THE REAL KIAI

 by Phillip Starr

Ask almost anyone involved in the Japanese or Okinawan martial arts about the kiai and what it is, and you'll likely get several answers:

1. It's a loud shout.

That's very good, but is that it? I mean, WHY do you shout? Are you scared or what?

2. It's a shout that helps you tighten up your abdominal muscles, thereby making your technique more powerful....

Well, that's a better answer than #1 but it's still incomplete. Simply tightening the abdominals won't necessarily make your technique any stronger but it'll make you look more attractive if you're wearing Spandex.

Actually - and you all should already know this - tightening the abdominal muscles inwards, which is what most people do when they contract these muscles, actually separates upper and lower body strength. This makes your technique weaker.

There are muscle connections that run between the upper and lower body and when you exhale and contract the abdominals inwards, those connections go slack. This means that if you're striking with an upper body technique, your power is restricted to the upper body; you cannot utilize the power of the your lower body.

If you're using a kicking technique, you cannot utilize the power of your upper body. You can only employ the power of your leg and, to some degree, your hips.

Ideally, the abdominals are not powerfully contracted when you execute your technique. By using reverse breathing (which I've written about in earlier articles) the abdominals are tightened somewhat , but without contracting them inwards. This unites the strength of the upper and lower body, allowing you to unify and strike with your whole body.

But you don't have to shout to do it.

3. It's a shout that scares the bejeezus out've your opponent.

That's a good answer, too. A sudden, unexpected, powerful noise shocks the nervous system. This can temporarily "stun" your opponent, leaving him momentarily helpless and unable to defend himself. Simple as this sounds, it actually requires considerable practice.

Most martial arts practitioners tend to kind of "squeak" when they kiai. Some even say an actual word. I've actually been in schools where students were taught to say the word "ki-ai!" when they kiai...!! Pretty weird.

Not only that, but many martial arts enthusiasts shout with their throats. After two or three shouts, they can hardly speak. This is an indication that their technique is wrong. The true shout comes from the lower belly and is a guttural sound. If it's done properly you should be able to deliver an explosive shout and then continue talking without any problems or discomfort.

But that's not the right answer, either.

You may have noticed that I've not been using the Chinese term for shouting, qi-he (pronounced "chee-huh"). There's a reason for that. Calm your toot.

The correct answer is that the true kiai doesn't necessarily have anything to do with making a noise. The word kiai means roughly, "spirit meeting." This doesn't mean that you're about to begin a seance or play with a ouija board...it infers that the kiai is a moment when the body, mind, and spirit are brought together, fused together for a single instant. This fusion allows you to fully focus your entire being on the task at hand.

The Chinese phrase, qi-he, means roughly "energy/spirit shout" and this seems (to me) to be more concerned with the exterior function of the kiai...the shout itself. Those of you who have gone to the trouble of purchasing my book, “MARTIAL MANEUVERS”, will recall a chapter which is devoted to the technique of shouting.

But enough of that.

The Japanese phrasing is, I think, a better translation of what the true kiai should be. It's much more than just mere physical technique, much more than just shouting.

There is a story about a young American karateka (karate practitioner) and his sensei (teacher) that really drives the point home. The student was practicing a particular kata (form) and when he had completed the set, his teacher informed him that he had forgotten the kiai.

The student was confused; this kata had no kiai in it. He reminded his sensei of this fact but his teacher was having none of it. The true kiai, his teacher explained, doesn't necessarily involve noise. It is a merging of the entire being - body, mind, and spirit - for a split second during the execution of an ending technique (when one theoretically destroys the enemy). It is more of a spiritual/mental thing than a physical thing. It's more than simply shouting and making a loud noise. It is a fusion and focusing of one's being on the task at hand (destroying the opponent).

This fusion is felt more than it is heard and a good teacher can quickly determine if it has been applied to a particular technique. In this student's case, it hadn't.

All forms contain the kiai but only a few forms require you to make a noise when you do it.

PREVENTATIVE SELF-DEFENSE

 by Phillip Starr

Effective self-defense, per se, actually (should) occurs BEFORE there is a need for violent action or reaction. This is the best form of self-defense; violence is avoided and you can save two lives...the (potential) opponent's, and yours.

