song to combat sports and contributing to the development of a stable DECODE practice community in Tuscany.