Tag: Buddhism

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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”….

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How I Became Vegetarian

Steve Rowe

It was the 70’s.I’d been dragged up on a South London council estate, gone to the worst school in London, left school with no qualifications and drifted from job to job falling into the security world. From boxing, kickboxing to karate and spit and sawdust gyms doing bodybuilding to bulk up for the violence incurred at work. I thought respect, friendship and love, were all based on other people’s fear of me…. Until Tai Chi led me into the Taoist, Zen and Buddhist practice of mindfulness. I found dependent origination and the practice of patient kindness – that led me … Continue reading How I Became Vegetarian

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Pay Attention

Steve Rowe

To all you overthinkers…. I asked a student how long he meditated each day and he said “20 minutes”. I then asked him what he did while meditating and he replied ”I think about my breathing.” He wasn’t meditating, he was spending 20 minutes a day thinking…. He couldn’t differentiate between thinking and paying attention. Paying attention is mindfulness. And not for 20 minutes a day, but all day in everything we do. We think with the self, we pay attention with our consciousness. From paying attention and being mindful thinking slows down and insight and wisdom arise. “Mindfulness is … Continue reading Pay Attention

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Morning Harmony

Steve Rowe

This morning’s Tai Chi session –It was exactly halt light and half dark, a magical time.Burning quality oud incense.Facing Quanyin, the goddess of mercy and compassion.Playing ‘Solar Eclipse’ by Mei-Lan.Meditation – unifying mind, breath, energy and body.Qigong to warm the energy making it more fluid and loosen joints until it flows easily, rippling through the body.Yang Cheng Fu 108 moving the body and energy in harmony, pulsing, rising and falling, opening and closing, twisting and turning, swirling and reeling silk throughout the body.Finishing with silence and stillness until the energy has settled in peace, healing mind, emotions, spirit and body.A … Continue reading Morning Harmony

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Through The Looking Glass

Steve Rowe

Through The Looking Glass….After the seminar todayWhen I was in the Dojo on my ownIn my wheelchairI saw myself in the mirrorOld, crippledIt wasn’t meNot who I amIt was like I was deadOut of my bodyMy reflection was like a photographOf me when I was aliveMy family sayingThat was my dad, granddadI could see my fatherMy grandfatherMy family line back to the beginningI was the one with no war medalsBut still had all the scarsAnd the missing limbI sat frozenMesmerisedLike looking into the futureThrough the looking glassA life full of a different kind of warsEating me upBit by bitPhysicallyEmotionallyMentallySpirituallySurviving them … Continue reading Through The Looking Glass

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Dealing With Grief

Steve Rowe

Dealing with grief.At some point we all lose someone or even a pet close to us so learning about grief is important. I often talk about the Buddha’s 2 arrows, the suffering that is inevitable in life that you have to accept is the first arrow and when you suffer about your suffering is the second arrow that you can avoid. Grief is natural and you have to let that out because to repress it is to make it worse. That’s the first arrow. Accept it and let it out. Every time you think it’s lessened it will be triggered … Continue reading Dealing With Grief

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Overthinking in Meditation

Steve Rowe

Overthinking in Meditation There’s a lot of advice on how to meditate, the problem can be that if it’s making you think or try too hard it might be getting in the way. It shouldn’t be a burden. Try the opposite and instead of trying to do something – don’t do it. Let go of all the advice and instructions and watch everything pass by without interference or attachment. Treat it like the relief you feel when you had a lot to do but now don’t have to do it, you’ve got time off instead. The only thing you have … Continue reading Overthinking in Meditation

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The Coin Of Desire

Steve Rowe

Someone said the other day that you have to get off your arse, follow your desires and live – or you’re just existing. The thought struck me that sitting still, not being subject to your desires and just existing is actually better. The Buddha said that suffering is borne from desire. When you get to appreciate that desire is the survival mechanism of the body and actually doesn’t belong to you, you can see it objectively instead of being subject to it. Desire is a thirst that can never be fully quenched, it will always want more or go from … Continue reading The Coin Of Desire

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Get Real

Steve Rowe

Doesn’t matter how much you imagine it, it’s never the same as direct experience. Be it violence, cancer, enlightenment, mental health problems, amputation, or penetrating the shell to get that spontaneous freedom within your art. I feel sorry for the people that have an ‘easy life’ because without that essential hardship and paying their dues, they never get the essential insight and wisdom. So many are just travellers in life, wearing the masks and having an easy time, and it makes me wonder, WTF are they doing here? They’re like the ‘copy and paste’ internet version of humans. If you … Continue reading Get Real