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My name is Steve Rowe and I have practiced martial arts for 50 years, I am Chief Instructor to Shi Kon Martial Arts International and have written books, articles for magazines and blogged for many years. There are about 400 … Continue reading Welcome To My Blog
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
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
After 25 surgeries, 3 life threatening sepsis attacks, a leg amputation and prostate cancer nothing really bothered me as much as the amputation. Subconsciously I always recoiled when I saw someone with an amputated limb and I honestly don’t know why, I hid it as I knew it was wrong, but it still happened deep down in my psyche. After the surgery when I came to and looked down, I recoiled in shock, even though I knew what was going to happen. Every night since for 3 years I still dream I have 2 legs, even though sometimes I kind … Continue reading Where’s My Leg?
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
As it’s Easter, let’s talk about religion.. the Latin root of the word religion ‘religare’ means ‘to bind’, I would see that as to bind with what we were before birth and when we no longer have a body. We are like waves on the sea, individual entities rising and falling from and to it, and are bound to it during our lifetime. Faith is to have trust and confidence and therefore yield to it. If we struggled in that sea we would drown, but if we have trust, let go and yielded to it, we would float. All religions … Continue reading Faith And Religion
From ‘Icebergs Instead Of Mountains’ available in the next couple of weeks on the links below….. Preface by Bryan Andrews Chairman of the Governing Body for Chinese Martial Arts in Britain.I’ve known Steve Rowe for over 32 years now, as a personal student of his taking regular private lessons with him and initially training on his courses and then later helping him on those courses. Although holding 9th Dans in karate and kung fu, he’s not like many senior masters. Steve does not follow to the way of ‘monkey see monkey do,’ rather his approach is to teach the principles … Continue reading Signed Books & Tai Chi Programme
The language of the depressed. You have to listen carefullyDon’t give an opinion unless askedSometimes they just want to be heardJust want their problems recognisedEmpathy is often interpreted as pitySupport is to be there and pay attentionTo help if asked forOr to ask if there’s anything you can do to helpUnrequested advice or help is seen as bullyingThe language is often codedThe problem is depersonalisedSpoke about in the the 3rd personOr approached obliquelyBecause they are embarrassedBy listening and paying attentionWatching the body languageFeeling the energyAllowing them to talkUntil they feel comfortableYou can be the greatest helpBe a good friendAnd help … Continue reading Language Of The Depressed
How to cope in prison. You have to learn to ‘do your time’. You are humbled, stripped of everything you were and everything you had, put into a small cell, sometimes with up to two other people with just a bed, toilet and sink. You are surrounded by evil people and have to obey the guards, eating and doing what and when you’re told. ‘Doing your time’ means first learning acceptance of what and where you are and what you can and can’t do. Then integrating into the society, you can’t escape people, however obnoxious they are, so you have … Continue reading Doing Your Time
In Tai Chi we say that you must have ‘beautiful hands’. The hands are extensions of the eyes, tongue and nose, they ‘see, taste and smell’, in their own way at a distance. The cupped palm is directly connected to the arches of the feet and the fingers are tentacles upon the tentacles that are the hands. The fingers, palms and wrists form bows along with the elbows and armpits to stimulate, store and release energy from the lower body. In Tai Chi the hands constantly flex and change, expressing the nature of each technique, they claw like a tiger, … Continue reading Beautiful Hands
Dying insideIs a coping mechanismWhen we are made powerlessHaving the ultimate acceptanceNot wanting or needingTo end the life of the bodyWe end the life of the selfReleasing the need to controlWe yield to life and othersBeing dead none of it mattersWe’re taking our toys homeWe’re not playing anymoreWhen we can’t escape our environmentBe it poverty, politics or disablementIt’s all a kind of prisonWhen there is nothing left for the selfIt diesIs this the same as the meditating monk?The Buddha said ‘there is no self’Is it ridding us of the illusion of life?Is it losing the damaging desires?Is it good or … Continue reading Dying Inside
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