You have to start somewhere.
‘If you want to be really good at martial arts you need to start by…’
A well-known Japanese Wado karate Sensei said something during a training course that made me stop and think.
It must have been in the early 2000’s and the Sensei was riffing on a theme, and as part of this he said, “If you really want to be good at martial arts you need to start by learning to…”, then he paused, as if begging for an answer, and when he could see that none was forthcoming, he supplied the answer himself, which was, “walk”.
This very basic of things was for him the foundational aspect that we all seem to take for granted and then do badly.
Then followed a whole set of movement exercises designed to get us to move economically and from our centre. It was excellent.
For a long time after this I wondered if he’d actually got it right?
He was right specifically - but I think he was boiling it down to a hierarchical list of priorities, with the core ones at the bottom as a secure foundation – as in; get those right and you can build anything on top of them. So, for him the bedrock was learning to walk properly, or just to habitually move in the most efficient way.
I had my doubts about what he identified as the core base substratum. To my mind there was something even more fundamental than walking/moving… and that was, breathing.
The power of breath.
Unintentionally I am following the rule of bringing everything back to First Principle thinking (suddenly made popular by Elon Musk), tracking right back to the very root of a problem, or a system.
Breathing is so essential to life that it is just taken as a given, it just happens reflexively. Take it away and we quickly find ourselves in a state of emergency, you just have to think about asthma or other forms of breathing difficulties, a genuine threat to life.
Okay, so breathing is categorised as part of the autonomic nervous system, while walking doesn’t work in that way. You can consciously control your breathing (within limits) and that control can help to improve the efficiency of the body; for example, it can calm you down, relax you or even bring you out of a panic attack.
Really, I cannot think of one martial art that does not feature breathing. This can range from the exotic breath control that seemingly bestows all manner of super powers, e.g. imperviousness to pain and other yogic abilities; the cultivation of Ki/Chi, to the very pragmatic ways of conscious and efficient breathing, like breathing out when you exert yourself against a load, or just stopping yourself getting winded when taking a blow.
Why this particular Sensei bypassed breath I don’t know, particularly when, in other seminars he was teaching us about striking on both the out breath and the in breath.
Also, in terms of ‘taking a blow’, one his personalised demos was to invite a full powered punch into his abdomen, which clearly involved organising his body and breath so that the hit just bounced off him (the late Takamizawa Sensei would also do the same thing. I am sure Harry Houdini also did an identical trick, but in his case circumstances resulted in his premature death from a burst appendix).
Other areas that highlight the importance of organised breathing.
It was inevitable that science would come to the rescue on the whole issue of breathing. Prior to that the matter of disciplined breathing was the domain of yogis and meditators, usually in India or the far east.
Nasal breathing.
A hot topic has been about nasal breathing versus mouth breathing, with disciplined nasal breathing coming out on top every time. There seem to be so many benefits associated with nasal breathing.
The list of the paybacks of nasal breathing becomes ever longer as the research continues, and bear in mind that this relates to everyday health and athletic performance. Currently, they are as follows:
· The nose acts as a direct filter for particles and allergens.
· The nose acts to humidify the air to make it easier on the lungs.
· Nasal breathing supplies nitric oxide, which is known to widen blood vessels and improve oxygen uptake around the body.
· It allows for higher CO2 tolerance, which in itself produces a more efficient athletic performance.
· Nasal breathing reduces stress as it more easily regulates the breathing pattern.
· If it is controllable, nasal breathing improves the quality of sleep.
· Lower allergy potential.
· The habit of nasal breathing has a positive effect on the facial bones and muscles, which can allow for more space for the teeth and jaw to grow properly (particularly important for young people, but can also have a positive effect over time as it affects facial muscle tone).
· Oral hygiene can be negatively affected by mouth breathing, allowing the mouth too much time to dry out.
And the list goes on.
Clearly there are important links between tension and breathing, panic and anxiety in breathing. It is sometimes interesting to observe your posture and breathing while driving – particularly town driving, where tensions are more acute.
But there are contradictions. As an example, the yogic and meditational abdominal breathing that I had worked on over the years did not go down well with my Pilates teacher. Her view was that I was underworking the involvement of other parts of the breathing mechanism; she wanted to see the chest and the intercostals employed more fully and had exercises which forced the deliberate limitation of abdominal breathing and caused the ribs to be more involved.
