These links are for U.K. buyers to buy signed copies. They are available internationally from Amazon. Icebergs Instead of Mountains https://py.pl/1dJ78P Soft Front, Strong Back https://py.pl/4XI86saeMx7 Concepts Of Karate https://py.pl/1HvFug 3 Book Bundle https://py.pl/rC777 Continue reading Links To Books By Steve Rowe + Video
The air we breathe and the food we eat gives us the energy to think, feel, move, and function. Our ability to harmonise the different manifestations of this energy, to use them intelligently and alchemise their harmony is the base of all martial arts study. We call the energy qi, the ability to look inwards and study it neigong (inner work), we exercise it by stimulating, storing and releasing it with qigong (energy work) we diversify that with solitary technical self defence of our health, skill and body with forms (kata) and apply it toward others with partner work. If … Continue reading Qi – Our Life Force
Tai Chi is just another martial art. Like all martial arts it relies on: HealthPostureBreathingBalanceMindfulnessEmotional intelligenceDisciplineA balance of internal and externalA connected bodySmooth movementTechnical skillsSpeedCoordinationPhysicsStrengthFlexibilityTime + effortA good coachStrategyA healthy philosophy toward life These are the basic requirements of all martial arts, tai chi is probably closer to judo than any other art but they are all connected by the above. It’s got its fair share of weirdos but that’s all they are, put them into an environment where they have to have their skills scrutinised and they’ll fail. There are no ‘secrets’ these days, but like any skill it … Continue reading Tai Chi Is Like Any Other Martial Art
“You should train with a full bladder”. This was advice from my teacher. It took me a while to understand. The pubococcygeus muscle controls the urinary flow and coccyx and is the lower bridge between the governor and conception vessels promoting the flow of chi. But it doesn’t act alone. The spiralling of the feet to the floor opens the hips and raises the pelvic floor the tightening of the PC muscle in this movement bows the bottom part of the spine helping to connect the 3 bows of the body (legs, spine and arms) connecting, stimulating, storing and releasing … Continue reading Training With A Full Bladder
I’ve always found the idea of having a ‘bucket list’ a bit selfish and strange. Is this the purpose and quality we put on having a life? Shouldn’t we find our meaning and purpose within every moment? It’s the same as having to take a holiday, is our life so mundane and bad that we have to get away? Spend all our time wishing we were somewhere else and being pampered like a child? If our life is so unsatisfying maybe we should look inward and make changes that then reflect outward into each moment so that we don’t need … Continue reading There’s A Hole In My Bucket
The mind has 2 enemies. Apathy and distraction. There are people that appear to be doing perfect meditation, standing practice and slow tai chi but are in fact faking it by using one of these two enemies of a mindful state. I used to look at these people in awe, not realising that they were ‘mindless’ instead of ‘mindful’, that there was nothing positive going on inside that unfocused shell. Some people are naturally lazy and find it easy to be doing nothing by faking meditation but as soon as something ‘rattles their cage’ in life, they go to pieces. … Continue reading The Enemies Of The Mind
Form can be practiced by anyone of any age or condition on their own without the need of equipment. They have 3 treasures:Health – they are moving yoga improving posture, flexibility, strength, breathing, increasing emotional intelligence,and mindfulness. Skill – techniques are combined to increase skill levels of basics moving multi directionally to long and short turns jumping and dropping. Application – breaking down each technique and applying it on an opponent to make it work. They can also be ‘coloured’ in different ways. Monk – like a moving meditation to reduce negative emotions. Warrior – as you would use the … Continue reading Form And Kata
It’s always at 3amYou wake with a feeling of dreadIt can come from medicationOr lack of itMaybe PTSDOr something happening in lifeOr just plain anxiety and fearEither way it’s always 3am You’ve been asleepAnd the unconscious has been free to roamYou wake with this powerful sense of dreadYour mind attaches reason to itBut that’s not always what it isEvery nerve in the body hurtsNot with painBut with emotionA kind of yearning You distract the mind to ease itAnd think it’s goneBut as soon as you stop the distractionIt returnsEventually you sleepBut when you wake upThe black dog is still sitting … Continue reading 3am Black Dog
Carrying on with life normallyAnd suddenly, without warningAn overwhelming darkness descendsEverything is wrongYou don’t want to be hereDeath is preferable to lifePeople wonder why others suddenly end their lifeIt’s because the mask slipsThe darkness is always thereDeep down, we know life is wrongWe all have Stockholm syndromeWe’re abducted into a bodyEnergy becomes desireThe thirst of wantingOr not wantingControls everythingWe spend all our timeDriven by that which cannot make us happyWealth and beauty are emptyLook at the wealthy and beautifulSee the snarl on the lipsThe emptiness in the eyesThe bullying satisfactionOr lording their wealth and empty beauty over youThey are the … Continue reading The Darkness
By the time most people get to the point of amputation, it’s amputate or die, up to that point if you were asked would you prefer amputation or death you probably would’ve picked death. But when reality kicks in…. When you come too after surgery a missing limb is a shock, and it’s not just that once, when you dream you have two legs or arms, so every day you wake up you get the same shock again and again. This is normal. The physical pain is bad enough, the phantom limb pains can be incredibly sharp (like cramp) and … Continue reading Amputate Or Die?
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