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Last Night’s Dream

Steve Rowe

My dream last night – It was a beautiful day,Clear skyPerfect temperatureThe smell of the first days of summerI was talking to a little Japanese man on the station platformHe was like my Karate Sensei Toru Takamizawa but wasn’t himI was telling himYou’re dead for a long timeDuring death you relive the important times in your lifeIn the dream stateThis is why it’s important to live a good, proper and full life whilst embodiedThen he was getting into a taxiI held the passenger door open and was finishing telling him thisBut the taxi driver was impatient and started driving offAs … Continue reading Last Night’s Dream

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Beautiful Hands In Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

In Tai Chi we say that you should have beautiful, fluid, expressive hands. Fajin requires you to stimulate, store, release and discharge energy, for that transmission through the body requires loose, coordinated joints and soft tissue to bring the power to the hands, but it’s here that so many people lose it. The arches of the feet and palms of the hands are connected both physically and energetically, the drive from the feet with the loose joints and the body’s centre brings the bodyweight and momentum to the hands joining the energy released from the opening, closing, compressing and stretching … Continue reading Beautiful Hands In Tai Chi

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Yield To A Good Teacher

Steve Rowe

Everyone wants to learn on their own terms. This is what holds them back. Remember those old Kung Fu movies where the kung fu monk wannabe would go to the temple and sit outside the gates for days before being accepted? They’d sweep the yard, scrub the floors and wash the others clothes for months to show commitment before being accepted. Even now, many students are abused, physically, mentally, sexually and financially by their ‘master’ because they wrongly assume that they’re going to get ‘the secrets’. Stupid eh? But….. the best way to really learn is to find a good … Continue reading Yield To A Good Teacher

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The Importance Of Ritual

Steve Rowe

I’ve been asked to talk a little bit more about the importance of ritual. I’m ritual magic, before working on their inner self for healing and creating energy, the magicians would shower, anoint themselves with oils, wear a clean robe, go to the shrine room where they would keep a continuous flame burning 24/7. They would consecrate the space with water, and salt and cast a circle calling on the gods or elementals of 4 directions drawing symbols with a blade for protection. The preparation was important to create the right mindset to dig deep and do energetic work. In … Continue reading The Importance Of Ritual

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Every Training Is Different

Steve Rowe

Training on the fire escape this morning was very different. There was a strong smell of cannabis being farmed on the breeze (well it is Chatham) mixed with the scent of the flowers. It’s 5 months since Ann died and the grief is still raw with the birds circling the feeding table in the garden and sitting on the nearby branches looking down at where their food used to be. They still remember her. I can’t get down to the garden or to where they were fed so am unable to continue her legacy and I found myself apologising to … Continue reading Every Training Is Different

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When Someone Dies

Steve Rowe

There’s a spaceWhere they used to beThe container’s goneBut the spirit remainsSay the nameAnd you can feel the presenceEverything they didEverything they wereAffects all thingsFor all timeAll the time you rememberThe individual essence can be feltWhen there’s no one leftTo rememberThe individual passesBut the essence remainsEvery personEvery actionChanges all thingsFor all timeNothing really goes awayIt’s important to know that.Steve Rowe Continue reading When Someone Dies

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8 Essential Bodycore Skills

Steve Rowe

I teach 8 bodycore skills that relate to all martial arts. They are: SoftenConnectOpenCloseStretchCompressTwistRelease We spend a lifetime studying these and are forever finding more depth. Softening without collapsing leads to connection throughout the body. Open and close are passive and a form of releasing, if you try to stretch or compress without going through these stages you will be stiff and awkward. Stretching without stiffening gives you the range to utilise stretching to encourage the flow of energy and compressing without collapsing does the same. Twisting is a form of both of these but deserves a separate study. Release … Continue reading 8 Essential Bodycore Skills

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From Earth To Heaven

Steve Rowe

Nature’s incredible urge to bring life and to survive is the most powerful energy there is, to alchemise it into ‘heavenly energy’ is the gift to humanity. It’s still in its incipient stages as most people are subject to to the survival urge and can only react with fear, anxiety and addiction, sometimes the addiction is to ‘happiness’ that can only trap despair as its comparison. Understanding the need to survive, listening to our instincts, objectively viewing the anger, anxiety and addiction, understanding what they are, developing patient kindness, empathy and compassion, spreading it out into our life and environment, … Continue reading From Earth To Heaven

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Never Say “It Can’t Get Any Worse”….

Steve Rowe

Never say “it can’t get any worse than this”… After my knee replacements I had continuous infections and had to have 25 surgeries with 3 life threatening sepsis attacks. It thought it couldn’t get worse. It did. My leg had to be amputated. Surely it couldn’t get worse? It did. I got cancer. That had to be the bottom, it couldn’t get worse than that. The bottom fell out. My wife of 43 years died suddenly. Every time I thought it can’t get any worse than this….. it did. Each time it left me empty, hollow, when everything had been … Continue reading Never Say “It Can’t Get Any Worse”….