When I was in the Fire Brigade and worked in the Security Industry before the advent of mobile phones we used to use ‘RT’ (Radio Transmitters) where you would talk with the ‘transmit’ button pressed down and take your finger off the button to listen to what the other side of the conversation had to say.  This procedure has great relevance to learning and training in the Martial Arts today.

Do you ever have that conversation with someone where you are acutely aware that they’re not listening to what you are saying but are only waiting to talk?  Or maybe they’re just distracted by something else or their own thoughts and emotions?

When I’m teaching, I’m highly aware of how much of what I’m saying is or isn’t going in because the ‘listener’ has their finger jammed on that ‘transmit’ button and can’t take in what I’m saying.  Even though they think that they’re giving the visual impression that they’re paying attention it’s usually patently obvious that they’re not.

Once again Shi Kon Martial Arts will be at the forefront of the Chinese New Year celebrations in both Chatham and London.  We will be doing demonstrations of Kung Fu and Tai Chi outside Argos in the High Street and in the Pentagon Centre and giving out free fortune cookies to spectators on the 21st January.  The Steve Rowe Seminar is cancelled for the event. Here is some information about the Chinese New Year taken from http://chinesenewyear2012.net/:

Year Of The Dragon
In Chinese tradition, each year is dedicated to a specific animal. The Dragon, Horse, Monkey, Rat, Boar, Rabbit, Dog, Rooster, Ox, Tiger, Snake, and Ram are the twelve animals that are part of this tradition. In 2012, the Dragon is welcomed back after the 2011 year of the Rabbit. Each of these animals are thought to bestow their characteristics to the people born in their year.

The way that can be spoken about is not the eternal way…..
– Tao Te Ching

Entering and understanding the wordless mind is a very important stage in the training of a Martial Artist, it’s the point where the direct, intuitive knowledge of doing and being exist.  It’s one thing to know about something, to understand the meaning of the words and to actually do or be the reality that the words are inadequately trying to express.

Your body is your oldest friend and has a wordless language of it’s own – how fluent in that language are you?  Training injury pain, muscle seizure, low immune system viral infections, chronic fatigue and insomnia, are often your body’s way at shouting at you because you were too insensitive to listen in the first place.

The problem is that many martial artists see their body as their ‘enemy’, trying to ‘forge steel from the fires of the furnace’ with mantra’s like ‘no pain, no gain’ and they try to beat their body into submission and force training through injury and illness.  The media hype is the same way – training is always seen in action movies as driven by revenge, hate and the desire to fit into the media ‘perfect body’.

Neigong cannot just be trained for an hour a day, because for the other 23 hours you could be doing ‘anti neigong’ – and which would prevail?

As you learn the skills, you need to practice ALL the time.  You are always doing posture and breathing and your life can only be enhanced by more mental awareness, concentration and sensitivity.  This is then an excellent exercise in ‘mindfulness’ to constantly and dispassionately recreate a mindful state of being in everyday action.

This practice will instantly and in the long term effect your mental and physical wellbeing, affecting your emotional intelligence, your ability to interact with other people in a more  aware, balanced and sensitive manner, improving your relationships, your team work and career.  

Developing these abilities will affect your self defence in the broadest possible way, treating people in a way that is not so likely to cause offence and being more aware to their reactions to your speech and activities, when unavoidable physical action is called for, it will be more appropriate and sensitive to the situation.

Find your quiet time to enhance the skills in the 5 standing postures – remembering to train the linked emotions, continue through the qigong and then into form and technique.  

Remember to continuously soften down the bodycore to connect and loosen up through the joints, suspend the posture, spiral the soft tissue, creating the 5 bows in arms legs and spine.  Remember in everyday life all of this is subtle enough that to anyone looking you will simply look drawn to your full height, aware and confident.

Whatever Martial Art you practice, if you don’t practice and then ‘live’ these skills you will never have the connection, balance, fluidity, ease of movement, connected power and character of a Martial Artist.