Breath reveals quality of technique.

I wrote in the previous article that Aiko San could correct my technique without looking at me, just by listening to the breath.

Why is that important? because while at the beginning levels we focus on external form, and mechanics of technique, at the higher levels the breath controls the techniques, all aspects of it, and the mechanics and form should be forgotten, or not consciously attained.

For example breath initiate the technique, is like the trigger that controls the timing of the technique.

If we cannot apply the concept of “breath triggers technique”, we cannot talk about breath reaction (rather than conscious, analyze than decision reaction), since action and reaction must be one, without space, and that is only possible if the breath makes reaction and initiate technique. Also, the concept of breath tune to opponent rhythm while creates potential energy in our foot work, is not possible to apply if breath does not make and match our footwork and technique.

Or, as Sensei Nishiyama used to say “kiai destroy opponent”, since the breath controls the muscles activation at kime, it controls pressure to the floor and the total muscles contraction in shortest time to line of technique in case of “todome” or continuous contraction in case of push and pull technique, in other words breath make kime and also controls type of kime and type of energy appropriate to purpose.

When we say “kiai destroy opponent”, it includes intention, since if intention is “to destroy opponent with kiai” the muscles will be recruited more sharply, more fully and to the right direction and according to purpose.

Now this is not an easy subject, proper breath is not simply blowing the air out, I would not be able to understand the breath without countless demonstrations and feedback by Sensei Nishiyama and Aiko San. With this being said anyone can attain those levels, if you are athletic or not.

We must study deeply and diligently, be patient. 

   

LISTEN TO THE BREATH

Aiko San always surprised me with her depth of understanding, intuition and wisdom.

One evening about 10 years ago, I was doing kata and Aiko San was standing with her back to me, and all of the sudden she turned around and said: “you are using too much top power”, and I felt it was true but asked her how could she tell, since she did not look at me, and she replied that she knew by the sound of my breath.

Since than she surprised me over and over, without looking at me she told me if my elbows were disconnected or my pelvis was misaligned, or I did not use the stance well, she was always right, and only by listening to my breath.

It should not be such a surprise since the breath should activate the muscles in the right sequence and in the right amount according to the purpose, the breath should match the muscles action and timing of the technique.

Now, I constantly listen to my student breath, and try to know their movement by the breath, and by doing so I get more tune to my own breath, muscle action and technique synchronization. 

Body Shifting - understand to use effectively.

In karate body dynamics and inside muscle action are the main sources of power (of course, controlled my the mind, so we could say the mind is the main source of energy).

Body shifting is one of the 6 body dynamics. Shifting is used to produce force as well as to adjust distance, and it is generally used to apply techniques in longer distance.

We use straight shifting, such as in case of Oi Zuki, or side shifting, such as in Yoko Enpi Ate (side elbow smash), and kizami Zuki in longer space.

Yori Ashi, Tsugi Ashi, Fumi Ashi can be used as means of shifting.

In the case of Oi Zuki for example, pure straight shifting should be used, introducing any rotation cause energy to split, since we want straight energy line. 

In some cases shifting and rotation are combined, and shifting is mainly for purpose of distance, such as when stepping with Soto Uke or Age Uke, shifting does not produce force to the side or upward, therefore rotation is main energy.

Or when executing Mae Geri with back leg (stepping forward), main body action is pendulum action (which is rotation around an axis parallel to floor), shifting is not optimal for the direction of the kick, therefore is secondary, and used to allow transfer of momentum forward and setting optimal angle of support leg to body center to kick for energy transfer.

Or think of Yori Ashi (sliding) with Gyaku Zuki, first we shift and at last moment, as the front foot enter the floor, use rotation which is the main power.

In the above case, straight line energy is changing and adding into rotational energy, but shifting is secondary, since shifting needs big space to produce sufficient force.

If rotation starts as we start shifting, rotation will take place over long period and will be slow and ineffective, and in addition, our body center will be exposed too soon.

An exception is when gyaku zuki is executed in short space, than shifting and rotation starts together.

Shifting needs more space to produce big force, think of trying to break through a door, you need big distance to be able to increase enough force to break a door, it can’t be done from little space.

Or think of hitting a baseball or golf ball, no one shifts (runs sideways) in order to hit the ball, but rather rotation is being used.

In shorter space rotation is much more powerful.

It is a common problem to see someone shifts too much and having no space for rotation while executing gyaku zuki, which results in weak technique, but also exposing chance since shifting is slower than rotation.

Attention need to be placed on correct application of body shifting principles such as keeping the weight in between feet, and foot first, body center second and than technique, in order to effectively apply the points discussed above.

I leave that for another discussion.  

Kihon - basics, an amazing gift handed to us (use it right).

I always gave my heart in every training and every move, but there were times I questioned why do I have to do kihon isuch a restricted way, unlike the way I fight. I thought that I don’t fight the way I do Kihon, why not do it in a more “applications like” way.

But I had total thrust in Sensei Nishiyama and I knew there is more to kihon than what meets the eye, as the years passed I learnt to appreciate kihon, I saw beyond the external, Kihon teaches us to cooperate the whole body to one line of energy, from stance to body dynamics to technique, and do that in variety of directions, using different parts of the body as contact area.
It conditions us and teaches us to be coordinated and connected through the full range of motion, and from there eventually we can produce force in any range that is within the bigger range that we practice in kihon.