Quite some time ago, the FBI interviewed a large number of prison inmates who had been involved in mugging and similar crimes. They asked these predators how they selected their victims and almost all of them said they preferred victims who weren't very aware of their surroundings and those who seemed distracted. Situational awareness is the key to preventative self-defense; avoiding an attack before it occurs.

• For instance, when you walk up to your car in the parking lot, do you glance into the back seat BEFORE you get in? It's a good habit to develop.

• When you are walking through the mall, the parking lot, or anywhere else, do you have your iphone plastered to your nose? Many people do; they walk around while looking at their phones and they're totally unaware of what's happening around them.

• When you're walking down the block (especially at night) do you walk right next to the buildings or do you keep some space between you and the various stores and shops? When you come to a corner, do you walk out a little wide so that you can see around it more easily or do you stick close to the building and make yourself an easy target? Master Jigaro Kano (founder of judo) was known to walk out a little wide when approaching corners so that he could see if anyone was waiting for an unsuspecting victim.

  

Here are some other ideas that the inmates provided:

• A thug prefers easy prey. They don't want to deal with someone who'll fight back. If nothing else, it makes a lot of noise and fuss and attracts attention. They don't want a lot of witnesses or anyone calling the police, and they can't afford to get involved in a time-consuming affair. The longer they have to deal with their prey, the higher the odds of being seen or outright caught in the act. They want a mark that can be handled quickly and easily, with a minimum of ruckus. People who seemed distracted or who appeared to have no idea where they were going were to be seen as easy marks.

• Women who were digging through their purses – especially in parking lots – were distracted and regarded as easy prey.

• Women wearing fairly high heels could be overwhelmed easily because their footwear prevented them from running or putting up much of a fight.

  

And as a final note, remember that there's no shame in running away from a violent confrontation unless you are obligated to protect your family or other loved ones. It's the most effective self-defense technique.

PERFORM OR PRACTICE?

 By Phillip Starr

Do you perform or practice your forms? There's a considerable difference. If you PRACTICE your form you will study it, taste it, pay attention to its rhythms, spirit, and the types of power that are issued. And that's not all of it; there's the breakdown, the “bunkai” that teaches you so many things. You strive to polish every aspect of it, including those that aren't readily noticeable to an observer. The object is to learn from it; to perfect it and in doing so, to strive for self-perfection. You endeavor to carry on the tradition and the lineage from which it is derived. This is real martial art.

To PERFORM your form is to do it so that LOOKS outwardly impressive. Your primary interest is in developing aesthetic appeal, especially in the competition arena. The objective is to look good and take home the trophies, championship cash, or whatever. If one or more movements need to be “adjusted” or changed completely to achieve the desired result, so be it. This is a far, far cry from genuine martial arts.

Unfortunately, more and more wannabe martial artists seek only to PERFORM their form(s) well. It's all about cosmetics. Many of them never consider what they're doing – tossing away many generations of knowledge, development, and tradition. Their forms have no roots, no souls.

THE OWIE FACTOR

 by Phillip Starr

I often tell my students that training in the martial arts is very similar to weightlifting. That is, training should be progressive and regular. You'd think such simple advice would be fairly easy to follow but I am constantly surprised at the number of people who just don't seem to get it.

When you lift weights, you must do it regularly; you dare not do it twice this week, once next week, skip a week, then come back and hit it full-strength again. If you attempt to train in this way, you're guaranteed an injury. Yet, students will miss a week or two (or a month or more) of class, then show up and try to start where they left off. Now, one who has trained for an extended period of time can miss a week or two but even so, it's best to come back slowly so that the body becomes re-accustomed to the intensity of the workout(s).

One of my advanced students whose job now prevents him from training on a regular basis, showed up at class one Sunday afternoon. Within the first 60 seconds of drill over basic techniques, he suffered a serious tear in a hamstring! I'd warned him about jumping right into class but he figured that because he was an advanced student, he'd do just fine.

Not.

Training isn't just about learning various techniques and memorizing a bunch of forms; it involves attaining a certain level of fitness and then maintaining that level of fitness year-round. If you've been out of training for some time, come back slowly. If you jump right back in and injure yourself, you'll be out of training even longer! Train smart before you train hard.

ONE FORM FOR HOW LONG?

 By Phillip Starr

Years ago, I happened upon a book authored by an English karateka named Bill Burgar. A practitioner of Shotokan karate, he decided to practice one form daily for FIVE YEARS. Daily. Every day. Several times each day (like ten repetitions). He kept up his usual practice of the other forms, but he didn't practice them all every day; after all, Shotokan utilizes 21 forms, I believe. But his one chosen kata was practiced every day.

