Tag: karate

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Find Your Being

Steve Rowe

Look into the eyes of any animal and you can see an intense ‘being’ looking back at you. We forget our human ‘being’ and it tends to lie dormant whilst our convoluted survival mechanism subjects us to its fears and anxieties. But our ‘being’ instantly recognises itself in the eyes of the animals and intensifies, this deep recognition reminds us of who we really are and is the reason that any decent human loves animals and has a primal empathy with them. We can use this to enhance our ‘beingness’ in meditation and training. This is why martial arts uses … Continue reading Find Your Being

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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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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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Chinese Whispers

Steve Rowe

Chinese Whispers In WW1 there’s a story that in the trenches commands were ‘passed down the line’ and by the time “send reinforcements we’re going to advance” had gone down a long line of men it had become “send two and sixpence were going to a dance!” We never know how much knowledge passed down orally has become corrupted. I come across it regularly because I’m old and have studied the classics for over 50 years and often know the uncorrupted versions. But even then, were the original and revered ‘masters’ that good? The stories and legends of both Tai … Continue reading Chinese Whispers

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There Is No First Attack In Karate

Steve Rowe

‘There is no first attack in karate’ is repeatedly brought up on on social media and I think is often misunderstood. The ‘kara’ in karate means empty, like in karaoke (empty orchestra). Its use here is as in the zen ‘empty of intention.’ A skilled karateka is a powerful peacekeeper, with that essential ‘soft front and strong back’. They don’t start violence, like any law enforcement officer, but handle it when it arises. In discussion so many people naively still think that karate (traditionally a stand up grappling art) is ‘block and punch’ in self defence, it’s far from that. … Continue reading There Is No First Attack In Karate

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Walking Through The Mirror

Steve Rowe

When You Walk Through The Mirror… We are programmed to think, to make lists, to take instructions and apply them. We are taught in feet, then inches, then hundredths of an inch and carefully examine every minutia of or technique. We ask questions, challenge the teachings and practice until we internalise and become them. Then something strange happens. Alongside those teachings a good teacher will also be teaching meditation, deliberately bringing us to this point. Our body does the form or kata and the meditation teaches us to continue paying attention so thought stops and the form becomes an act … Continue reading Walking Through The Mirror

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It’s Not What You Do

Steve Rowe

It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it. We have to look beyond technique. The principles, ideas and intent that are the foundation, and pervade any movement we do, tell how much we really know. The aura, the animation, the eyes, and spirit of the practitioner tell us what we need to know. The ease of the movement, the contrast and power on/off switch, when the power is ‘resting’, when it is ‘storing’, and when it it ‘discharging’ are evident to experienced eyes. For this we need personal alchemy, internal study, and this is why a … Continue reading It’s Not What You Do

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Float Is A Concept

Steve Rowe

‘Float’ is an important part of ‘sink, swallow float and spit’ in the martial arts. The concept goes far deeper than most people realise. Sink and swallow to create ‘float’ is a pump. The 4 pumps of chi (ki) in the body are the arches of the feet, the lower back, in between the shoulder blades and the occipital point. The chest is sunk to open the lower back, then the hips, knees and ankles press down into the arches of the feet and release to create float. This is in the qigong exercises in Tai Chi and Sanchin kata … Continue reading Float Is A Concept

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Our Inner Animal

Steve Rowe

Our inner animal. If untrained, when it escapes, it controls us in the wrong way at the wrong time. Just like a puppy it needs to mix socially and be trained, educated and alchemised, the best way to do this is with quality martial arts training from a good teacher. In a good club we let it out to play with the other students for wrestling and play fighting. Club camaraderie is an excellent environment for this to happen. This is how all animals learn to hunt and fight. Any other method (aggressive and fear-mongering clubs and teachers) creates a … Continue reading Our Inner Animal