Tag: mindfulness

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I Don’t Want Be Here Anymore

Steve Rowe

I read this by Abhisake Dutta and it really resonated with me because so few people get this: And if you’ve ever thought, “I don’t want to be here anymore,”please hear this: That thought is not a verdict.It’s a signal. Something in you is asking for care, not erasure. And the fact that you said it out loud? That means a part of you still wants help. And that part matters. “That doesn’t mean you want to disappear,” she said.“It means you’re exhausted from enduring.” And something inside me finally exhaled. She explained that sometimes the body doesn’t want to … Continue reading I Don’t Want Be Here Anymore

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Mindful Training

Steve Rowe

I teach the opposite. Too many people think that their way is the only way. Everyone is different, and ‘one size to fit all’ is for people that are unable or too lazy to think for themselves. We need to understand ourselves, our body, emotions, how our mind works, and listen to our body, energy, instincts and emotions, set our goals and plan a routine with expert advice if possible on how to achieve them and be prepared to alter it if it isn’t working. An 80 yrs old arthritic sufferer, a 40 yrs old mum, someone rehabilitating from illness … Continue reading Mindful Training

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A Better Way In 2026

Steve Rowe

Let me offer a more permanent solution to all the things you’re about to do and fail at. Don’t diet to look good. Eat to care for your body, the animals and the environment. Don’t punish your body at the gym out of vanity or to please others. Train in a method that heals your body and nourishes your emotions, mind and spirit changing you for the better permanently. Don’t see your club or work as a ‘business’ to make money. See it as value and support for your community enriching your local environment and genuinely helping colleagues and students … Continue reading A Better Way In 2026

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The Coin Of Desire

Steve Rowe

Someone said the other day that you have to get off your arse, follow your desires and live – or you’re just existing. The thought struck me that sitting still, not being subject to your desires and just existing is actually better. The Buddha said that suffering is borne from desire. When you get to appreciate that desire is the survival mechanism of the body and actually doesn’t belong to you, you can see it objectively instead of being subject to it. Desire is a thirst that can never be fully quenched, it will always want more or go from … Continue reading The Coin Of Desire

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Get Real

Steve Rowe

Doesn’t matter how much you imagine it, it’s never the same as direct experience. Be it violence, cancer, enlightenment, mental health problems, amputation, or penetrating the shell to get that spontaneous freedom within your art. I feel sorry for the people that have an ‘easy life’ because without that essential hardship and paying their dues, they never get the essential insight and wisdom. So many are just travellers in life, wearing the masks and having an easy time, and it makes me wonder, WTF are they doing here? They’re like the ‘copy and paste’ internet version of humans. If you … Continue reading Get Real

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Mental Health Help

Steve Rowe

Mental health. The problem is that if you haven’t experienced it yourself, you can never really understand. You can be there for someone who’s suffering, but never say I understand or try to put yourself in their place, because you can’t. Anything you can imagine, isn’t what it is. Only give advice if asked, but always caveat it with the fact that you haven’t experienced it yourself but will do whatever you can to help. Mental health is an incredibly lonely place to be and the hardest dark hole to try to climb out of. Every time you think it’s … Continue reading Mental Health Help

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Tai Chi And Shu Ha Ri

Steve Rowe

Tai Chi = Supreme UltimateShu Ha Ri = Follow, break and transcend the rules Both are philosophies that predate martial arts and are regularly applied to them. The problem is that they are usually only understood transliterally and not in the way the originators meant. Tai Chi explains the structure and balance of the universe and is expressed in the tai chi (yin/yang) symbol and is also a state of enlightenment, when internalised, its analogous to the transcendence of ‘ri’ in ‘shu ha ri’. Any traditional martial art will be layered with meditation, exercises and techniques for the student to … Continue reading Tai Chi And Shu Ha Ri

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Don’t You Get It?

Steve Rowe

As teachers we often feel inadequate. Even after a lifetime of studying our art and how to teach it we find it hard to understand why so many can never penetrate the soul of what we teach. But we can only do our best. We can’t do any more. We write, we film, we blog, we post, we find a myriad of ways to explain simple ideas and concepts that to us are glaringly obvious but elude the cluttered minds of others that are either distracted or apathetic. We get students to look through windows from all angles at the … Continue reading Don’t You Get It?

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Do You Hate Your Body?

Steve Rowe

Do you hate your body? When you train do you take pleasure from punishing it?Do you hurt it out of annoyance?When you look in the mirror do you hate what you see?Why? Your body is the only lifelong friend you’ll ever have.If you look after it, it’ll look after you.It has its own wordless language and is always communicating with you.Before going wrong, it whispers, then talks, then shouts warnings if you able to listen.It loves movement, loves good training, healthy nutrition and repays you good feelings and joy.Why would you let anyone else make you betray that friendship? You’re … Continue reading Do You Hate Your Body?