He had read that the old Okinawan masters would typically specialize in only one or two forms. That's not to say that they didn't know several others, but each instructor favored and subsequently specialized in just one or two, which they'd practice every day. He thought he'd give it a whirl.

This is in line with the Chinese gong-fu masters of old; they would specialize in just one or two forms, which they'd study assiduously every day.

At first his practice was rather enjoyable but after a time, it became very boring. To really focus on what he was doing (instead of just “walking through” the movements was more than a little difficult at times. As an escape from the boredom he'd sometimes alter the tempo of the kata, doing it very slowly one time and then full-tilt boogie the next. He'd begin by facing a corner of the room instead of a flat wall (it's tougher than you might think; try it!). He'd practice with his eyes shut or in a darkened room.

It was a struggle but he stuck with his plan and he gradually began to discover facets of his kata that he'd never seen or even suspected previously. He came to understand that each form is a complete fighting system/method in its own right. He discovered subtle rhythms and timings that he'd never noticed before and it brought him to a much clearer understanding of the importance of kata practice.

To engage in this kind of training and not succumb to the daily tedium requires a strong spirit and a sharp mind. Are you up for it?

MIZU NO KOKORO

 by Phillip Starr

Back when I trained in karate, my teacher mentioned the phrase, “mizu no kokoro”... This is a Japanese expression that means, “mind like water.” What exactly did he mean when he said this? Oddly enough, it was my gong-fu teacher, W. C. Chen, who explained it me.

“In a fight your mind must be still, like the smooth surface of water in a pond”, he said. It (the unbroken water) is like a mirror and will clearly reflect what is placed in front of it. Thoughts and emotions are like pebbles and stones tossed into the water; they cause ripples, which distort what you see.”

He told me that ANY emotion, anger as well as joy, can cause such ripples. Extreme anger or fear is akin to dropping a small boulder into the pond; they do more than just create ripples and subsequent distortions... they create WAVES that are almost blinding!

How is the mind to be calm during a frightening and/or very tense situation? The answer can be summed up in one word...TRAINING! Realistic, traditional training. Learning to breathe correctly and maintaining breath control under stress is also key. There are those who espouse the “lizard brain” theory, saying that in times of extreme stress we lose fine motor control and so on and on, ad nauseum. Let me state for the record that this undesirable effect is to be overcome through regular, repeated training. I know. I've been there. More than once. More than twice... If one does not train regularly or repeatedly, certainly the undesirable “lizard-brain” theory comes into play.

MASTERY WITH A WEAPON

 by Phillip Starr

Over the years, many people have asked me about how they might become highly skilled with a particular weapon, ranging from a simple staff to a variety of swords, knives, halberds, and so on. Many of them were more than a little incredulous when I told them the secret to mastering a particular weapon.

Of course, learning and acquiring skill with the basic techniques and form is essential but there's more to it than that. The crux of the problem is that most people, although they may have trained with a given weapon for some time, still have the feeling of “self” and “the weapon” as being separate things and to truly master a weapon you must make it a part of your “self.” Many of you have probably heard this statement before.

So here's what my teacher told me...”If you really want to acquire a high level of skill with a certain weapon, you must carry it around with you for AT LEAST one hour every day.” That's right...no matter what you have to do, you must hang onto that weapon (yes, you can switch hands if need be) for at least a full hour. Every day for a minimum of 100 days. This is one of the rare cases in martial arts where more is actually better (more than an hour and/or more than 100 days).

It's really awkward at first and you'll have to be extra careful that you don't damage your spouse's favorite piece of furniture OR your spouse him/her self (or the children, if you have any)! In time, it gets easier as you acquire better and better control of the object in your hand(s).

At first, you'll “play” with it a bit (BE CAREFUL!) and develop agility with it. In time, you'll notice that you don't even think (or feel) about the weapon as a foreign object that you're holding; it becomes a part of your body! You learn to control it as easily and naturally as you do your arms or legs, without having to “think” about it at all. It has become a natural part of your body.

At this stage, you'll notice that practicing the form with your weapon becomes very easy to do. Your skill with the weapon increases considerably. So if you're really serious about mastering a certain weapon, give this method a whirl!