Tag: Tai Chi

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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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Lineage and Secrets

Steve Rowe

One of the things we discussed today was ‘secret teachings’ and ‘lineage’ emanating from some of the silly posts that crop up on social media. Who has ‘the secrets’ and who doesn’t is an incredibly childish argument and understanding by narrow minded people. Firstly there’s good and bad teachers and they can come from all sources, some with family lineage and some without. There’s also good and bad students taught by the good teachers. How can you tell who is who?Simple.Get hands on with them and feel for yourself.Look at their character, track record and development.Look at their senior students, … Continue reading Lineage and Secrets

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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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Tai Chi With Closed Eyes?

Steve Rowe

Should you practice Tai Chi with your eyes closed? Yes and no. The eyes direct your intent and the intent directs the chi. By looking at the yang (husband) hand you are cultivating the chi to that point for striking and pushing etc. By looking to the yin (wife) hand you are cultivating it for yielding, pulling or shaking etc. By looking at the opponent you are cultivating the technical combative use. By closing them you are cultivating the internal use for sensitivity and allowing the chi to use its own intelligence and give you insight to its use for … Continue reading Tai Chi With Closed Eyes?

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Kime and Fajin

Steve Rowe

Kime and FajinWords are always inadequate and can only point the way to a much deeper meaning. If you say ‘kick’ to a non martial artist, they’d think of kicking a football or a tin can, a martial artist would think of something far deeper and a senior martial artist even deeper still. Translating from one language to another confuses it even more. I often see heated discussion between people looking at the same thing through different windows that can’t see it’s the same. The literal translation of Japanese or Chinese words is insufficient for the martial arts. The word … Continue reading Kime and Fajin

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Validate What You Learn

Steve Rowe

Tai Chi history is usually skewed toward the author or speaker. Once we know this we can read or listen with an unfettered mind. There is only one way to validate what someone knows or doesn’t know and that’s to touch or cross hands. In my experience it was rare to cross hands with someone that had the kind of knowledge that I was looking for. It really was a ‘needle in a haystack’ scenario. Never believe what anyone says or teaches, including me. If you find a source that you trust, yield to their teachings, practice them until you … Continue reading Validate What You Learn

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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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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