How to Breathe Correctly in Karate

It’s crazy…

You can go weeks without eating.

You can go days without drinking water.

But you can’t even go minutes without breathing!

Yet, most of us pay more attention to eating & drinking than our breathing!

In fact, many people pay more attention to their clothes than their breathing.

Why?

Two main reasons:

1. People are not aware of their breathing.

This is natural, because if we have to consciously make an effort to breathe, we could die the minute we forgot it. Mother Nature therefore decided our breathing pattern should be automatized. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense. But it also means that we often neglect our breathing, since it’s not a conscious act.

2. People don’t know the correct way to breathe.

Okay. Let’s say you manage to snap out of your habitual breathing pattern and learn to observe your breathing. Then what? Should you breathe differently now? Is your breathing good or bad? Should you breathe through the nose? The mouth? The ears? You don’t know. So, you give up and start worrying about today’s outfit instead.

Listen…

Breathing is essential to life.

And, as you know, Karate is a way of life!

To understand breathing is to understand Karate.

It’s a direct connection between your body and mind.

“In order to harmonize your soul, you must harmonize your breathing.”

– Mabuni Kenei

This phenomeon has been discovered by people since the dawn of mankind, and has given rise to a plethora of holistic breathing exercises; like Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong.

But no matter what esoteric “breathing method” you follow, they all operate based on the same fundamental human truth:

Teaching a simple breathing exercise at my first UK seminar.

Breathing is your brain-body pathway.

It’s a direct connection between you and yourself.

Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the greatest Karate masters throughout history have always included breathing in their teachings.

But here’s where people get it wrong…

When most people realize the importance of breathing, they start searching for the “best” breathing method.

Big mistake.

There is no correct way to breathe.

Sorry to burst your bubble!

• There is no single CORRECT way to breathe.
• There is no single INCORRECT way to breathe either.
• But you MUST always breathe!

So…

If there’s ONE thing I want you to take away from this article, it’s this.

Breathe.

Just breathe. And keep breathing.

Holding your breath is one of the 10 most common mistakes in Karate.

That being said, there ARE different ways to breathe.

Let me finish this article by showing you four effective ways to breathe, taught to me by sensei Vinicio Antony in Brazil earlier this year.

Sensei Vinicio is a Karate genius who combines traditional Karate concepts with modern training methods. I consider him one of the greatest Karate experts I’ve ever met. That’s why he’s one of the hand-picked instructors for KNX16 (The Karate Nerd Experience 2016) in Toronto, Canada.

(Sign up to get notified when more info is available.)

Check it out:

1. Diaphragmatic Breathing: Start by breathing 4 times deep into your lower belly, also known as “tanden” in Japanese (using a muscle called the diaphragm). Make sure you inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Every inhalation and exhalation should be maximized. Feel your belly expand and contract with each breath.

2. Ribcage Breathing: Then, breathe 4 times laterally, to your sides. However, this time you expand your rib cage (instead of your belly) with every inhalation. Again, inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Try to really isolate this breathing from the previous belly breathing.

3. T-Spine Breathing: Next, breathe 4 times to the back. It’s difficult if you’ve never done it before, but try to really feel the tissue surrounding your thoracic spine expand with each inhalation. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, as usual. Remember to redirect the expansion of your lungs toward your t-spine (between your scapulae). This works as myofascial release for a your posterior chain.

4. Chest Breathing: Lastly, breathe 4 times using your chest. This is super easy, because most people can only breathe like this! It’s the standard breathing method when you’re stressed. Expand your chest and raise shoulders as you inhale through your nose. Then exhale, letting your chest and shoulders sink down.

Done.

You just practiced four essential ways of synchronizing inhalation & exhalation with contraction & expansion in your breathing.

Personally, I consider these breathing methods extremely effective.

It’s like a stretching program for your inside!

The next step is to integrate alternating breathing patterns with your Karate techniques.

(Your sensei can help you with that.)

Remember; the key is not HOW you breathe – but THAT you breathe.

Start by observing your breathing!

Gradually, this habit will spill over to other areas of your life, making you a more conscious human being overall, instead of always being a victim of circumstances.

It all begins with breathing…

“Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.”

Good luck! ; -)

Resource: karatebyjesse.com

Gendai no Bushi – Nakamoto Masahiro (pt. 2)

Nakamoto-sensei is very fond of travelling.

