Tag: kung fu

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Instructor’s Eye

Steve Rowe

You think your instructors can’t see behind your BS, your excuses, your mask… but the truth is they can see right into your soul. It’s just polite for the instructor to not reveal what they see, so they smile patiently as they listen to the excuses, the distractions and only help or reveal what they see when appropriate. It’s up to the student to tread the path, to put in the time and effort, to sort out their life and emotions, an instructor has to wait until the time is right to put in their bit. But don’t think for … Continue reading Instructor’s Eye

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Why I’m Different

Steve Rowe

It took me a long time to find myself, to realise that I think differently to most other people. Never got on with family or at school, always the outsider. It was only when ‘Kung Fu’ came on the TV in the ’70’s that I found Buddhism, was already training in Karate and working in security to find an outlet for my inner violence, but in Taoism, Zen and Buddhism I found myself, I found peace. I could stop hurting other people and myself.   Without ‘Kung Fu’ and the underlying philosophy I don’t where I would be. I’m right … Continue reading Why I’m Different

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Interviews

Steve Rowe

I’ve started compiling my old interviews and have listed them here: Interviews & People Steve Arneil Kyokushinkai Legend Wado Ryu Training In The ’60’s Toru Takamizawa Julian Dale – Eagle Claw Dave Rubens – Aikido and Security Yoshinobu Ohta Interview 2003 Mick Randall MBE Interview 2003 Mick Billman Interview 2003 Mick Gooch Interview 2003 Peter Spanton Interview 2003 Dave Hazard Interview 2003 Dave Courtney Interview 2010 Doug James Interview 2003 Jim Uglow Interview 2001 – Chap Sau Ray Fuller Interview 2003 Mick Nursey Interview 2003 Talks With Dennis Jones Giri Dennis Jones Interview Continue reading Interviews

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Doorstep Zen

Steve Rowe

Doorstep Zen This is my Dojo (place of learning the ‘way’) doorstep, as you enter you bow, as you bow you look down and this is what you see. ‘Shi’ means ‘warrior’ but more in the sense of ‘cultivated person’. ‘Kon’ means ‘spirit/heart’. ‘Budo’ means ‘to stop the spear’ or peacemaker. ‘Kan’ means ‘place/clubhouse’. So, ‘the place of the peacemaker with a warrior spirit’…. As you enter the Dojo the doorstep reminds you to leave the past and and future behind and become fully immersed and engaged in the present. The bow is an act of  mental cleansing, reminding you … Continue reading Doorstep Zen

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What’s In It For Me?

Steve Rowe

  I hate the ‘what’s in it for me’ people. I love the people that support their family, club, association, charities and community. I love the students and instructors that support seminars, tournaments and courses and enjoy both the learning and social aspects of the gatherings. I love the Instructors that take all the right qualifications and continue their professional development. Those that register, licence and insure their students and are confident enough and not afraid to let them attend association and other seminars to widen their perspective. So many are happy enough to take their student’s money but are too … Continue reading What’s In It For Me?

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Being A Good Student

Steve Rowe

We often talk about what makes a good Instructor and what makes a good club, but what happens when we turn that on it’s head and ask what makes a good student? The one thing that I discovered was that if I knew how to be a good student I could get far more out of my Instructors than anybody else and that as an Instructor I am far more inclined to teach a good student thoroughly than a bad one. The inescapable facts are that many Instructors don’t get to choose their students, sometimes they teach because they feel … Continue reading Being A Good Student

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Keep Your Child Safe!

Steve Rowe

VERY IMPORTANT! This is the time of the year that children are going up a school, from Infants to Junior and importantly from Junior to Senior and Senior to University. Parents in their infinite wisdom decide that their children will have more homework and often drop their martial arts training and teenagers going to university often move away from the area of their club and don’t bother to find a new one. THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE! Why? The children going from Junior to Senior school will need to move up in their martial arts club to the adult training; … Continue reading Keep Your Child Safe!

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Stop Bullying!

Steve Rowe

Stop Bullying! I get very worried looking at a lot of social media posts by martial art instructors who have never undergone the holistic training of traditional martial arts and are still stuck in the neanderthal, excitable and violent mindset that the only way to deal with bullying is to become like the bully and hit them.  I grew up in that mindset on a South London Council Estate and would probably in prison for violence now if it hadn’t been for traditional martial arts.  For the past 45 years I have taught extensively in the education system, to police … Continue reading Stop Bullying!

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Mindfulness

Steve Rowe

  MINDFULNESS Our use of the word ‘mind’ in English can be quite versatile.  As a noun it describes our awareness, consciousness and thought, as a verb it can mean ‘to take care of’ like in ‘mind the child’ or when getting on a train ‘mind the gap’, so to be ‘mindful’ is to increase our awareness and consciousness and to take care of our thinking and feelings. So we ‘mind the mind’, we take care of it.  All the time we remain mindful, we are watching our thoughts, emotions and actions and this act in itself is life changing. … Continue reading Mindfulness

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Back To Front Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

  I think I live in an alternate universe. Or everyone else in the Martial Arts does. I see Instructors putting together their training/grading syllabus… “Erm, for red belt we’ll do this… for yellow this…. for orange this….” They do one set of techniques for basics, different moves in a form that don’t relate to the basics and then different pairs work that doesn’t relate to either basics or form. And I’m like…..”That’s not only back to front – it doesn’t make sense!” I ask, “what’s the end result you’re looking for at black belt and above?” And guess what…. … Continue reading Back To Front Martial Arts