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Setting The Right Goals

Steve Rowe

Looking at the conversations on FB this morning it struck me that many people are perfectly happy learning and teaching a martial art at a superficial level and I guess that’s the same as any other art or sport and creates a gateway and introduction for many people, but what happens when you want to go deeper? Firstly you have to decide your goals as deeper can be anything from Buddhist priest to street fighter, so the search for deeper instruction becomes the major difficulty. I could never find THE instructor I needed so had to got to various sources … Continue reading Setting The Right Goals

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Steve Rowe

I’m not normal, I acknowledge that. I’m out of synch with what is accepted as ’normality’. I don’t have to try to think outside of the box, I have a problem understanding the logic of inside of it. I have never related to our culture, was a very troubled person until I discovered the intelligent analysis of Buddhism and Asian philosophy. It didn’t bring me to normality but helped me to understand that my cursed mind in our culture was also a gift that has helped me to share my ‘outside the box’ thinking with others who feel out of … Continue reading

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Don’t Waste Your Time Training

Steve Rowe

Sometimes I wonder how much energy and time have I wasted on pointless exercise. All that mindless running, weight training, push-ups, sit ups, ‘warmup’ exercises and sparring that burned valuable energy, wasted time and did nothing to direct me where I needed to go. You can’t put an old head on young shoulders but with hindsight I could have done things in a far more intelligent fashion. A lot of ‘traditional training’ had so many repetions of useless movement and the blind ignorance of teaching ‘in the way my instructors taught’. Training should have a far more intelligent, structured approach … Continue reading Don’t Waste Your Time Training

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The Power Of A Logo

Steve Rowe

This is an original handmade piece of glass made by Ruth Dathorne for our Dojo and is important to me as it is the only 2 logos I’ve ever used in my 50 years in the Martial Arts. ‘Logo’ means ‘word of god’ and represents the soul and ethos of my path in the Martial Arts. The person in the foreground was hand drawn by me in the 1970’s and is a yin/yang representation of a technique used in both Tai Chi and Karate and was our logo, badge and used on the front of the book we did in … Continue reading The Power Of A Logo

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Dragons & Martial Philosophy

Steve Rowe

Dragons represent wisdom in many cultures, they are the combination of earth bound reptiles that can fly in the heavens. In the West they have wings and breathe fire, Britain was supposed to built on the spine of a dragon and the powerful ‘ley lines’ that go through all our ancient sites carry the power of the country. Saint George killed pagan wisdom by slaying the dragon and Saint Patrick by ridding Ireland of the pagan snakes. In the East dragons also represent old wisdom but rather than having wings they fly by magic usually attributed to a pearl being … Continue reading Dragons & Martial Philosophy

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The Name Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

There is often a misunderstanding about the name ‘Tai Chi’. It translates as ‘grand ultimate’ and as ‘chuan’ means ‘fist’ which is the generic term for martial arts most people read it as ‘Grand Ultimate Martial Art’ and see it as arrogantly stating that it’s the best martial art which is wrong. Tai Chi is a kung fu system and had many names like ‘deceptive boxing’ and ‘soft cotton boxing’, what most people call the yin/yang symbol is properly named the ‘tai chi’ symbol and existed for a long time before the art representing the harmony of Taoism, so legend … Continue reading The Name Tai Chi

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The Skeleton & Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

The skeleton plays an important part in martial arts. It gives structure to the soft tissue.If you cut it down or across the middle you can see it’s symmetry, therefore you can see the importance of left and right and upper and lower body harmony for balance, mobility and power. When balanced and the soft tissue around the joints has no excessive tension the joints are unlocked, loose and aid mobility. To destructure an opponent and make him lock his own skeleton up you only have to make any part collapse, protrude or lean out of alignment. Continue reading The Skeleton & Martial Arts

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Become Who You Should Be

Steve Rowe

My parents told me I was an unplanned and unwanted child and constantly told me I was naughty and an idiot. Just read my old school reports and they constantly said that I didn’t try and was naughty. Not surprisingly I was cast out into the adult world disenfranchised, with no skills, no certificates and a low self image always under the impression that everything was my fault and rejected everything and everyone with an angry and violent reaction to it all. When I found the Martial Arts and Buddhist meditation and logic I realised that actually all my opinions … Continue reading Become Who You Should Be

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The Space Between

Steve Rowe

We take space for granted. We know it and are aware of it. ‘The Tao Te Ching’ reminds us that a room or doorway is only of any use because of the space between the walls and frames that make it so. Space is endless, shapes are put in it and all of them rise and fall as animate and inanimate are all impermanent but that which we never notice is always there. So it is with consciousness, we know we are conscious, we are aware of it, but because it’s always there, we forget it. We think it belongs … Continue reading The Space Between

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Be A Tree

Steve Rowe

Sometimes when I’m meditating I like to gaze at a tree; I’ve always thought of trees as natures watchers; Still, silent, watching; Humans only have brains because they move and need to anticipate; But when I stand still and silent, I am like the tree; Motionless, silent, not thinking; My consciousness joining with the tree and the rest of nature; As we both bear witness to and for, the universe. Steve Rowe Continue reading Be A Tree