Tag: kung fu

Tao Te Ching Explained3 Comments

Accept Disgrace & Misfortune

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Thirteen  “Accept disgrace willingly.Accept misfortune as the human condition.  What do you mean by “Accept disgrace willingly”?Accept being unimportant.Do not be concerned with loss or gain.This is called “accepting disgrace willingly.”  Our ego and pride get in the way of our contentment and often our relationships with family and friends. By ceasing our self obsession we are able to listen, understand, help and be more empathic and compassionate toward others. “What do you mean by “Accept misfortune as the human condition”?Misfortune comes from having a body.Without a body, how could there be misfortune?” Misfortune is a … Continue reading Accept Disgrace & Misfortune

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Tai Chi Is Simple And Easy

Steve Rowe

Tai Chi is ‘simple and easy’, it’s only one thing that we view through many different windows to increase our understanding. The first aware breath you take in neigong makes you better than you were before you took it. Your first lesson where you’re taught to ‘stand tall, breathe deep and focus your mind’ makes you better than before you attended. It makes you feel better, healthier, more happy and positive. From that point on you can only improve these skills. Always practice with an inner smile knowing that you can only get better. It takes years to ‘master’ musical … Continue reading Tai Chi Is Simple And Easy

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The Primal Virtue

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Ten  “Carrying body and soul and embracing the one,Can you avoid separation? Attending fully and becoming supple,Can you be as a newborn babe?Washing and cleansing the primal vision,Can you be without stain?” A new born baby still belongs to the Tao, it doesn’t know yet that it will be indoctrinated into developing a ‘self’ by society, given a name, and becoming the subject of fear, anger, desire and addiction, separating it from the Tao. The skill is to engage in life and embrace the Tao, retaining that child like sense of wonder, this is washing and … Continue reading The Primal Virtue

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Be Like Water

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Eight This is one of my favourite parts of the Tao Te Ching because it gives the best and most simple advice on how to live your life. “The highest good is like water. Water give life to the ten thousand things and does not strive. It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao. “ It reminds me of one of my favourite old Turkish saying “if you sleep on the floor, you won’t fall out of bed.” The more simply you live, the more content you will be. This leads on … Continue reading Be Like Water

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Heaven And Earth Last Forever

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Seven“Heaven and Earth last forever.” Heaven and Earth combined are seen as the Tao, the giver and taker of life. The alchemy of being human from earthly desires (jing energy) aspiring to the heavenly spirituality (shen energy).“Why do heaven and Earth last forever? They are unborn, So ever living.” To understand that which is always there is unborn, infinite, immortal and eternal therefore often not seen or recognised as being the container that contains all life and its potential. “The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead. He is detached, thus at one with all. Through … Continue reading Heaven And Earth Last Forever

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When One Becomes Two

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching part 2.Part one explains that the Tao is beyond the definition of human thought, but explains that it can still be experienced. Part two shows how as soon as we define anything we automatically create its opposite and complimentary parts. How can we ‘have’ unless we have ‘not having’? ‘Difficult’ without ‘easy’, ‘light’ without ‘dark’, ‘hot’ without ‘cold’ and ‘voice’ without ‘sound’? This can only be understood in stillness and silence by doing ‘no thing’ and taught by direct wordless transmission. All traditional martial arts have this aspect to their teaching. The wise person is able to … Continue reading When One Becomes Two

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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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Tai Chi Teachers

Steve Rowe

When someone spends ages telling us what taiji/qi/neigong/qigong isn’t, I’m waiting for them to tell me what it is. When they’re telling us that we’re all ignorant and don’t understand and only they do, my spidey senses are alerted. When we’re told that you have to spend years to understand and train it I can definitely smell snake oil. Whatever art or system you train in after your first session you’ll be better than you were before it. Then you build your skills as the days, weeks, months and years go by, exactly the same as if you were learning … Continue reading Tai Chi Teachers

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Semantic Satiation In Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

Semantic satiation is when you’ve repeated a word many times and it loses its meaning and becomes just a sound, this can also happen with tai chi techniques. You’re practising your form day after day, month after month and year after year, the form has become a moving meditation, suddenly that technique that you’ve done so many times feels wrong. This is how when your mind and movement have gone from ‘absorption’ to ‘insight’, the conditions are right for these insights to arise. Your mind is receiving messages from the body to tell you ‘this isn’t right’ and that it … Continue reading Semantic Satiation In Tai Chi