During his youth he actually made a long trip to America, demonstrating Kobudo in many cities, and today he has visited a couple of other countries too, including Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Russia.

But one country stands out from the rest:

China.

-The first time I went to China was in 1986. Actually, our Karate and Kobudo is originally from China, but it was mixed with our local old traditional martial art when it arrived in Okinawa. I have been fortunate to go to China on scholarships from the Chinese government to study their martial arts, and they pay for everything. Totally I have been there 24 times.

What most people don’t know is that Nakamoto-sensei is also a master of the almost extinct art of Chinese Dog Boxing, which he found out was once practiced in old Shuri district of Okinawa, and therefore decided to resurrect. Dog Boxing is, simply speaking, a traditional Chinese style of Kung-fu ground fighting, hailing from the province of Fujian.

Nakamoto-sensei subduing the author (me)

-When you stand up and fight, it is an advantage if you are tall. But when you sit, or lie down, shorter people actually have an advantage. It is also an advantage for women, and in many Chinese temples they have sculptures of female goddesses that use sitting and lying techniques. Of course, nowadays standing techniques with high round kicks are popular in China as well, but seated techniques are more practical, actually. Karate masters today only teach standing techniques, and don’t know seated or lying techniques. In my dojo I teach it all, and not many people today know those kinds of techniques.

And believe me, Nakamoto-sensei knows his stuff. I’ve myself been on the receiving end far too many times to enjoy it anymore.

-I always ask students this: Where are the weakest points below your waist?
I point to the crotch, then the knees. He nods, and says next comes the shin. He casually taps his shin, and I know what he means. Nakamoto-sensei has been training his shin bones for many years, and one of his favorite tricks is to bring forward a bigsledgehammer, and repeatedly slam it into his shin bone. The sound is horrible, but he just smiles. -Even the most hardened body builders will fall when you hit their shin bone, but I don’t have a weak spot there at all.

And the reason is simple:

-In China I learned to harden my shin bone by hitting it with a stick one thousand timesevery morning and evening, and then massaging it with seven special herbs. The herbs are very important. If you don’t use them, you will get hurt by this type of training. Many people who try to harden themselves forget the herbs, and have trouble walking later in life.

Speaking of life: Nakamoto sensei has four sons, who all practiced Karate as kids.

–All of them reached black belt before they entered high-school. But after that, I let them do whatever they wanted. My first son plays Japanese drums. The second one continued Karate and Kobudo. My third son became a boxer, and actually reached third place in the All Kyushu Championships.  But one day he was hit straight in the eye, so he lost some of his sight, and therefore had to quit boxing. My fourth son plays basket ball.

Nakamoto-sensei, with his son Mamoru-san in the foreground, during 'mokuso'

With K-1, UFC, and other modern forms of martial arts taking over Japan, and the world, many traditional masters feel threatened. But not Nakamoto-sensei.

–If my students want to, they can participate in things like that. I don’t say yes, but I don’t say no. As far as I know, none of my students have competed in those sorts of martial arts.

–The goal in my dojo is a little different. Big tournaments like those are more concerned with making money. Modern martial arts are kind of like race cars. They go really fast for a short time. But my goal is to be healthy my whole life, training my heart and mind, my spirit, living long and being happy. I don’t want to be a winner for only a short while. But everyone needs to have a free will. Some people like being race cars. There are different kinds of people.

On a side note, Nakamoto-sensei wants to warn people who are planning on competing in full-contact tournaments. –I know many boxers, and kick boxers, who have competed a lot and damaged their nervous system. When they are young they don’t notice anything, but as they get older they get handicapped and have a hard time walking and standing. But of course you never read about that in magazines, or media. I think they should inform about those things though.

For Nakamoto-sensei Karate and Kobudo are inseparable. He often likes to hold his fists in front of him, saying that they are like brother and sister.

Karate and Kobudo.

-In Kobudo you use tools, weapons, for fighting. In Karate it’s only the body. Through Kobudo you learn what the strengths and weaknesses of the different weapons are. So if somebody should attack you with a knife, you know the weaknesses of that kind of weapon, and have a bigger chance of surviving, and winning. If you only train Karate, it’s hard to know how a knife works.

And Nakamoto truly knows how a knife works, as it happens to be his speciality. Nunchaku against knife, or sometimes a wet towel against knife.