I am reminded of what happens to runners when coming to the end of a race or just stopping to recover – note the way they tend to bend forward and put their hands on their thighs to raise the shoulders, which effectively takes the weight off their ribs, making it easier to expand the intercostals thus creating efficient breathing aiding recovery. It’s not a technique that is learned, we just do it instinctively.
Breathing in the martial arts.
For the martial artist there are specifics and generalities related to the consideration of ‘learning to breathe’. The generalities are the overall health and efficiency aspects and the specifics might include:
· Where breathing affects the whole organism and in particular relates to the mindset, demeanour and composure, allowing for greater focus. Agitated breathing can contribute to an agitated mind.
· Breathing related to tensions. As an example from shooting, I think of competitive marksmen who create an ideal breathing interval where they are momentarily in a perfect state of stillness at the interstice between exhale and inhale – that is their moment to squeeze the trigger. In karate, there are moments when you can find weaknesses in your opponent and strike at the nano-second when he is experiencing tension in his breath cycle.
· You can disrupt or wear down an opponent by interfering with his capacity to catch his breath. Repeated blows to an opponent’s abdomen when he is already tired disrupts the efficiency of his diaphragm and can limit his ability to counter-attack, basically you just grind him down.
Ibuki.
I will finish off this post with this particular theme.
I came across Ibuki when I had my brief foray into Okinawan Goju Ryu - see my previous post:
This was through Sanchin kata, which really has no equivalent in Wado karate; although people sometimes like to draw a connection between Sanchin and Wado’s Seishan; there are some slight cross-overs, but nothing huge; to my mind they seem to have divergent intentions.1
In Sanchin there is this very forced breathing pattern that seems harsh and unashamedly artificial (as related to direct combat). To an outsider it looks odd and seems to demand explanations – here is a quote from a website which, in part, attempts to inform us how Ibuki works and demystify the breathing discipline, “The goal is to consciously control breathing to unite the mind and body, activate the internal organs and to reach a state of total awareness”. I am sorry but when I see something put forward like that I am inclined to ask the question, ‘but how?’ It’s a non-explanation. If this is truly the case, then surely the same scientists who investigated nasal breathing need to be all over this?
During my Sanchin training I endured the process known as ‘Shime’, this involved performing Sanchin and having your Sensei repeatedly slap you all over your body. Apparently, if your tension and breathing is right you will feel no pain and the slapping hands will just fly off your body instead of burying themselves in your flaccid muscles. I am not sure how successful I was.
Here is a clip of Okinawan Goju Ryu Sensei Higaonna performing Shime on one of his students, you will see what I mean.
In conclusion.
Breathing is not some peripheral subject which is only partially related to martial arts training, my view is that it is a core, foundational consideration. I know it seems far removed from the grunt and grind of sparring and the hot crucible of kumite, but it’s not to be sniffed at.
If you are twenty-four years old and fizzing with youthful exuberance you would be right in assuming that your invincible body will be able to cope with whatever training throws at you – until it doesn’t. Then maybe you will learn to appreciate the wisdom contained in some form of examination of disciplined breathing. Ignore it at your peril.
Photo by Le Minh Phuong on Unsplash
Recently I had a conversation with a Wado Dan grade from Europe who told me that the secrets of Wado’s internal body mechanics were found in Goju Ryu. I found this difficult to swallow. Having trained in both systems my view is that Wado has it’s own internal dynamics that exist independent of the Okinawan ways of operating. In fact if you were to look for any form of confluence historically it would not be found at the time when the Okinawans were carving their ‘karate’ identity, it would be way before that and via an entirely different route.
My Japanese sensei when I lived and trained in London said two moves without breathing was the maximum possible. A kata like kanku dai is 60 moves, so you have to breathe. Another sense, 5th Dan, said he learns a kata around breathing, short breath here, long here, fast or slow breath. Then he keeps concentration on that as he repeats the moves of kata learning speed, power, etc but breathing. My 6th Dan Sensei said last night at training that art in karate is do nothing. Three steps with one punch. Only at the very end do we kime. Then relax totally. Instantly. Which sounds so easy but is so hard in practice. Art of do nothing. Relaxed state allows fast movement. Breathing in or out allows relaxed state. Midlevel front snap kick should mean relaxed body with exhale. So many people inhale, hold breath and kick, then exhale. And wonder why they feel slow and out of breath. I was always one second or so begind 5th Dan last night in kihon, because he is relaxed when moving. And that's down to breathing.