Tag: karate

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One Handed Typists

Steve Rowe

The great thing about social media is that everyone can voice their opinion. The worst thing about social media is that everyone can voice their opinion. An opinion only has the value of the experience and intelligence of the person giving it. The problem is that the most vociferous commenting on martial art posts are those of little experience and intelligence. I call them the ‘one handed typists’ (you can guess what they’re doing with the other one). “That would never work on the streets” and “you have to make it work against non-compliant partners” are the classic idiot speak. … Continue reading One Handed Typists

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Explore Your Darkness

Steve Rowe

Do you feel that if you surrender to your darkness that you won’t be able to find your way back? Do you repress and try to ignore it? If you’re always trying to be happy instead, you’re not happy – and the lurking darkness is permeating your soul in a negative way. We all know the ‘positivity’ people always trying to convince themselves and those around them that they are happy and positive but that veneer is thin and the tortured soul behind is obvious. The darkness needs to be explored and understood as it’s the balancing factor to the … Continue reading Explore Your Darkness

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How Deep Can You Go?

Steve Rowe

How deep can you train your body? How well can you manipulate the spine and myofascial core that moves it along with the vagus nerve? This, along with plumbing beyond thought and emotions to finding the deepest parts of yourself that connect you to nature are what give you a health and inner peace beyond what any modern ‘health guru’ can. Good Tai Chi, layered from meditation to neigong (inner work) to qigong (energy work) to form, push hands and weapons carefully layers these skills, training body, emotions and mind at depths that I don’t see anywhere else. It was … Continue reading How Deep Can You Go?

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Were The Ancients That Good?

Steve Rowe

Were the ancients that good? No internet, travel was really difficult, most couldn’t read or write, what little video is available was made when they were old and most didn’t move that well. Of course we respect them as they were the founders of what we practise today and some obviously were really good, but how many? The lineage carriers were often bloodline and to be honest that doesn’t mean the talent of the originator was passed down, often, non family students were better. I’ve often heard people say that the masters ‘hide’ techniques from students but in my experience … Continue reading Were The Ancients That Good?

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Closing All The Windows

Steve Rowe

Closing All The Windows The computer was designed by and is like the human mind. When you close all the active windows, what’s left? It appears to be nothing, a blank screen, but it’s actually the potential to do anything the computer or its programmer can do. When we sit still, breathe deep and close all the activity of our mind, the mind appears to be inactive but is in fact in a state of readiness to accept the insight and wisdom that our ‘windows’ (thinking mind) has been blocking that has always been there in the background. Closing the … Continue reading Closing All The Windows

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Old Was More Effective

Steve Rowe

What’s lacking in most modern marts? Power. People are derisory toward 70’s and 80’s Karate and Kung Fu because of their simplicity and training methods, but the truth is that the good practitioners of those days would smash straight through most of the modern technicians. They may have been raw but they had the components that worked for real and they tested it every bloody, bone crunching training session and in security work where there was no badges or cameras, only hard earned reputations. Why were they so much more powerful? Because they practised hour after hour of rock solid … Continue reading Old Was More Effective

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I Am Beautiful

Steve Rowe

I am beautiful. That’s not a ‘guru’ style bogus affirmation, at 74, with a barrel rather than a 6 pack, riddled with arthritis, a missing leg, more wrinkles than a crumpled crisp packet and more scars than a Russian gangster my body is my best friend and a record of an exciting life. I am beautiful. Because despite its battering my body is suffused with chi (life energy), alchemised and educated into geng (warrior energy) and then shen (spiritual energy) by trained emotions and a mind that has trained and meditated twice a day for over 50 years. I am … Continue reading I Am Beautiful

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Trust Your Gut

Steve Rowe

Over the years, I’ve learned the hard way to trust my gut. The moment I meet someone I know whether they are a ‘wrong ‘un’ or not. Unfortunately I’ve not always listened to it, only to discover in the end that I should have – and sometimes it’s cost me dearly. It’s important to meditate and learn about your instincts and how important it is to rely on them. Your head and heart can mess you up, but your gut never does. Continue reading Trust Your Gut

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I’m Not To Blame!

Steve Rowe

There’s nothing worse than having walked the road and got to the destination in the martial arts to watch those that want to get to the same destination, but you know that what they’re doing won’t get them there and they are convinced that it will. The irony is that if you try to tell them they will be offended and defensive, they’ll come to you for instruction in the art but then not believe you if you try to tell them why what they’re doing won’t get them there. We’re not always right, but with the experience we have, … Continue reading I’m Not To Blame!

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Emptying Hearts & Stuffing Bellies

Steve Rowe

Lao Tsu talks about a wise leader ‘emptying the hearts and stuffing the bellies of the nation’, and this has many levels of understanding. The word ‘karate’ often translated as ‘empty hand’ Funakoshi explained the ‘Kara’ part ‘empty’ as empty of (violent) intention and ‘te’ (hand) is generally understood as a term for martial art. Therefore an art of peace. Draining the chi (ki) from the heart to the belly calms the body, emotions and mind. Filling the belly is to retain and store power instead of losing it. This gives an absence of negative energies like fear and anger … Continue reading Emptying Hearts & Stuffing Bellies