Sometimes only his hands.

It doesn’t really matter.

Not if you’ve been training your whole life.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email

Resource: karatebyjesse.com

Karate Analytics: Test, Think, Triumph!

Last week I performed a small experiment during kid’s Karate class.

(I know, I’m evil like that. Bwahaha, manic laugh etc.)

I took five junior black belt kids, and gave them each a “student” (another kid), with green, blue or purple belt. Some got two students, some got one. The junior black belt kids were then asked to teach a certain section from the kata Bassai Dai to their “students”. They had a finite amount of time before they had to switch students (the groups formed a kind of circle, so they just walked to the next student when I said switch).

In other words; when the experiment was over each junior black belt kid had taught the same sequence of Bassai Dai to at least five different students.

Looking from the other side, a student had received instruction in the same sequence of a kata from five different instructors.

It would be a gross understatement to say that I love doing experiments like these.

You just learn so, so much.

With “you”, I mean “everybody.”

Anyhoo, the lesson was about to end so we wrapped it up by having each “student” show the sequence to the rest of the class, and when all of the kids had shown their kata sequence the rest of the kids could vote. Who had been the “best” instructor? Who had been the “best” student? Which, of course, led us to discuss exactly what a good instructor is. And more importantly; exactly what a good student was. How do people learn? Why? And what is important when you teach? Why? Practical? Easy? Cool? Fun? Bunkai? Spirit?

That sort of stuff.

The lessons were numerous, for everyone.

Perhaps mostly for the junior black belt kids.

Because the truth is, they had barely known Bassai Dai themselves. They only learnt it a couple of weeks before! But, just like when you study stuff in school, trying to passively remember what you’ve just studied – then actively writing it down – is often a surprisingly good way to learn.

Teaching is learning.

And your brain can only absorb what your ass can endure.

Here’s the deal: In a study I recently came across, published January 21 in Science, researchers had asked 200 college students to spend five minutes reading a short passage about a scientific subject. Afterwards, they were either told to re-read it several times (as if cramming for a test); make concept maps of the material (trying to concreticize an abstract structure of the material); or spend 10 minutes writing a free-form essay about the passage (letting the “juices” flow).

Compare this to how you learn Karate.

(No, I won’t spell it out for you! Geez…)

One week later, the students in the study were given short-answer tests on what they remembered, and asked to draw logical conclusions from those facts. The result?

• Students who originally wrote essays performed best!
• Next came the crammers…
• …then the “concept mappers”.

As if adding insult to injury, the students were then asked to draw simple concept maps from memory, and – lo and behold – the essay-writers again did best, even beating those students who made concept maps the first time around!

Isn’t that amazing?

The findings are a bit limited, sure, but they seem to suggest that retrieval practice, (as the essay-writing was called), is a pretty powerful learning tool. Recalling stuff, sorting it our in your brain, restructurizing it and then presenting it in a comprehensible way (as in teaching another person) is indeed a very powerful way of learning stuff.

The same goes for this website, actually. What, you think I know everything I write about? Hell to the no! Often I learn more when I write about something than I did before. I just act like I’m this ultra confident super Karate grand master blogmeister to gain your respect. Really, I know nothing. I’m just a big phony. Please, believe me. I totally suck at everything Karate related (is this reverse psychology thing working yet?).

Teaching is learning.

But better.

However, everything is not peaches and roses. Here’s an interesting side note to the previously mentioned study: “Concept mapping” and “cramming” did prove useful in at least one way. Beacause, when asked to self-assess their learning, students who used those methods reported higher levels of understanding than their essay-writing counterparts!

So, they didn’t actually learn much…

But they felt like it.

While the opposite applied to the essay-writers!

Here’s the original graph:

“Metacognitive predictions” is science lingo for "what students felt they learned".

So, what can we learn from this?

Whoah…

So, so much.

“Shu-ha-ri” most of all.

Think about what kind of dojo you have, what kind of learning environment it encourages, what methods you generally use, what results you have been getting, how high the rate of “I don’t know this stuff, sensei!”-complaints is, how high the rate of “I totally know this stuff already, sensei!”-complaints is, how high the failure rate (gradings, tournaments, tests) is compared to that, what the general skill level in the dojo is (comparing other similar dojos/senseis/students), what the general difference/similarity is between students who also teach or practise by themselves, their perceived skill level, choice of methods blah blah…

Also, perhaps most importantly, what is the general purpose of the dojo? Producing top-notch, bona-fide, killing machines? Making people… feel good? Feel bad? Step by step emptying students pockets? The implications and applications of the knowledge contained in this post is monumental. Use it or lose it.

