Month: August 2026

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Tai Chi – Open Your Mind

Steve Rowe

I hate clever clogsEspecially Tai Chi onesThey’re so sure of themselvesTheir lineagesTheir teachingsAre all straight linesVery definedIt’s not this or thatIt’s what they teachEverybody else is wrong Tai Chi requires a broad perspectiveIt has to encompass everythingLike a giant jig saw puzzleYou can’t leave anything outTo make everything fitYou have to seek the optimumNobody has all the answersThey’re all looking at the same thingThrough different windows Instead of putting everyone else downYou have keep growing your mindAll the time we inhabit a bodyWe can never have all the answersBe perfectOr fully enlightened The more we let go of any ‘rules’The … Continue reading Tai Chi – Open Your Mind

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A Martial Artist’s Alchemy

Steve Rowe

You can train martial artsUse them for physical fitnessEgoTheatreVanityAggressionAnd the ‘street’ Or you can be a martial artistAnd study:Your body inside and outEmotional intelligenceMental awareness, focus, sensitivityDiscipline and intensity Developing a toolbox for lifeSelf defence, defendingAnd developing strategies forPhysical healthMental healthEmotional healthAnd life’s situations For a martial artistIt’s not an hour a dayIt’s a life studyWorking at a deep levelFor an alchemy to take placeAnd developing strategiesTo live a peacefulAnd more harmonious life Being a positive influenceIn your environmentSocietyFamilyCommunityAnd finding peaceInstead of violence. Continue reading A Martial Artist’s Alchemy

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The Way Of Learning

Steve Rowe

Talking about the learning process yesterday. These are the essential points: Attitude towards learning. Ritual preparation is essential to put the mind and emotions in the right place to learn, from karate ‘etiquette’ to ‘waiting for Tai Chi to arrive’ these preparations are important before you start. Planning each movement, from building a memory palace, making notes to creating a list of what you need to remember before you move creates a mindful way of training toward improvement. Only move at a speed that you can maintain that mindset and complete that list is essential. Mindless repetition is useless. Reflecting … Continue reading The Way Of Learning

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What Is Peng?

Steve Rowe

Peng is like a jigsaw, it can only exist if certain things are in place. They are: A permanent connection to the feet, driving the waist and out the arms to the hands. The 3 bows (arms, legs and spine) with the body weight either resting in them (yin) or actively bowing and releasing energy (yang). Structural alignment with no protrusions, collapses or leaning. An animated body with every cavity, every bit of tissue, every joint and any other space in the body filled with animated energy. A mind that is aware, focused, sensitive and intense. If any of these … Continue reading What Is Peng?

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What Is Peng?

Steve Rowe

Peng is like a jigsaw, it can only exist if certain things are in place. They are: A permanent connection to the feet, driving the waist and out the arms to the hands. The 3 bows (arms, legs and spine) with the body weight either resting in them (yin) or actively bowing and releasing energy (yang). Structural alignment with no protrusions, collapses or leaning. An animated body with every cavity, every bit of tissue, every joint and any other space in the body filled with animated energy. A mind that is aware, focused, sensitive and intense. If any of these … Continue reading What Is Peng?

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One Foot In Death

Steve Rowe

Blood, Sweat and TearsContemplating deathWalking with one foot in life and one in deathGiving a perspective others don’t haveThen in meditation and trainingMoving both feet into deathWith just a little toe left in lifeWhen you’re as familiar with death as lifeYou lose fearYou gain that broader perspectiveFinding your immortalityYou gain balanceFinding the line between yin and yangThe middle path, the TaoThe way of the warriorPiercing the veil of illusionRealising that what you were before you were born,What you are when you’re deadYou still are nowWatching the theatre of lifeNot happy or unhappyBut peacefulThose that opt for an ‘easy life’Missed the … Continue reading One Foot In Death

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Why Basics?

Steve Rowe

Why basics?Because everything you need to knowEven for the most advanced trainingIs in thereA good teacher will apply layer after layerInto the same basic exercises and techniques firstBecause it’s the most efficient way of learningThe layers are not held backThey can only be taughtWhen the student is readyThen they will exclaim“It were there all the time…I just didn’t see it!” Continue reading Why Basics?

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The Way Of Zen

Steve Rowe

The Way Of Zen The Samurai warrior would get up every day and say “today is a good day to d.i.e.” He would make sure that all his affairs were in order so that his passing wouldn’t be a burden to others. He would then savour every remaining moment and every remaining breath. Pure Zen. I’ve always lived to these ideasI’ve made a willLived frugallyPaid for my cremationLeft all the important information in a bookI have no debtMy dojo and flat are paid for, fully repaired and decoratedI’ve written all the books on my life, meditations and teachingsCompleted all the … Continue reading The Way Of Zen