Tag: martial arts

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The Best Way To Start Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

The best way to start in any martial art and particularly Tai Chi is with posture and breathing exercises. Good posture gets rid of excess tension and allows for deep breathing, balance and mobility. Deep breathing calms the body, emotions and mind. When the mind follows the breath, the energy moves with it. This brings about a state of mindfulness and the ability to manipulate energy. In my Tai Chi this is then the foundation for qigong exercises, forms and push hands, done ‘monk style’ for self healing, and then taken into applications and weapons ‘warrior style’ for further health, … Continue reading The Best Way To Start Tai Chi

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How I Became Vegetarian

Steve Rowe

It was the 70’s.I’d been dragged up on a South London council estate, gone to the worst school in London, left school with no qualifications and drifted from job to job falling into the security world. From boxing, kickboxing to karate and spit and sawdust gyms doing bodybuilding to bulk up for the violence incurred at work. I thought respect, friendship and love, were all based on other people’s fear of me…. Until Tai Chi led me into the Taoist, Zen and Buddhist practice of mindfulness. I found dependent origination and the practice of patient kindness – that led me … Continue reading How I Became Vegetarian

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The Kung Fu of Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

10 hours of intensive private lessons over 2 days for 2 of my best Tai Chi students from the Czech Republic that I’ve known and taught for around 35 years. These kind of relationships are worth their weight in gold for both me and them. People often talk about the ‘secrets’ of Tai Chi and how the deeper teachings are ‘held back’ but the truth is that the students can only understand at a level that their study and training has taken them. All the ‘secrets’ are taught right at the beginning, but it takes decades for the student to … Continue reading The Kung Fu of Tai Chi

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Pay Attention

Steve Rowe

To all you overthinkers…. I asked a student how long he meditated each day and he said “20 minutes”. I then asked him what he did while meditating and he replied ”I think about my breathing.” He wasn’t meditating, he was spending 20 minutes a day thinking…. He couldn’t differentiate between thinking and paying attention. Paying attention is mindfulness. And not for 20 minutes a day, but all day in everything we do. We think with the self, we pay attention with our consciousness. From paying attention and being mindful thinking slows down and insight and wisdom arise. “Mindfulness is … Continue reading Pay Attention

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Shamanism & The Tiger…

Steve Rowe

This sits on the chest of drawers next to my bed. I was born in 1950 the year of the tiger, and it’s my 76th birthday next week. I also have a tiger tattoo on my upper arm and a painting of one in the Dojo. Tigers represent resolve, determination, strength, power, fluidity and ferocity, they are very special to me and an important Tai Chi animal, present along with the snake and crane in every technique. My kung fu is shamanistic and I take on the heart and spirit of these animals when I train. I see through the … Continue reading Shamanism & The Tiger…

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Stop Saying Yes…

Steve Rowe

It’s too easy to say yes to everyone. Being a self employed martial art instructor you start by saying yes to everyone.Everyone that wants you teach classesEveryone that wants a private lessonEveryone that wants you to attend or teach at an eventEveryone that wants to feature you on a podcast or in a magazineEveryone that wants to ‘network’ or visit you You’re subject to their flattery. You feel vulnerable. You feel inadequate. You’re prey to the business advisors who fill you with FOMO. Gradually you hone your skills in all areas and have to take control of your time and … Continue reading Stop Saying Yes…

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Own Your Mind

Steve Rowe

It’s important to take time and spaceTo be still and silentNo TVNo radioNo musicAnd no peopleStop filling your mind with crapEveryone else wants a piece of itIt’s too easy to give it awayMindlesslyBe stillBe silentTurn your senses inwardAnd find yourselfDiscover your powerOwn your own mindAnd don’t let anything or anyone inWithout filtering itDevelop your own locus of power. Continue reading Own Your Mind

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Fall Down Seven Times

Steve Rowe

During the day the emotional toolbox is goodBehind the trained emotions sits the abyssOnly rearing its head in the spacesEarly to bed avoids the fatigue and the black dogEvery night is the same dreamSearching for what is not there anymoreWaking at 4am exhaustedNot wanting to go back to the dreamWrite poetry5am get upMeditateTrainBurn incenseChantCommune with the infiniteRefreshedCarry onFall Down seven timesGet up seven timesNot bloody eight. Continue reading Fall Down Seven Times

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Chinese Whispers

Steve Rowe

Chinese Whispers In WW1 there’s a story that in the trenches commands were ‘passed down the line’ and by the time “send reinforcements we’re going to advance” had gone down a long line of men it had become “send two and sixpence were going to a dance!” We never know how much knowledge passed down orally has become corrupted. I come across it regularly because I’m old and have studied the classics for over 50 years and often know the uncorrupted versions. But even then, were the original and revered ‘masters’ that good? The stories and legends of both Tai … Continue reading Chinese Whispers

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The Devine Feminine

Steve Rowe

The Devine Feminine I’m told that being a man I can’t understand the feminine and that I therefore don’t have the right or ability to speak or write about it, but I can write from my own perspective and extensive studies in that area. To me femininity is not just about sex or what men’s expectations are, but the gifts that nature bestows on the female. The abrahamic religions talk about god creating man and that woman is made from a part of man, to me that’s the masculine hijacking the role of the feminine and it sits behind our … Continue reading The Devine Feminine