Play the rules, make the rules, break the rules.

Let’s analyze.

Resource: karatebyjesse.com

A Virtual Karate Tour in Shikinaen Park

With only one week left until the World Traditional Karate Kobudo Tournament held here in Okinawa, things are getting a little hectic over here. I can safely say that I have never seen so many foreigners at once during my 5 months here.

It’s really fun!

This will be the biggest Karate event held in Okinawa ever, that is for sure. Three intense days of demonstrations, seminars and competitions. I checked the lists for the tournament earlier, and in the adult male black belt kata division there are 250 participants!

And I’m one of them! It’s insane!

So, to meditate a little (and gather my hidden ki-force for the tournament), yesterday I escaped the city life and took a trip to Shikinaen park, a UNESCO world heritage site.

Here is the proof of that:

There are only a few UNESCO places in Okinawa, and among those Shikinaen park is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time. But not for it’s scenic beauty or tranquil ambience…

But for the many connections it has with Karate and Kobudo.

Not many people know that though. They just think “What a nice park”, snap some photos and eat some ice cream. But if you have the right knowledge… Shikinaen park is much deeper than your average park.

So let’s take a trip through Shikinaen park together. And let’s do it from a Karate (and Kobudo) point of view.

Forget the guide books.

This is what they never tell you in the pamphlet. And forget walking hour after hour in the hot sun and paying entrance fee…

I already did that for you.

Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your virtual “martial arts tour” through Shikinaen park:

First of all, you should know that Shikinaen park was an exclusive “entertainment-park” for the VIP’s of the old Ryukyu Kingdom. Whenever the king felt he wanted some rest, this was the place where he went. Or if the king had some important guests from China, here is where they were brought.

So let’s begin by entering through the main gate:

This gate was the main entrance of the park. Today it is closed as you can see, so I actually entered through another place (where I had to buy a ticket).

Since Shikinaen park is a garden built in a mixture of Okinawan, Japanese and Chinese styles, you will notice some changes in style here and there. But that is simply the Okinawan way. And I think it looks nice.

Anyway, directly after entering through the gate, you encounter this small house:

Here is a side view:

“Is this the kings palace?! What a poor king!” you might think. Then think again. Because this is the Banya – guard house.

Anybody who wished to visit the king had to get through this guard house. Here is a close up of the sign in front of the house:

Now, considering that “Bushi” Matsumura Sokon, one of the most famous masters of Karate ever was the kings personal bodyguard, forcing your way through the guard house to see the king was probably not a good idea back in the days. Matsumura was the personal bodyguard for three kings, and this house was where he stayed during the kings’ visits here.

You can almost feel the “Karate” in the air…

Of course the original guard house was destroyed during World War 2 (as was the rest of the park) but this is an exact replica, at the exact same spot. The whole park (42’000 m²) actually took 20 years and 800’000’000 yen to restore after the war.

Not hard to see why the Okinawans were so poor after WW2…

Okay, so let’s say you were on friendly terms with the king, and didn’t have to fight Matsumura (good for you) at the guard house. If he’d let you pass, you would then go down these stairs:

(You see the guard house in the background)

After walking down the stairs, you finally reach the backside of the kings palace (called Udun in Okinawan).

It’s not that pretty, really:

It just looks like a small, regular house, with a big ugly tree in front. And some dust on the ground.

But maybe this was done intentionally? Because, think about this: if you put something ugly next to something beautiful, the beautiful looks even more beautiful, right?

So… by not making the backside of the kings palace look that spectacular, the front lookseven more impressive.

Don’t believe me?

Here are some pictures of the front:

(The kings palace is the big house behind the pond.)

A small hexagonic house. Perfect for a barbeque?

As you can see, I didn’t bring my best camera… But you get the idea.

Now, since you have seen most of the garden, let’s step inside the kings “palace”:

This is what all rooms look like. Narrow, quiet and quite cool. They say that this (the narrowness) is the reason why Kobudo techniques of Okinawa are so small.

