Tag: meditation

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Your Body Knows Best

Steve Rowe

Back on the antibiotics for infection in my knee and have all the side effects of bad stomach, pain in all my arthritic joints, fatigue and a bit of nausea so my morning training took a strange turn. You know how when you do your morning stretch it’s different to a ‘training’ stretch? I often refer to it in qigong because it has a ‘stimulate, store and release’ quality to the energy. Well, today my body spontaneously did it in every tai chi technique and it alleviated a lot of the side effects of the antibiotics. Sometimes our bodies know … Continue reading Your Body Knows Best

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Mudras & Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

Every Tai Chi and Karate body and hand ‘attitude’ and shape can be considered a mudra. Mudras are internal actions, involving the pelvic floor, spine, joints, cavities, diaphragm, throat, eyes, tongue, anus, genitals, abdomen, and other parts of the body and the energy of these actions are then expressed through the hands. In Tai Chi it is said that’s its important to have ‘beautiful hands’. All the hand shapes in Tai Chi are categorised in the Karate kata ‘Tensho’ also known as ‘Rokkisho’, ‘Heavenly Palms’ or ‘Spirit Hands’. The ‘6 Hands’ of Tensho represent the ‘5 Animals’ and are grafted … Continue reading Mudras & Martial Arts

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Don’t Overtrain

Steve Rowe

I think I overtrained yesterday, by the time I went to bed, everything hurt and this morning everything is sore and due to low testosterone from the cancer hormone therapy, radiation and age, emotionally fragile. So morning training has to be ‘small frame’ and ‘double meditation’ to heal. The 8 core skills are soften, connect, open, close, stretch, compress, twist and release, so small frame meant that I didn’t use stretch and compress meaning no fajin. This meant that I moved the energy around the body and kept it in to nourish it and heal ‘monk’ style. Double meditation means … Continue reading Don’t Overtrain

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The Top Of The Mountain

Steve Rowe

Anyone training in the martial arts needs to educate and alchemise their body, mind and emotions. There are only so many ways they can effectively do this. If they train to fight, they have to train the body and also their health, including the emotions and mind. If they train for health or skill the same also applies, so whatever the reason, to reach the top of the mountain. the route has to contain the same basics. The mountain can have many paths, soft, hard, internal, external, different arts and styles, but when they reach the top, they have to … Continue reading The Top Of The Mountain

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Freedom!

Steve Rowe

Life is based on desireThe desire to have or not haveWhen we free ourself from desireWe are enlightened from itNo one can control usTemptation is goneAdverts and media pressureHave no effectWe walk a solitary pathBecause others can’t understandWe don’t fear lifeBecause it is as it isWe don’t fear deathBecause we don’t desire lifeThere is no pressureNo anxietyNo fearWe’ve found peaceAnd acceptanceA deeper happiness arisesBecause we weren’t trying. Continue reading Freedom!

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Emotional Alchemy

Steve Rowe

REALLY IMPORTANT if you work with qi/chi/ki in your technique is to understand how the energy is coloured by areas of the body and how this affects areas of your life. The ‘alchemy’ is the study and journey of how your emotions affect you and therefore to be able to understand them and develop emotional intelligence. I’ve stripped away any ‘spiritual’ dogma to show how useful they are to practical martial artists. I’ve used my keywords for each chakra here to help you see how practical this study is to help you become a more balanced martial artist. Root Chakra … Continue reading Emotional Alchemy

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Screaming Into The Void

Steve Rowe

Screaming into the voidNo one’s listeningThey’ll ask you how you areAnd turn offThey don’t really want to knowThey’ll tell you their opinionBut they won’t listen to youThey think they careBut they don’tAs long as they get what they wantAs long as you don’t get in the wayAs long as you’re no botherAs long as you fit into their ideasOf who and what you areThey’ll tolerate youOtherwise you’re a pain in the assIf you can walk away you’re luckyIf you can’t you’re fuckedThe void is realYou’re scream is silentIt comes from the soulIt involves every cell of the bodyBut the void … Continue reading Screaming Into The Void

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Using Both Sides Of The Brain To Learn

Steve Rowe

We spent a lot of time yesterday ‘learning how to learn’, understanding how differently the left and right brain learns and how both are useful. Learning in words, in a linear logical method is essential and the most useful way of starting, once the sequence is internalised the mind can easily become distracted or lazy, at this point we need to go deeper, increasing our awareness, focus, sensitivity and intensity until we are eventually studying micro moments and connections. We also need to learn by ‘direct transmission’ and this depends on the relationship between teacher and student, it’s wordless and … Continue reading Using Both Sides Of The Brain To Learn

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The Power Of Silence And Stillness

Steve Rowe

We have to develop and alchemise silence and stillnessIt’s the only way to give life perspectiveIf we’re always moving, thinking and feelingHow can we give it context without anything to compare it with?The amount of time and focus we give to each is importantWhen we develop silence and stillnessWe can see everything objectivelyWe can develop insight and wisdomThis gives value and insight into our thoughts, feelings and activitiesWhen we mindlessly engage in lifeWe’re asleep at the wheelOur locus of power is externalWhen we add the power of silence and stillnessWe’re awake and our locus of power is internalWe’re no longer … Continue reading The Power Of Silence And Stillness