Tag: Tai Chi

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Training With A Full Bladder

Steve Rowe

“You should train with a full bladder”. This was advice from my teacher. It took me a while to understand. The pubococcygeus muscle controls the urinary flow and coccyx and is the lower bridge between the governor and conception vessels promoting the flow of chi. But it doesn’t act alone. The spiralling of the feet to the floor opens the hips and raises the pelvic floor the tightening of the PC muscle in this movement bows the bottom part of the spine helping to connect the 3 bows of the body (legs, spine and arms) connecting, stimulating, storing and releasing … Continue reading Training With A Full Bladder

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NTKO’s & Woo Woo

Steve Rowe

So much martial arts media is taken up on either ridiculing or supporting these subjects. Many of the originators came from a good martial arts background including karate, tai chi, systema and the military. Although I have a deep background in philosophy, Buddhism, Taoism and other systems, I also have a strong background in the fighting arts and the security and law enforcement fields. So I tend to have a very practical outlook. In tai chi we extensively use techniques to block neurology, blood, oxygen and lymphatic systems, we press, poke, strike, and rub cavities, shorten tendons, muscles and fascia … Continue reading NTKO’s & Woo Woo

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Personal Alchemy

Steve Rowe

We need to work on our entire being in our martial studies. We have to educate, discipline and train our fear, anger and desires to be able to listen to and rely on our instincts and ‘gut feelings’. This becomes our driver and is how we become who and what we are meant to be rather than being manipulated by others and our own ignorance. Martial arts is a personal alchemy where we become a strong individual forging our own path and taking responsibility for our own development and studies. The ball is firmly in our court. Continue reading Personal Alchemy

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Posting On Social Media

Steve Rowe

What you post on social media as a martial artist is importantYou should be genuineBy reading or watching what you postGives you the opportunity to be objectiveAnd learn about yourselfIf you put others down, even surreptitiouslyYou only demean yourselfWe often do it without realisingInsulting people followed by a complimentIs a double insult and most people know thisTelling people what ‘not’ to doOr that something is wrongIs insulting those that do itWhy not be positiveAnd put out there what you doAnd let others judgeWhat’s good or badWhat’s right or wrongThe only time you should look down on someoneIs to give them … Continue reading Posting On Social Media

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There’s A Hole In My Bucket

Steve Rowe

I’ve always found the idea of having a ‘bucket list’ a bit selfish and strange. Is this the purpose and quality we put on having a life? Shouldn’t we find our meaning and purpose within every moment? It’s the same as having to take a holiday, is our life so mundane and bad that we have to get away? Spend all our time wishing we were somewhere else and being pampered like a child? If our life is so unsatisfying maybe we should look inward and make changes that then reflect outward into each moment so that we don’t need … Continue reading There’s A Hole In My Bucket

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The Enemies Of The Mind

Steve Rowe

The mind has 2 enemies. Apathy and distraction. There are people that appear to be doing perfect meditation, standing practice and slow tai chi but are in fact faking it by using one of these two enemies of a mindful state. I used to look at these people in awe, not realising that they were ‘mindless’ instead of ‘mindful’, that there was nothing positive going on inside that unfocused shell. Some people are naturally lazy and find it easy to be doing nothing by faking meditation but as soon as something ‘rattles their cage’ in life, they go to pieces. … Continue reading The Enemies Of The Mind

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Form And Kata

Steve Rowe

Form can be practiced by anyone of any age or condition on their own without the need of equipment. They have 3 treasures:Health – they are moving yoga improving posture, flexibility, strength, breathing, increasing emotional intelligence,and mindfulness. Skill – techniques are combined to increase skill levels of basics moving multi directionally to long and short turns jumping and dropping. Application – breaking down each technique and applying it on an opponent to make it work. They can also be ‘coloured’ in different ways. Monk – like a moving meditation to reduce negative emotions. Warrior – as you would use the … Continue reading Form And Kata

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When Tai Chi Arrives

Steve Rowe

It took me a long time to get this. In a lesson with Ma Lee Yang we were talking about the differences between mol gik, tai gik and tai chi. Mol gik is the infinite and tai chi movement creating yin and yang and tai gik inbetween the two. I asked if tai gik was the intention to move and Ma Lee said “no it’s when tai chi arrives”. This really troubled me, did it mean that I was to wait for tai chi to arrive? What happens if it didn’t? I realised the idea of ‘you don’t do tai … Continue reading When Tai Chi Arrives

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The Blind Men And The Elephant

Steve Rowe

Tai Chi teachers often remind me of the blind men and the elephant. Tai Chi by its very nature is impossible to define and however we try, we will always make it less than it is. We can only lead a student toward their own enlightenment from opinion and let them make their own journey to see what we are unable to fully describe. It’s the same for a teacher in any art. We have to be careful that we don’t let our ego get in the way and give people the impression that only we have the ‘real’ Tai … Continue reading The Blind Men And The Elephant

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Eagle Eye

Steve Rowe

Eagle Eye…. I’ve already broken down what both chi and intention is and the eyes can also lead the intention. In Tai Chi we have the ‘eye form’ where in the beginning we use the eyes to draw the chi to the leading hand in the form, this helps us to develop the qualities of intention helping to keep our awareness, concentration, sensitivity, intensity and emotional content (our mindfulness) in an unbroken thread throughout the entire form. When we have internalised this skill and it becomes a natural part of our form, we can then focus on the secondary hand … Continue reading Eagle Eye