In kumite, generally, most techniques we use are to smaller ranges than in the basics, so we need the basics in order to prepare us to be able to produce forces through full ranges.

And you see, most injuries happen in the outer ranges, not usually in mid ranges, so we must develop our elasticity, stability, coordination and resiliency in outer ranges and kihon is an excellent way to do it.

The big includes the small and not the other way, so when you practice to the full range, you develop the strength, stability and coordination to the full range while if you practice shorter range you are limited to those shorter range.

Kata of course follows the same concepts, and some of the basic kata such as heian and tekki are also called kihon kata, but when we practice kata, we produce force to one direction and than another, while when practicing kihon we have the chance to purposefully repeat, to reflect and correct over rand over.

There are many levels to the same kihon, until black belt roughly, the focus is on proper body dynamics, and synchronization between stance to body action to technique, including timing of technique, connection between all body segments, moving out of optimal posture.

After black belt one must gradually learn to use more inside power or muscles contraction/expansion in addition, which means that the outside and inside have to match, breathing has to be used properly to control muscles action, dynamics and ground reaction forces.

At this level our goal is to learn to make more power in less action, and remove unneeded action, we can do it only by relying more on inside muscles action.

I must clarify, kihon can also instill some rigidity in us, I see some people that do a lot of kihon and kata but not so much kumite, and when they spar, they look too robotic trying to apply kihon in kumite.

We must digest the principles of good movement through kihon, but be free from the form itself at some point, we must be able to instantly start our technique from anywhere, and punch or kick in limitless trajectories and directions, free from the restriction of kihon but according to its principles, and still in whatever we do the whole body will cooperate to any direction, without unneeded movement, to make maximum shocking power - todome.

This has to be understood in theory so we can and more importantly, get the feel of it in our bodies, nervous systems and in our bones.

Kihon is an amazing gift that was handed down to us.

Austria seminar

Seminar in Austria this past weekend was great, it was fun to see all my friends from Austria, Germany, Czech and Russia.
There was great enthusiasm which make me feel better about the future of Sensei Nishiyama's karate.
We worked on katas Kitei and Jion (the way Sensei was teaching them), and through the kata we explored fundamental principles: posture, feet make top technique, breath activate the feet, body action and inside muscle action, how to start a technique quickest without back motion, muchimi (body like whip) and kime (different aspects of pressure and contraction).
We cover Oji Waza (response timing techniques) in the first 2 days, and in the last day we spend a lot of time on setting up and creating a chance.
We practiced Sasoi Waza (inviting the opponent's attack), and we spent a lot of time doing combinations attack, learning how to stay mentally and physically ahead of the opponent, not allowing opponent to recover from backward momentum, always reacting to his/her reaction to us, while closing the distance for Todome (finish technique), we spent time understanding the start up timing for combinations, initiating between opponent's rhythm, reacting to the chance with the breath and feet rather than looking and judging.
Thank you for great spirit.

Protect your back and improve function by improving posture and firing sequence of muscles.

If you asked Sensei Nishiyama what is the best training for yoko geri, he would say “do yoko geri”, and this is totally true.

Most of the training for a karate person should be karate technique and timing, but at the same token, some supplemental training can help.

We talk about moving from the center and out of optimal posture.

If we don’t have a strong and stable center we cannot move effectively from the center and might also hurt our spine, especially when producing big forces.

If we don’t move out of optimal posture we won’t fulfill our potentials and have the potential of “repetitive pattern overload” injury, and if our muscles are not balanced we cannot keep good posture even if we understand what it should be.

Strong abdominals will not necessarily protect your back, people with strong abdominals  still have back pain.

We must learn to activate the core in proper sequence, smaller, inner muscles should fire before the bigger outer muscles.

The smaller, inner muscles, stabilize the spine and protect it while providing an anchor for the bigger, outer muscles, so those bigger muscles can function more optimally.

In most of our training, the core should be strengthen while integrated with the rest of the body, not in isolation.

Stretch the tight muscles to prevent imbalance and strain on the spine, such as the hip flexors, the huge iliopsoas muscles are attached to the femur bone and to all five lumbar vertebras, and if tight will create constant strain on the lumbar spine.

Tight hamstrings are also a reason for strain on the spine.

We must constantly improve our posture, with specific postural corrective exercises, a head forward posture create strain on the lumbar spine, and also interfere with force transfer from the body center to the arms.

There are specific exercises for postural correction and learning proper muscles activation sequence that I like to use as part of a warmup.  

Karate journey is like climbing a mountain

When you climb a mountain and you see a peak, you think “oh, this is the mountain top, let’s push and get there to the end of the journey”, when you get there, you realize that there is another peak you could not see until you got to where you are, and than you keep going and keep finding out as long as we live.

When we learn a technique, we can only receive so much information, and as we train and gain experience we have tools to get more details, and than we realize that the simple techniques have infinite levels.

Sensei Nishiyama used to teach some details of a technique, let me struggle with them, digest them, and than a year or two or five later he would tell me another small point that changed the way I looked at that technique, and I used to think “why didn’t he tell me those details right away?”

Later I realized that until that moment I was not ready for those new details, and when Sensei Nishiyama felt that I was ready he would go deeper into the technique.

We cannot do techniques mechanically, practice, digest than contemplate and the potentials for development is unlimited.