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Putting Your Mind into the Rigging
By
Gavin King
I’m not what you’d call a body beauty obsessed person and don’t really have any physical features that I’m particularly dissatisfied with. Don’t get me wrong I’m no Brad Pitt and am under no illusions that I’m one of gods beautiful people being blessed with a busted nose and generously sized ears, but on the whole I can live with the image in the mirror. The only thing I desperately wish to change about my body is its posture and this is only something I notice when I catch my reflection occasionally in the mirror during tai chi and I…
Written on Saturday, 13 February 2010 08:49
Tags: Gavin King health tai chi anatomy principles myofascial posture
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Picking a Good Fight
By
Gavin king
Some martial artists are obsessed with fighting; they think about, dream about it, talk about it, write about it and think if you’re not actively ‘fighting’ every training session you 'ain’t a proper martial artist'… this attitude I think is worthy of contemplation.
I personally agree with the need to challenge ourselves in allow for growth. Growing up amongst martial artists and those who engage in physical pursuits has given me very strong sense of the type of personal growth that can be achieved when we challenge our perceptions, horizons and fears and the various methods we can employ to…
Written on Thursday, 28 January 2010 14:21
Tags: Gavin King training mind
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Making Your Body a Nice Place to Be
By
Gavin King
When I was in my early 20’s I got my first place and moved out of my parents home. The independence was great, no more being told to pick up dirty socks off the floor or being berated for being too loud coming in after a few drinks. It didn’t take too long for me to realise that liberation came at a price and whilst not being told to do the dishes was exhilarating the downside was that if I didn’t do the dishes no one else did either. Very quickly my lovely new bachelor pad resembled a cesspit and…
Written on Tuesday, 26 January 2010 15:54
Tags: Gavin King health training zen mind
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Displaced in Time
By
Gavin King
In my shiatsu training I was told that one of the most powerful components of our treatments was the ability to bring our clients back to the ‘here and now’. Having been a devotee of Zen and other eastern ways of thinking for the majority of my life the concept wasn’t alien to me, but it’s importance wasn’t truly understood really until I started delving into bodywork and my taiji studies.
I was on a course with the world renown shiatsu practitioner and teacher Saul Goodman who described the phenomenon of being ‘displaced in time’ by explaining that most of…
Written on Friday, 15 January 2010 07:37
Tags: health training anxiety stress zen
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Holistic Anatomy and Training
By
Gavin King
I have a lot of ‘discussions’ with many martial artists and personal trainers, particularly on my treatment bench, about my thoughts and feelings on exercising the human body.
My view is that many of the routines and training regimes implemented today are based on extremely outdated knowledge of human anatomy and physiology. Many still believe in the myth the of the ‘single muscle theory’ and view our soft tissue system as a series of discreet individual units that in some abstract manner weave themselves together to form the whole we call ‘us’. What I mean by ‘single muscle theory’ is…
Written on Sunday, 10 January 2010 10:25
Tags: Gavin King health myofascial