Tag: karate

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The Great Pretence

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Eighteen “When the great Tao is forgotten,Kindness and morality arise.When wisdom and intelligence are born,The great pretence begins.” The ‘pretence’ is when humans think that their cultural and religious values are in accordance with the Tao and that’s not always true as universal values are different. People say “that person will get their karma” assuming that the universe works to their sense of justice – and it doesn’t work that way. “When there is no peace within the family,Filial piety and devotion arise.When the country is confused and in chaos,Loyal ministers appear.” Love and peace in … Continue reading The Great Pretence

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The Very Highest Is Barely Known

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Seventeen “The very highest is barely known.Then comes that which people know and love.Then that which is feared,Then that which is despised.” This is the hierarchy of recognition. The lowest minds will be subject to their base emotions and despise and fear, the higher minds will recognise but still be subject to knowledge and love. The highest will be objective with a much broader view and able to recognise the ‘way’ that cannot be defined.  “Who does not trust enough will not be trusted.  When actions are performedWithout unnecessary speech,People say, “We did it!”  Those that … Continue reading The Very Highest Is Barely Known

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The ‘Way’ of The Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of the ten thousand things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery.” This opening of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu changed my life. Gifted to me by my first Tai Chi teacher over 50 years ago when I was in my 20’s … Continue reading The ‘Way’ of The Martial Arts

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Fingers & Thumbs In Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

Carrying on from my posts on cupping and flattening the palms of the hands to pump the energy and the power of mudras to manipulate it on discharge I thought I’d do a post on fingers and thumbs as they manipulate both. All these posts are on my blog. The thumb controls a large part of the hand and the ‘tiger’s mouth’ (the area between thumb and forefinger) and is used extensively for trapping and guiding the opponent. The forefinger ‘points’ and directs the hand and energy also stretching to work the other part of the tiger’s mouth. The middle … Continue reading Fingers & Thumbs In Tai Chi

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Respect Is A 2 Way Street

Steve Rowe

Many martial artists learning capacity has an expiry date. They get what they want or need from a teacher or system and some stop progressing at that point or move on to someone or something else. It’s a hard pill for some teachers to swallow as they feel discarded and that the work they put into that person was wasted but that’s not true. If the student stops learning at that point they’ve reached capacity, but the teacher’s contribution still have added value to their life. Others have got what they wanted or needed from one teacher and now need … Continue reading Respect Is A 2 Way Street

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My Day’s Training Schedule

Steve Rowe

I always start my Tai Chi coaching sessions by asking the students how they’re getting on with their training programme, any questions, any problems or any comments, and it helps me to shape the day’s study. I thought over the next few days I might share some of the most common thoughts. One of the most common comments is ‘I’ve been concentrating on one particular form or part of it’. The problem is that while they are doing this the other forms and skills slide. I practice everything in the syllabus every day, in the morning I’ll meditate, do the … Continue reading My Day’s Training Schedule

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Your Body Knows Best

Steve Rowe

Back on the antibiotics for infection in my knee and have all the side effects of bad stomach, pain in all my arthritic joints, fatigue and a bit of nausea so my morning training took a strange turn. You know how when you do your morning stretch it’s different to a ‘training’ stretch? I often refer to it in qigong because it has a ‘stimulate, store and release’ quality to the energy. Well, today my body spontaneously did it in every tai chi technique and it alleviated a lot of the side effects of the antibiotics. Sometimes our bodies know … Continue reading Your Body Knows Best

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Mudras & Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

Every Tai Chi and Karate body and hand ‘attitude’ and shape can be considered a mudra. Mudras are internal actions, involving the pelvic floor, spine, joints, cavities, diaphragm, throat, eyes, tongue, anus, genitals, abdomen, and other parts of the body and the energy of these actions are then expressed through the hands. In Tai Chi it is said that’s its important to have ‘beautiful hands’. All the hand shapes in Tai Chi are categorised in the Karate kata ‘Tensho’ also known as ‘Rokkisho’, ‘Heavenly Palms’ or ‘Spirit Hands’. The ‘6 Hands’ of Tensho represent the ‘5 Animals’ and are grafted … Continue reading Mudras & Martial Arts

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Don’t Overtrain

Steve Rowe

I think I overtrained yesterday, by the time I went to bed, everything hurt and this morning everything is sore and due to low testosterone from the cancer hormone therapy, radiation and age, emotionally fragile. So morning training has to be ‘small frame’ and ‘double meditation’ to heal. The 8 core skills are soften, connect, open, close, stretch, compress, twist and release, so small frame meant that I didn’t use stretch and compress meaning no fajin. This meant that I moved the energy around the body and kept it in to nourish it and heal ‘monk’ style. Double meditation means … Continue reading Don’t Overtrain

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The Art Of ‘Preframing’

Steve Rowe

Running a successful martial arts club. It’s important to understand the art of ‘preframing’ on all is levels. Recruiting lots of people with inaccurate adverts ‘because they work’ will give you high recruitment but also high attrition levels, by explaining exactly what you teach and what the outcomes are is important to filter your potential students and so you don’t have to waste both your time and theirs. More importantly it will reach the potential students you want who might be put off by your ‘catch all’ advertising. It seems that most club owners haven’t thought out exactly who and … Continue reading The Art Of ‘Preframing’