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An Excuse for Every Occasion
By
Gavin King
Written circa 2006
“I’ve always wanted to do Martial Arts!” Simon said as he necked back the last of his pint.
“Why haven’t you ever done it then?” I asked curiously.
“Oh, never really found one that I liked!” he replied, impatiently swirling the last trickle of lager at the bottom of his glass.
“You’re more than welcome to come down to my club. Same again?”
“Yeah, cheers mate. I would but I can’t really afford it at the moment.”
“It’s free to watch and if you’re really that skint I’m sure we could sort something out.”
“Yeah, cool, sounds…
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Buddhist Alchemy in the Martial Arts
By
Steve Rowe
“I don’t like any of that religious stuff in my martial arts…”You may not, but Buddhism is inextricably linked to the Martial Arts and it’s not religious in the formal sense. Buddhism is simple, logical thinking in search of the truth – and that is in line with martial arts study. A Buddhist is required to challenge what he is taught and to discover the truth for himself. The term ‘Buddha’ means the ‘awakened one’, one who is awake to the truth.
It’s often referred to as the ‘atheist religion’ as it has no gods or deities, it doesn’t even…
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Steve Rowe
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Discipline: Beyond Novelty
By
Jamie Clubb
In his excellent book on parenting, “Superpowers for Parents”, Dr Stephen Briers discusses the definition of the word “discipline”:
“[discipline] is now generally associated with correction and punishment, but the original Latin root of the word disciplina implies a mentoring relationship: the pupil or ‘disciple’ submits to instruction in order to hone his skills and realize his potential”.
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Martial Arts Scepticism: Philosophy and Ancient Wisdom
By
Jamie Clubb
“Prior to the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese martial arts had one goal, pure and simple: winning confrontations through intimidation, the use of weapons, or the use of one’s fists…Chinese martial arts were considered to be a physical skill, a manual skill; they were not linked to any esoteric philosophy, nor were they viewed as a from of character development, religious practice, or spiritual development”. - “Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey” - Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo
Philosophy and martial arts have been associated with each other since… well, not really as long as we would…
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Pigeonhole Moments
By
Gavin King
Written Circa 2005 whist the author was working as a nightclub doorman...Sorry folks, the door closed at 1.” I explained to a group of revellers looking for a last beer. “’Aving a laugh ain’t you mate?” spat the self elected spokesperson of the group as I caught full whiff of his alcohol induced halitosis.
“No mate, I’m not. Unfortunately we close the doors a 1!”
“Why?” he grunted.
Generally we don’t take a hard line with the 1am shut off policy and use it to filter out the decent folk and pretty girls. Out of this motley crew of four,…
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Gavin King
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Pushing Yourself
By
Gavin King
Written circa 2004
Last night is a prime example of how warped Martial Arts training have made me. I think the years of blood, sweat and tears have finally taken the toll, and retirement seems a rather sensible course of action!
By day, I’m a mild mannered Internet geek working from North London. To make it back for training each night I have a fifty mile battle through the world’s largest collection of stationary cars, commonly known as London.
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training
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The Cartographer's Apprenctice
By
Gavin King
Written circa 2005
As is customary with most clichéd stories ours takes place in a kingdom far far away where there lived two boys, Sam and John. Both had been friends since they were very young and had always wanted to be cartographers when they grew up. In the year of their sixteenth birthdays both set out to realize their dreams to learn the art of cartography.
In their village there were two master cartographers. John was the first to secure an apprenticeship. His master had a luxurious shop, full to the brim with expensive furniture and exotic ornaments. Johns…
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Gavin King
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Unshackling Yesterdays You
By
Gavin King
Written circa 2007
I love writing which many of my regular readers will probably have already guessed. It is very satisfying articulating my thoughts into written form. It gives me the opportunity to share my opinions and experience with the world and discuss my views with many different people. It also provides me with a written record of my thought process at a given point in time. My articles are something that I can go back to and serve as land marks on my journey through life. The subject matter for my articles is quite often the result of a…
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Gavin King
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Visualisation, Nature and Creative Meditation
By
Kerry Baldock
An Epiphany
I did not truly understand the power of seeing until one frosty winter’s day in 2002. I had been roving around the town, most likely to pick up some cold remedy or another, when I passed a print shop. Gazing to my left my eyes caught sight of a print of a Dali painting and instantly my feet were transfixed. The cold biting at my back faded and the noise of traffic simmered into a cool inaudible hum. The image took over and for that moment nothing else seemed to matter. The print I later learned was of…
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Zen and the Art of Bitesized Chunks
By
Gavin King
Writtern Circa 2005
The ‘Delete’ key is dead, ‘Backspace’ has given up the ghost and my recycle bin has gone on strike! I've rewritten the sodding article fifteen times, and am I any closer to finishing it? Not even near! Two weeks and all I’ve got is a couple of A4 pages of paragraphs that flow together about as well as a blocked pipe.
I had an idea for an interesting article. There are some really good concepts and ideas, but there’s just no structure to them. The more I try to push them together, the further apart they seem…
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Gavin King
