Tag: philosophy

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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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Revolution Now…

Steve Rowe

When we’re ill, there is a root cause that we can’t usually see without investigation, and symptoms that we can see straight away. Society is ill, we’re directed to blame symptoms, like immigration, old age pensioners, the sick and disabled and no one is investigating the cause. The root cause is the huge rise in wealth inequality, both in this country and globally. Capitalism has reached its zenith and is now destroying itself. There are many reasons for this that would require an encyclopaedia to explain but that doesn’t matter because we can all see the symptoms, and it can’t … Continue reading Revolution Now…

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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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Why The Fluff Am I Still Here?

Steve Rowe

Why the fluff am I still here?Genocide, starvation and cruelty worldwideHumans killing millions of other humansWhat the fluff is wrong with them? Gollums sitting on incredible wealth watching others starve while the starving worship them as idolsWhat the fluff? 92 billion animals and trillions of fish tortured and killed unnecessarily each year for foodWith humans salivating over their flesh and blood like zombies in black magic ritualsHow sick is that? Torturing Mother Earth until life and the environment is unsustainableThey argue, fiddling at the edges, voting for people instead of addressing issuesThe internet has become global miscommunication and indoctrination Othering … Continue reading Why The Fluff Am I Still Here?

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Chi Is Like Chewing Gum

Steve Rowe

Chi is like chewing gum.Chewing gum is hard and stiff but gets softer and can change shape the more you chew it. When I start my Tai Chi in the morning my chi is cold and stiff so I have use my mind, sensitivity and intention in slow careful movements to give it time to move around the body. It’s like an army sitting in my abdomen waiting to move, it sends out the scouts, then the army moves and finally the stragglers. As my body, mind, sensitivity and intention warm up and connect, the army eventually moves as one … Continue reading Chi Is Like Chewing Gum

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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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The Structure Of The Yang Cheng Fu Form

Steve Rowe

The Structure Ot The Yang Cheng Fu Form. Why is the form so long?Why are some techniques repeated so many times?Why haven’t I opted to teach any of the shorter forms? The answers are a combination of what I was taught and the results of my own studies. I was taught that the range of time it should take to do the form can range from 7 to 20 minutes depending on what I was working on that day. An average day for me is around 13 minutes but it varies according to my focus. Its length is the optimum … Continue reading The Structure Of The Yang Cheng Fu Form

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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?