Tag: qigong

Articles1 Comment

The Power Of Wriggling

Steve Rowe

The power of wriggling. We teach our children that if they can wriggle, they cannot be held. It saved the life of one our small 10 year olds when two adults tried to abduct him from the park. Done skilfully, with the joints connected, the power can be transferred through the entire body from the feet and discharged at the hands, this is a form fajin that you can see in breakdancing as well as martial arts. It can also go from hands to feet to stop the opponent being able to lock joints or hold on to unbalance us. … Continue reading The Power Of Wriggling

ArticlesLeave a comment

You Already Know It!

Steve Rowe

Most of social media is designed to lead you astray, particularly in the martial arts and some of the worst manipulators (whether they know it or not) are those that train and teach our arts. First of all YOU ALREADY KNOW IT so you don’t need ‘teachers’ telling you that you don’t understand and it takes years of training etc. they are laying smoke screens and diverting you from seeing what you should already know naturally. Every mammal is born with this inner knowing, look at cats, dogs, monkeys, tigers and so on, even humans when they’re ’in the zone’ … Continue reading You Already Know It!

ArticlesLeave a comment

Tai Chi Is Simple And Easy

Steve Rowe

Tai Chi is ‘simple and easy’, it’s only one thing that we view through many different windows to increase our understanding. The first aware breath you take in neigong makes you better than you were before you took it. Your first lesson where you’re taught to ‘stand tall, breathe deep and focus your mind’ makes you better than before you attended. It makes you feel better, healthier, more happy and positive. From that point on you can only improve these skills. Always practice with an inner smile knowing that you can only get better. It takes years to ‘master’ musical … Continue reading Tai Chi Is Simple And Easy

ArticlesLeave a comment

Fingers & Thumbs In Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

Carrying on from my posts on cupping and flattening the palms of the hands to pump the energy and the power of mudras to manipulate it on discharge I thought I’d do a post on fingers and thumbs as they manipulate both. All these posts are on my blog. The thumb controls a large part of the hand and the ‘tiger’s mouth’ (the area between thumb and forefinger) and is used extensively for trapping and guiding the opponent. The forefinger ‘points’ and directs the hand and energy also stretching to work the other part of the tiger’s mouth. The middle … Continue reading Fingers & Thumbs In Tai Chi

ArticlesLeave a comment

Tai Chi Teachers

Steve Rowe

When someone spends ages telling us what taiji/qi/neigong/qigong isn’t, I’m waiting for them to tell me what it is. When they’re telling us that we’re all ignorant and don’t understand and only they do, my spidey senses are alerted. When we’re told that you have to spend years to understand and train it I can definitely smell snake oil. Whatever art or system you train in after your first session you’ll be better than you were before it. Then you build your skills as the days, weeks, months and years go by, exactly the same as if you were learning … Continue reading Tai Chi Teachers

ArticlesLeave a comment

Semantic Satiation In Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

Semantic satiation is when you’ve repeated a word many times and it loses its meaning and becomes just a sound, this can also happen with tai chi techniques. You’re practising your form day after day, month after month and year after year, the form has become a moving meditation, suddenly that technique that you’ve done so many times feels wrong. This is how when your mind and movement have gone from ‘absorption’ to ‘insight’, the conditions are right for these insights to arise. Your mind is receiving messages from the body to tell you ‘this isn’t right’ and that it … Continue reading Semantic Satiation In Tai Chi

ArticlesLeave a comment

Body Intelligence

Steve Rowe

Body IntelligenceThe more we train, the more get to realise and utilise this skill. The mindfulness aspect of training means that as we develop good posture and deep breathing: Our body calms down,Then our emotions calm down,Finally our mind calms down and becomes more aware, focused, sensitive and intense. This means that instead of trying to train subjectively and having to take instruction, as we’ve been indoctrinated to do with the desire to ‘become’ something, our new state of being is able to observe objectively to see and feel what is actually going on. This unified state of inner calm … Continue reading Body Intelligence

ArticlesLeave a comment

Stimulate Store & Release Qi In Taiji

Steve Rowe

In Tai Chi we often talk about the 3 bows, the arms legs and spine (some separate them and call them the 5 bows), it’s good terminology as bows store and release energy. The more you study you realise that there are actually hundreds of bows throughout the body, every joint acts as a bow from fingers, toes, palms, arches, shoulders, hips chest and so on. As we connect and coordinate all these bows, we need to develop the ability to release all excessive tension so they can function effectively. We then stimulate the energy using the mind and emotions, … Continue reading Stimulate Store & Release Qi In Taiji

ArticlesLeave a comment

Qi – Our Life Force

Steve Rowe

The air we breathe and the food we eat gives us the energy to think, feel, move, and function. Our ability to harmonise the different manifestations of this energy, to use them intelligently and alchemise their harmony is the base of all martial arts study. We call the energy qi, the ability to look inwards and study it neigong (inner work), we exercise it by stimulating, storing and releasing it with qigong (energy work) we diversify that with solitary technical self defence of our health, skill and body with forms (kata) and apply it toward others with partner work. If … Continue reading Qi – Our Life Force