Tag: self defence

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What’s Missing In Martial Arts?

Steve Rowe

With the advent of social media and mobile phones with quality cameras everyone and their dog can publicly post their martial arts, this is both a good and bad thing. From an observational point of view I often find myself thinking that many people look like they are moving reluctantly and with their ‘handbrake stuck on’ and what they are doing wouldn’t work – and asking myself why. These are my thoughts: Too much negative gym work and vanity training is isolating muscles instead of connecting them and is stiffening their body negating mobility and power. They never seem to … Continue reading What’s Missing In Martial Arts?

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Martial Arts Are Not Binary

Steve Rowe

Martial Arts are not binary. There are different types of people in every art and style and they are practiced in a myriad of different ways. Every self defence situation is pretty unique and a good martial artist has a toolbox of mental, emotional and physical strategies that they are able to use in a spontaneous way according to the situation to resolve it. I have used and seen used strategies and techniques that would be laughed at by the ‘one handed typist’ trolls and finger wagging reel makers that permeate our social media feeds. If only life was as … Continue reading Martial Arts Are Not Binary

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Tai Chi Does Me

Steve Rowe

My morning training sessionI think I’ll work on this or thatThe moment I drop into ‘the zone’Everything changesTai Chi does meInsight and wisdom arisesWay beyond what normal me could think ofIt’s wordless, full of understandingsThat would be impossible to describeI’m in awe of what comes throughThis morning it showed me the yinHow all the yang outward techniquesHad had an inward yin expressionStrikes gouges and pushes outwardHad strangles, chokes, throws and pulls on the insideBoth could co-exist at the same timeAnd be trained at the same timeLike in the yin/yang symbolWhile one was being expressedThe potential for the other always existedHow … Continue reading Tai Chi Does Me

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Old Was More Effective

Steve Rowe

What’s lacking in most modern marts? Power. People are derisory toward 70’s and 80’s Karate and Kung Fu because of their simplicity and training methods, but the truth is that the good practitioners of those days would smash straight through most of the modern technicians. They may have been raw but they had the components that worked for real and they tested it every bloody, bone crunching training session and in security work where there was no badges or cameras, only hard earned reputations. Why were they so much more powerful? Because they practised hour after hour of rock solid … Continue reading Old Was More Effective

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War And Peace

Steve Rowe

Why do we take such a black and white view on dealing with violence? You can’t view violence without looking at peace and conversely you can’t view peace without looking at violence. One only exists because of the other. Martial Arts traditionally understood why this balance is important and for those of us that have taught peace and law officers at the sharp end of violence we have had to teach this balance. You all know my mantra of ‘a soft front and strong back’ because good manners, politeness, kindness and gentleness, patience, tolerance and compassion are the mark of … Continue reading War And Peace

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Paper Tgers

Steve Rowe

I’m constantly unsubscribing to martial art pages, people and groups that ridicule others. Often someone will post a video of karate ‘bunkai’ application to a kata from up to 40 years ago and then ridicule it. I was practising Karate (that’s me in the photo with Takimazawa Sensei) and working security in the 70’s and knew that the kata had to be studied and what was demonstrated was not practical and only a demonstration for shows. Pairs work was to drill practical skills safely and was not exactly how it would be applied in the street. We practised the ‘art’ … Continue reading Paper Tgers

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Cognitive Dissonance In The Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

I posted recently on Facebook about Firemen who rescued some piglets from a fire and how the grateful farmer then slaughtered them and rewarded the firemen with sausages made from their carcasses. As a meditation I suggested that if that made the readers uncomfortable it might be because they were experiencing ‘cognitive dissonance’ because they might hold two opposing views about the piglets, one because they are cute and cuddly and the other because they like them as food. This then made me think that it might be a good idea to draw some of my teachings together under this … Continue reading Cognitive Dissonance In The Martial Arts

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Keep Your Child Safe!

Steve Rowe

VERY IMPORTANT! This is the time of the year that children are going up a school, from Infants to Junior and importantly from Junior to Senior and Senior to University. Parents in their infinite wisdom decide that their children will have more homework and often drop their martial arts training and teenagers going to university often move away from the area of their club and don’t bother to find a new one. THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE! Why? The children going from Junior to Senior school will need to move up in their martial arts club to the adult training; … Continue reading Keep Your Child Safe!

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Rules Of Self Defence and Bullying

Steve Rowe

Rules Of Self Defence And Bullying YOUR BODY BELONGS TO YOU! No-one can touch it unless you give consent. YOUR PERSONAL SPACE BELONGS TO YOU! No-one can enter it without your consent. The perimeter of your personal space is the point that you must react, reactions can range from “get out my face” with a polite hand to their chest to raising your hand to meet theirs with a redirection and maybe joint lock as it crosses that line to a pre-emptive strike in a dangerous situation. BEYOND PERSONAL SPACE IS YOUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE! Stand tall, breathe deep and … Continue reading Rules Of Self Defence and Bullying

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Tai Chi – The Ultimate Skirmish Art

Steve Rowe

Tai Chi – The Ultimate Skirmish Art “I would consider tai chi to be the ultimate skirmish art” said a night club doorman of 28 years and lifelong martial artist.  “This is exactly what happens on the doors and it gives us the skills to deal with being pushed, pulled grabbed and hit from all directions at the same time, we’re often in a melee and the ability to cope with simultaneous multi directional attacks is essential. The mental image that most have of Tai Chi is that of the ‘hippy’ or ‘health’ version and of old age pensioners creaking … Continue reading Tai Chi – The Ultimate Skirmish Art