Tag: kung fu

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Your Body Talks To You

Steve Rowe

Your body is constantly talking to you. The problem is that if you only think and hear in words, you can’t hear it. It talks to in the same way that your dog, pet or baby does, you know what they want by their ‘body language’ and if your senses are only transmitting outwards, you can’t hear your own. When you turn your senses inward in meditation or training and learn to feel your body from the inside, it talks to you. This is important for your physical, emotional and mental health. Normally we don’t listen until it shouts in … Continue reading Your Body Talks To You

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Don’t Stop Because Of Stress

Steve Rowe

What’s the most stupid statement you repeatedly hear as a martial arts teacher? “I’m not training because I’m under a lot of stress at work or at home” or “Johnny has to stop training because he has to study for his exams at school”. It makes about as much sense as “I’m going to stop paying my house insurance because it’s at more risk of catching fire at the moment”. When you’re working or studying hard is the most important time to reduce stress by training, it keeps both mind and body fresh. Taking breaks and training is the most … Continue reading Don’t Stop Because Of Stress

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Making It Work

Steve Rowe

We can naturally tell what’s good or bad without having to be told. We know a good dancer, musician, gymnast or fighter even if we’ve never trained in any of those skills by just watching them perform. It’s important to rely on that ‘inner knowing’ so that we’re not scammed by others trying to sell us something else. I watch martial art teachers with carefully cultivated looks and teaching manners explaining techniques and then demonstrating them to nodding heads when even my granny (if she were still alive) would be able to see that they wouldn’t work. To make any … Continue reading Making It Work

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Highly Driven People

Steve Rowe

High energy and highly driven people need discipline and guidance. They are unable to understand people with low drives who find their energy obnoxious and you can see it everywhere in relationships generally and on social media. High energy and highly driven people need an incredible amount of constant discipline to channel themselves to do positive things and to hide and temper their energy levels. On the negative side when their drives are left unattended they are subject to fiery emotions including anger, addictions and attractions, these put an unreal veil over everything they think see and feel, their desires … Continue reading Highly Driven People

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Nebulous Principles, Ideas &Strategues

Steve Rowe

Student: Is it like this or this? Me: Yes. Student: how can it be both? Me: because it’s not what you do but how you do it that counts. If you are following the ideas and principles, depending on the situation, a technique can be done in a variety of ways. People want ‘easy’ and ‘simple’, they want rules. If you advertise ’easy to learn’, ‘simple steps’ and lay down a simple framework to follow, people will buy into it. The essential underlying principles, ideas and philosophy to a good martial art can be quite nebulous and require considerable study … Continue reading Nebulous Principles, Ideas &Strategues

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The Power Of Wriggling

Steve Rowe

The power of wriggling. We teach our children that if they can wriggle, they cannot be held. It saved the life of one our small 10 year olds when two adults tried to abduct him from the park. Done skilfully, with the joints connected, the power can be transferred through the entire body from the feet and discharged at the hands, this is a form fajin that you can see in breakdancing as well as martial arts. It can also go from hands to feet to stop the opponent being able to lock joints or hold on to unbalance us. … Continue reading The Power Of Wriggling

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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?