Month: July 2025

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You’re Enchanted!

Steve Rowe

You’re living inside a witches ‘glamour’ spell. You’re enchanted. Put inside a meat vehicle and subject to the spell’s glamour, you think that life is precious, you think it’s full of love, joy and happiness, not realising that your body is gradually rotting, will get sick and die and you will not be able recognise those glamours without an equal amount of anxiety, anger, unhappiness and pain. How do you deal with this? Life is movement, so sit still, breathe deep and you can get outside the spell, you can see the illusion and when seen, the glamour disappears… Continue reading You’re Enchanted!

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Karate in the 70’s

Steve Rowe

When people ask what it was like doing karate in the 70’s, it was: David Carradine, Bruce Lee and Saturday ‘late night’ movie Kung Fu mystic and magic. Changing rooms stank of tiger balm, spray starch, cold gi’s being warmed under hand dryers, hai karate aftershave and old spice. No one said ‘sparring’, it was ‘fighting’, no gloves or padding and full contact. Club rivalry, ‘visits’ and ‘challenges’ were commonplace. Emotions of fear, dread, camaraderie and friendship made from blood, sweat and never any tears. Pain, permanent black eyes, cracked and broken ribs, noses, broken teeth, hands, fingers, toes, feet … Continue reading Karate in the 70’s

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Where Did We Go Wrong?

Steve Rowe

I was watching the BBC series ‘Human’ about our evolution and wondering when we changed from living in harmony with the planet and became the disharmonious, damaging, self inflicting, nasty virus we are today. It seems that it was around ten thousand years ago when we started to change from roaming hunter gathers who only took the minimum of what they needed when they needed it to settling in one place and ‘farming’. We altered, bred and farmed crops and animals to harvest and kill for food and stored the extra ‘for a rainy day’ changing our society and the … Continue reading Where Did We Go Wrong?

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3 Qualities Of A Good Martial Artist

Steve Rowe

Do you want to know whether someone has a deep understanding of their martial art? Here’s 3 things to look for: Are they ‘in’ or ‘on’ their feet and legs? If they are ‘standing on their bones’ they can be easily pushed over, a skilful practitioner is balanced and can drop their weight into the soft tissue in the legs down to the feet by softening down through the body, and push directionally from there. Are their arms driven from the waist? Flapping the arms around is weak, but if driven from the feet, legs and then the waist, it … Continue reading 3 Qualities Of A Good Martial Artist

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Pain & Fatigue

Steve Rowe

You can’t understand if you haven’t been there.You need to walk a mile in their shoes.Or shoe.Or wheel if you can’t walk.You wake up more exhausted and in more pain than you went to bed.Too exhausted or in too much pain to shower or bath.Nausea means you feel like you’re moving when you’re still.Electric lights hurt your brain.Flashing lights and movement give you vertigo.Loud noises hurt your ears.Clothes hurt your skin, any touch is painful.Food hurts your stomach.Any medication has side effects that can make it worse.Pity hurts.Helpful suggestions hurt.Help not requested hurts.Most give up trying to get government help, … Continue reading Pain & Fatigue

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Training With Pain & Fatigue

Steve Rowe

Training this morning with chronic fatigue, chronic arthritis, only one leg and sprained my neck and chest yesterday using a transfer board at an awkward angle to get from wheelchair to car. Was obviously seated, moving with care to not make anything worse and was using my breathing to open and then close all cavities, tissue and joints in the body filling them with energy to assist healing and reduce pain. Turning disadvantage into advantage was using my hip bones against the chair as my ‘feet’ and pain makes me extremely focused, mindful and concentrated, and the sensitivity makes me … Continue reading Training With Pain & Fatigue

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We Are Still Quadrupeds

Steve Rowe

We are still quadrupeds. We spiral outward in our feet to rotate the femur in the hip socket to open the hips, lifting the pelvic floor and bowing the legs and lower spine. We spiral inwards with our hands to rotate the humerus in the shoulder socket in the opposite direction to the hips to raise the upper back completing both the spine and arm bows. These actions complete and connect the 3 bows (spine, arms and legs) also connecting feet and hands. Humans are still built as quadrupeds so our hips and shoulders work together in opposite directions to … Continue reading We Are Still Quadrupeds

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Martial Arts Are Not Binary

Steve Rowe

Martial Arts are not binary. There are different types of people in every art and style and they are practiced in a myriad of different ways. Every self defence situation is pretty unique and a good martial artist has a toolbox of mental, emotional and physical strategies that they are able to use in a spontaneous way according to the situation to resolve it. I have used and seen used strategies and techniques that would be laughed at by the ‘one handed typist’ trolls and finger wagging reel makers that permeate our social media feeds. If only life was as … Continue reading Martial Arts Are Not Binary

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Eagle Vision

Steve Rowe

Eagle Vision People used to ask me how I could judge and grade a class of 30 students at the same time. Eagle vision is a skill using peripheral vision where I could watch the entire class at the same time and constantly pick out those above and below the standard I was looking for. It’s a state of mind where I utilise my awareness and instinct above thought. It enables me to read people and situations quickly and at a far deeper level than the thinking mind that is slow, laborious, easily distracted and reaches an apathetic state very … Continue reading Eagle Vision

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Seated Meditation

Steve Rowe

Find a kitchen chair or something similar (as in the photo) to sit on. Breathe in by expanding the lower abdomen and back, then opening the ribs, stretching (but not stiffening) upwards through the crown of the head with the entire body, opening and filling with energy all the spaces and cavities, including joints and all tissue. When the breath in is complete wait to allow all the energy to finish rising until you would have to stop yourself from breathing out before placing the tongue to the top palette and releasing the breath, and energy, softening down, draining the … Continue reading Seated Meditation