Tag: Tai Chi

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Find Your Being

Steve Rowe

Look into the eyes of any animal and you can see an intense ‘being’ looking back at you. We forget our human ‘being’ and it tends to lie dormant whilst our convoluted survival mechanism subjects us to its fears and anxieties. But our ‘being’ instantly recognises itself in the eyes of the animals and intensifies, this deep recognition reminds us of who we really are and is the reason that any decent human loves animals and has a primal empathy with them. We can use this to enhance our ‘beingness’ in meditation and training. This is why martial arts uses … Continue reading Find Your Being

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Beautiful Hands In Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

In Tai Chi we say that you should have beautiful, fluid, expressive hands. Fajin requires you to stimulate, store, release and discharge energy, for that transmission through the body requires loose, coordinated joints and soft tissue to bring the power to the hands, but it’s here that so many people lose it. The arches of the feet and palms of the hands are connected both physically and energetically, the drive from the feet with the loose joints and the body’s centre brings the bodyweight and momentum to the hands joining the energy released from the opening, closing, compressing and stretching … Continue reading Beautiful Hands In Tai Chi

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Yield To A Good Teacher

Steve Rowe

Everyone wants to learn on their own terms. This is what holds them back. Remember those old Kung Fu movies where the kung fu monk wannabe would go to the temple and sit outside the gates for days before being accepted? They’d sweep the yard, scrub the floors and wash the others clothes for months to show commitment before being accepted. Even now, many students are abused, physically, mentally, sexually and financially by their ‘master’ because they wrongly assume that they’re going to get ‘the secrets’. Stupid eh? But….. the best way to really learn is to find a good … Continue reading Yield To A Good Teacher

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The Importance Of Ritual

Steve Rowe

I’ve been asked to talk a little bit more about the importance of ritual. I’m ritual magic, before working on their inner self for healing and creating energy, the magicians would shower, anoint themselves with oils, wear a clean robe, go to the shrine room where they would keep a continuous flame burning 24/7. They would consecrate the space with water, and salt and cast a circle calling on the gods or elementals of 4 directions drawing symbols with a blade for protection. The preparation was important to create the right mindset to dig deep and do energetic work. In … Continue reading The Importance Of Ritual

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Every Training Is Different

Steve Rowe

Training on the fire escape this morning was very different. There was a strong smell of cannabis being farmed on the breeze (well it is Chatham) mixed with the scent of the flowers. It’s 5 months since Ann died and the grief is still raw with the birds circling the feeding table in the garden and sitting on the nearby branches looking down at where their food used to be. They still remember her. I can’t get down to the garden or to where they were fed so am unable to continue her legacy and I found myself apologising to … Continue reading Every Training Is Different

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8 Essential Bodycore Skills

Steve Rowe

I teach 8 bodycore skills that relate to all martial arts. They are: SoftenConnectOpenCloseStretchCompressTwistRelease We spend a lifetime studying these and are forever finding more depth. Softening without collapsing leads to connection throughout the body. Open and close are passive and a form of releasing, if you try to stretch or compress without going through these stages you will be stiff and awkward. Stretching without stiffening gives you the range to utilise stretching to encourage the flow of energy and compressing without collapsing does the same. Twisting is a form of both of these but deserves a separate study. Release … Continue reading 8 Essential Bodycore Skills

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The Best Way To Start Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

The best way to start in any martial art and particularly Tai Chi is with posture and breathing exercises. Good posture gets rid of excess tension and allows for deep breathing, balance and mobility. Deep breathing calms the body, emotions and mind. When the mind follows the breath, the energy moves with it. This brings about a state of mindfulness and the ability to manipulate energy. In my Tai Chi this is then the foundation for qigong exercises, forms and push hands, done ‘monk style’ for self healing, and then taken into applications and weapons ‘warrior style’ for further health, … Continue reading The Best Way To Start Tai Chi

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The Kung Fu of Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

10 hours of intensive private lessons over 2 days for 2 of my best Tai Chi students from the Czech Republic that I’ve known and taught for around 35 years. These kind of relationships are worth their weight in gold for both me and them. People often talk about the ‘secrets’ of Tai Chi and how the deeper teachings are ‘held back’ but the truth is that the students can only understand at a level that their study and training has taken them. All the ‘secrets’ are taught right at the beginning, but it takes decades for the student to … Continue reading The Kung Fu of Tai Chi

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Pay Attention

Steve Rowe

To all you overthinkers…. I asked a student how long he meditated each day and he said “20 minutes”. I then asked him what he did while meditating and he replied ”I think about my breathing.” He wasn’t meditating, he was spending 20 minutes a day thinking…. He couldn’t differentiate between thinking and paying attention. Paying attention is mindfulness. And not for 20 minutes a day, but all day in everything we do. We think with the self, we pay attention with our consciousness. From paying attention and being mindful thinking slows down and insight and wisdom arise. “Mindfulness is … Continue reading Pay Attention

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Shamanism & The Tiger…

Steve Rowe

This sits on the chest of drawers next to my bed. I was born in 1950 the year of the tiger, and it’s my 76th birthday next week. I also have a tiger tattoo on my upper arm and a painting of one in the Dojo. Tigers represent resolve, determination, strength, power, fluidity and ferocity, they are very special to me and an important Tai Chi animal, present along with the snake and crane in every technique. My kung fu is shamanistic and I take on the heart and spirit of these animals when I train. I see through the … Continue reading Shamanism & The Tiger…