Tag: meditation

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Don’t Think – Feel…

Steve Rowe

  “If you work on your mind with your mind, how can you not be confused?” A very common problem with the students I teach. They know that they are stuck, they know that they are suffering as a result.  It’s all very well telling them to ‘think outside the box’ or to find the ‘infinite stillness within’ or as Bruce Lee would say “don’t think, feel” but if thinking is the tool that you’ve always used to problem solve, you’re stuck.  You can only work on your mind with your mind up to a point. And the mind is … Continue reading Don’t Think – Feel…

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What Tai Chi Gives Me

Steve Rowe

  Tai Chi allows me to let go.  When we can’t let go we are consumed with anxiety, fear, anger and desire. Often we don’t know it because we are it, we are consumed and unhappy. Some people darken a room when they enter and some light it up. Those that darken it are consumed by all those negative traits and can’t understand why their life is so bad. Those that lighten it have learned to let them go and are ‘awake’ to the balance of light and dark known as yin and yang – they have found balance. If … Continue reading What Tai Chi Gives Me

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The ‘Taste’ Of Kung Fu

Steve Rowe

The ‘Taste’ Of Kung Fu…. We’re told that people learn auditory (hearing), visually (looking) and physically (doing), we always use all 3 methods but depending on character will lean more towards one method than the others, I’d like to also add a personal one – taste. Taste? I hear you ask, how can you learn by taste?  Do you have to lick your instructor? Thankfully you don’t, BUT everything has a ‘flavour’ if you can sense it and if you pick up the ‘taste’ of Yang Family Tai Chi, tiger, snake, leopard, dragon, Hung Gar or whatever, you start learning … Continue reading The ‘Taste’ Of Kung Fu

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Why Bowing Is Important..

Steve Rowe

  Why Bowing Is Important When you walk into a Dojo or Kwoon, before and after a lesson and before and after any kata, form and pairs work in a traditional system you will bow as a sign of respect.  This simple sign of courtesy is a great reminder and marker of the varying types of mindset we have to engender and train at each stage of training. Entering the training hall it separates you from the outside world and reminds you to clear all external worries, anxieties and  distractions from your mind so that you can focus on the … Continue reading Why Bowing Is Important..

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A Different Tao

Steve Rowe

I’m on a different path. I’m a vegetarian Buddhist Taoist martial artist. I fight for peace, not war. I don’t have to convince everyone I’m ‘hard’. Don’t need to threaten them. I’m not so scared of everyone that I have to snarl like an abused dog sitting in the corner. Not so needy that I have to behave like a Diva. Don’t need to make myself look bigger by making others look smaller. I prefer to support what’s good, not shout about what’s bad. Don’t need new trendy names or pretty clothes. A turd rolled in glitter is still a … Continue reading A Different Tao

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Yang Tai Chi ‘Head & Feet’

Steve Rowe

In the classics it says ‘suspend the head’, what most people don’t get is that it is an ‘active’ requirement, this means that you have to actively do this all of the time. This is an act of mindfulness. It lightens and aligns the body making it weightless and mobile, but the moment it becomes inactive – you become a clumsy zombie! The classics also say that power ‘comes from the feet, is manipulated by the waist and expressed through the hands’. Whatever we do, we always start from the feet, when I touch a student’s arm they resist in a … Continue reading Yang Tai Chi ‘Head & Feet’

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Do You Train To Fight?

Steve Rowe

“The end result of martial arts training is to fight” – is it? Mine isn’t.  Mine includes the emotional intelligence to deal with confrontation in all it’s guises, to be able have resolve, determination and courage when needed, along with the patience, kindness, tolerance and compassion and their associated requisite skills when needed. To keep the peace. The calligraphy for ‘Budo’ and ‘Wu Shu’ is ‘to stop the spear’. The ‘Wa’ in ‘Wado’ means harmony and balance, as does ‘Aiki’ in Aikido, ‘Goju’ in ‘Goju Ryu’ and ‘Tai Chi’ means ‘Grand Ultimate’ as in the harmony of an enlightened mind. … Continue reading Do You Train To Fight?

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The Magic Key

Steve Rowe

You have two eyes, two ears and one mouth for a reason First of all you don’t have to like your coach to learn from him (could be ‘he’ or she’ but I’ll use ‘he’ in this instance).  If he has the information you need, suck up your personal opinion of him and absorb yourself into the information. He’s not there to be liked, or entertain, if he’s serious, he’s there to make you a good martial artist and through the process you will probably love and hate him – often in the same session. A good coach will be … Continue reading The Magic Key

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Tai Chi And Driving Your Car

Steve Rowe

  Tai Chi is one thing, you just ‘do’ it. Students often remark that on one hand we say this, but then we give them a list of things to remember when ‘doing it’ and they end up getting stressed trying to do all these things at once. A list might be: Stand straight and raise the crown of the head. Put the tongue to the top palette. Spiral the feet to the floor. Release the ankles, knees and hips. Release and lengthen the spine. Sink the chest. Open the lower back. Move and breathe from the Dantien. Flex the … Continue reading Tai Chi And Driving Your Car

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Pain In The Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

  “Sifu/Sensei, why don’t pressure points and locks work on you? Don’t you feel pain?” The fact is that they hurt me just as much as they hurt you. The difference is that I choose not to yield to the pain. Pain and your reaction to it tells me a lot about you. The world is full of mentally weak people. The moment they get any discomfort they want to give up, run to their Mummy and want it kissed better and have a Mickey Mouse plaster put on it – and Im talking adults of all ages here. There … Continue reading Pain In The Martial Arts