And the great part was that you could freely walk everywhere! No guards or chains or locked doors anywhere. Except for this sign:

I think I know the meaning, but I’m not sure. You just got to love Japanese English…

In one corner of a room I found these roof tiles displayed. According to the sign, this is how roof tiles have evolved through the years (from left to right). The oldest model to the left, and new to the right:

Apparently, if you can punch through ten roof tiles today, that would equal about five roof tiles of the older model. That’s how the quality has changed (worsened?) over the years. So, when we read old tales of masters shattering roof tiles, consider that!

Looking at all of these roof tiles, I suddenly heard a noise… my Karate sense was tingling! I quickly turned around, and… “Waah!”

A ninja:

It seemed to be a harmless ninja this time (giggled and ran away), so I didn’t have to use my deadly ki-force today. Good, because I will need it for the competition next week.

Anyway, let’s go to the other side of the so-called “palace” (I think it’s a house more than a palace). Here was a terrace of some sort:

I can really imagine how hard it must have been for a king back in the old days. Just sitting there, listening to the birds, drinking ice tea, watching the grass…

A tough job, but somebody has to do it, right?

Here we encounter something strange though. When you want to go back inside (from the terrace) you almost bump your head in the ceiling!

Just look at this picture:

Why would somebody put a beam that low? It seems like a trap for tall foreigners!

But it’s not. The answer is as simple as it is clever:

It is a defense against swords!

If, for example, twenty samurai warriors one day decided to storm the Shikinaen “palace” they wouldn’t be able to use their swords to cut from above! The swords would just hit this wooden beam, and while the samurai are busy trying to pull their swords back, out of the ceiling, the guards of Shikinaen can easily take care of them.

Smart, huh?

Now let’s leave the “palace”. Look out from the window for a second:

Do you see the forest behind the bridge?

Let’s head over there.

This small forest is quite remarkable. The plants and flowers are carefully arranged so we can enjoy the changes of the four seasons to the fullest. In spring, Ume (plums) grow. Beautiful Wisteria flowers grow in the summer, and in fall you see dark violet flowers called Kikiyo.

No detail is left out.

The Japanese way.

They even have the Habu (Okinawan deadly snake) sign:

Luckily I never saw any of those.

What I did see though were these Shiikwaasaa fruits, as they say in Okinawan. They also go by the name of Taiwan tangerine, flat lemon, hirami lemon, thin-skinned flat lemon or the simply the latin citrus depressa.

Same fruit, different names.

Can we draw a parallel to Karate from that…?

If you ever see one of these, smell it closely. It’s just lovely.

Ok, enough with the fruits, let’s continue.

We will now head up these “stairs”. Watch your feet!

When you get up there are big stones all over the path, and according to my Okinawan sources that is the explanation for why we use a stepping motion with the heel first in some kata like Bassai Dai and Seienchin, for example. The dense vegetation makes it hard to see the ground even in daylight, and if you should accidentally step on a stone with the toes first, you would trip.

If, however, you step with the heel first, you can’t trip.

Is that the real explanation to why we step/glide with the heel first in some kata? I don’t know. But my guide that day was eagerly trying to make me believe that, as you can see from the above picture.

Now, I must be honest with you: This virtual “martial arts-trip” through Shikinaen park is almost over!

I only have one last picture left.

This is the view from a small hut at the other side of the forest. This is where the king brought his Chinese guests to show them that Okinawa is bigger and wider than they think. Today, what you see is just some houses, cars, streets… and other normal stuff.

But look closely and see if you can spot anything special…

No?

I didn’t think so…

Can you see the small yellow sign on top of a building far away, almost in the middle of the picture? A little to the right? If you see it, then you are now looking at the area where theYamane-ryu style of Kobudo was born. History right in front of your nose.

And there you have it.

Your virtual tour through Shikinaen park is now officially over. You now know everything worth knowing about this UNESCO world heritage site. At least from a Karate/Kobudo point of view…

So, like I said in the beginning (1’653 words ago!) you can now save yourself the trouble of going in reality!

But… if you really want to see all the boring beautiful scenery and wonderful fruit treesand glittering water and fantastic views and marvellous architecture and the terrific nature… then by all means, go!

Bring some sandwiches.

But watch out for the giggling ninjas.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Resource: karatebyjesse.com