Tag: Tai Chi

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Mindfulness

Steve Rowe

  MINDFULNESS Our use of the word ‘mind’ in English can be quite versatile.  As a noun it describes our awareness, consciousness and thought, as a verb it can mean ‘to take care of’ like in ‘mind the child’ or when getting on a train ‘mind the gap’, so to be ‘mindful’ is to increase our awareness and consciousness and to take care of our thinking and feelings. So we ‘mind the mind’, we take care of it.  All the time we remain mindful, we are watching our thoughts, emotions and actions and this act in itself is life changing. … Continue reading Mindfulness

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Compassion

Steve Rowe

  Compassion The human race cannot survive without compassion. It’s what joins us, makes us work together to resolve our problems and evolve.  As the World is becoming more insular, as we separate ourselves from and demonise groups of people, becoming inured to their suffering we are evolving in the wrong direction and ensuring our mutual destruction. Compassion is to be able to see clearly into the nature of suffering and not be separate from it.  Compassion is itself untainted, it cannot be attached to an outcome, it’s enemies are pity, moral outrage and fear – it transforms suffering. Meditation … Continue reading Compassion

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Winner Or Loser?

Steve Rowe

Winner Or Loser? So many people just don’t get it. If you want to be a winner, you have to learn to win more than you lose. Firstly you have to decide who and what you want to be. If you want to be a good traditional martial artist then you have to do more work in that direction than in any other. It’s your choice. Draw a line in your life and call it ‘Zero’. Every moment you are mindful, in good posture, breathing properly, caring, polite, courteous, determined, resolute, courageous and working with emotional intelligence  you are in … Continue reading Winner Or Loser?

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Rules To Live By…

Steve Rowe

Some of Steve Rowe’s Rules Of Life – 1. Don’t make friends easily. 2. ALWAYS work on your mind and perspective 24/7. 3. Always pay your way and live within your means. 4. If you help somebody, do it because it’s right not to make them indebted to you. 5. People you’ve helped will often stab you in the back, don’t let it become your problem. 6. People you’ve taught will often never give you credit – mostly that’s a good thing because that kind of student rarely gets it right. 7. Judge everyone by their actions not their words. … Continue reading Rules To Live By…

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I See You

Steve Rowe

I see you…. Because I meditate and practice neigong, I see you, I see the savage beast when the mask slips, Maybe only for a second, But I see you. I also see the angel, When you have pure altruistic compassion, When you really care; When your caring is free from fear or pity, When there is no desire for an end result, That’s when your angel is looking through your eyes. My unfettered mind see’s how you wear your body; The tension borne from fear, The bowed head, the lazy slouch, The jutting chin and darting eyes; The deepest … Continue reading I See You

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A Walk In The Woods

Steve Rowe

Today I went for a walk, Well, actually a shuffle; The ground was uneven, With 14 surgeries on my legs, I can barely move. Everyone passed me by, But I had the advantage; I could see everything they missed, I could hear what they didn’t, I could smell and taste what they couldn’t. I felt sorry for them; I had constant pain to let me know, That I was alive; I was grateful to walk, Grateful to be alive. I hadn’t smelled the earth for years, The moisture from the rain and river on my skin and tongue; The woody … Continue reading A Walk In The Woods

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The Eyes Of The Dead

Steve Rowe

The first shovel full of earth hit the lid of my coffin; My dead eyes stared at the other side; So that was it, another vehicle worn out: And what had I done? We all know we’re going to die; But we push it to the back of our mind; And behave like we’re going to live forever; But each day leads us onwards; To that one inevitable end. Another sod hits the coffin lid; My body has expired; Because I’m not ‘me’ anymore; I see everything in a different light; My perspective has already grown. In the back of … Continue reading The Eyes Of The Dead

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Compassion And The Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

In my youth I was arrogant and violent before I discovered the Martial Arts – and as a result of that discovery I also went on to study Buddhism, Zen and Taoism.  It was through these studies that I found compassion.  In hindsight I think that my excitability, arrogance and violence was a result of being ’empathic’ and not knowing how to deal with it.  As an empathic child in a non empathic family and culture where ‘give him a slap’ was the answer to everything in a relationship and as I attended the roughest school in South London where … Continue reading Compassion And The Martial Arts

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The Softest Touch

Steve Rowe

  I am a ghost, a wraith; Passing through life with the softest touch. I own nothing and no-one; Anything bought belongs to the Earth; And any person loved is completely free. I am only here to learn; I stand on the line between life and death; Free to love, cherish and enjoy; To embrace pain and suffering; To understand how one creates the other. By not blundering, not ‘forcing’; But stepping back and yielding; Only using the softest guiding hand; To bring imbalance back to the Tao. Stiffness, clumsiness and ego; Trying to prevent or force intention; Only bring … Continue reading The Softest Touch

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Fighting Yourself

Steve Rowe

  In the Martial Arts we often talk about how ‘the biggest opponent we have to fight is the one inside of ourselves’ and that ‘when performing solo moves we must have an opponent in mind’ although I think the statements are self evident  I would like to put the two together and give it a bit of perspective. We are most likely to die of ill health. A good part of our health is our sanity and happiness, so emotional intelligence is an essential part or our daily training routine. We know how to do this through meditation and … Continue reading Fighting Yourself