The Five Principles Of True Karate
Oddly, back when I was training in the Kang Duk Won, we bypassed the first few elements of True Karate. As I studied other other arts, however, such as Aikido, Tai Chi Chuan, and so on, the importance of the items we hadnt focused on became more important, and I began to see the whole picture.
First in these elements of True Karate, breath. Breathing is life. The general rule is to breath out when the body expands, to breath in when the body contracts. As you become used to being struck and striking and block and so on, you learn to breath into the body part striking or being struck. Actually, you dont breath so much as use the idea of breathing to channel awareness, and this begins to build massive chi power.
And, if you dont believe, then try doing a form without breathing and see what happens. Or, worse, try reverse breathing (breath out when the body contracts and in when the body expands) and watch yourself turn grey.
Second True Karate item, relax. One would think people would automatically relax when breathing, but, especially in early Karate, it doesnt always happen. Many people push for rigidity and hard muscles and such, and then hold to that practice instead of developing further.
The fact is that in the classical it is too often that one is trained in the hard style until they get so old they cant do it, then they naturally develop the softer modes. Sheer self defense for an overtaxed boxy. It is much better, and more efficient, and faster, to simply learn from the beginning that one should relax, except for the loose-tight effect, which we will cover at point five of the Elements of True Karate.
Third in True Karate points is grounding. Grounding is when you sink your weight, and it is crucial to the true Martial Art, but is rarely done. Most people, you see, in spite of such good advice as practice in a low stance, use their legs to hold their body off the ground. Instead, you must use it to connect your body to the ground. There is a huge difference here; the difference between art and sport.
When grounding you must breath down, relax, and let your awareness seep into the surface you are standing upon. When you truly relax your body will not be resistive to energy, and when you ground you are tapping into the energy of the earth itself. Believe me, it is quite a sensation, if not a phenomenon, when you punch somebody, and it is like hitting them with the planet.
Fourth in the True Karate line up is to align the body. While I teach this when I teach forms (Kata), I dont really get into the reasons until the Master Instructor Course, which explains the incredible value of that course. The fact is that with the Monkey see monkey do mode of instruction, and the proliferation of instructors, there is a crossed pair of lines. True understanding goes up in relation to the speed with which martial arts instructors are created.
Last in the the line up of True Karate is the principle of Loose-tight. This is not just to be loose before the strike and focus the energies, but to be whiplike, and to actually use less and less hard as one progress along the path of True Karate. Indeed, learn to be liquid in your motions, and you have learned the truth of art.
So there are the five items of True Karate, which can be extrapolated into true Martial Arts with but little adjustment.
The funny thing is that it aligns with the concept of Karate, which means empty hands. You cant have empty hands unless you have an empty mind. And you wont find an empty mind until you learn to focus on the principles outlined in this article to the distraction of muscles, combat, and other temporary joys.
First in these elements of True Karate, breath. Breathing is life. The general rule is to breath out when the body expands, to breath in when the body contracts. As you become used to being struck and striking and block and so on, you learn to breath into the body part striking or being struck. Actually, you dont breath so much as use the idea of breathing to channel awareness, and this begins to build massive chi power.
And, if you dont believe, then try doing a form without breathing and see what happens. Or, worse, try reverse breathing (breath out when the body contracts and in when the body expands) and watch yourself turn grey.
Second True Karate item, relax. One would think people would automatically relax when breathing, but, especially in early Karate, it doesnt always happen. Many people push for rigidity and hard muscles and such, and then hold to that practice instead of developing further.
The fact is that in the classical it is too often that one is trained in the hard style until they get so old they cant do it, then they naturally develop the softer modes. Sheer self defense for an overtaxed boxy. It is much better, and more efficient, and faster, to simply learn from the beginning that one should relax, except for the loose-tight effect, which we will cover at point five of the Elements of True Karate.
Third in True Karate points is grounding. Grounding is when you sink your weight, and it is crucial to the true Martial Art, but is rarely done. Most people, you see, in spite of such good advice as practice in a low stance, use their legs to hold their body off the ground. Instead, you must use it to connect your body to the ground. There is a huge difference here; the difference between art and sport.
When grounding you must breath down, relax, and let your awareness seep into the surface you are standing upon. When you truly relax your body will not be resistive to energy, and when you ground you are tapping into the energy of the earth itself. Believe me, it is quite a sensation, if not a phenomenon, when you punch somebody, and it is like hitting them with the planet.
Fourth in the True Karate line up is to align the body. While I teach this when I teach forms (Kata), I dont really get into the reasons until the Master Instructor Course, which explains the incredible value of that course. The fact is that with the Monkey see monkey do mode of instruction, and the proliferation of instructors, there is a crossed pair of lines. True understanding goes up in relation to the speed with which martial arts instructors are created.
Last in the the line up of True Karate is the principle of Loose-tight. This is not just to be loose before the strike and focus the energies, but to be whiplike, and to actually use less and less hard as one progress along the path of True Karate. Indeed, learn to be liquid in your motions, and you have learned the truth of art.
So there are the five items of True Karate, which can be extrapolated into true Martial Arts with but little adjustment.
The funny thing is that it aligns with the concept of Karate, which means empty hands. You cant have empty hands unless you have an empty mind. And you wont find an empty mind until you learn to focus on the principles outlined in this article to the distraction of muscles, combat, and other temporary joys.