For those who don't like the tsssst...

[Van Canna]

You wrote

Exhaling after the force is exerted seems at least in my humble opinion to go better with this above because you would not want to be off balance while striking

Actually balance improves with the exhale. Exhaling with effort properly _actually ‘sinks’ your center multiplying your impact by bringing your entire body mass to bear upon the target by ‘planting’ energy and intent.

_ a planted tree with ‘power limbs’ has balance.


Remember that there is no karate without ‘Kime’ _
What 'Kime' is and how I teach it:
________________________________________
quote:
________________________________________
Kime is when both the body and brain are executing sharp, crisp, penetrating, and hard technique that utilizes the entire person. Kime is when technique is “grounded”, when it “comes up through the floor”, where the body’s entire musculature is used in a sudden explosive moment, and also when the mind is linked to the technique.

Kime is sudden. Kime is a technique, which is “finished to completion”.

All karate is not kime, but that which is, is something that makes the body feel like a single solid weapon, something “rooted”, something “coming up out of the floor” and through you into someone or something else.

This is a good way for beginners and teachers too, to consider what kime is, and how we should find its foundation.

Kime is but an instant in time. Kime will not be released if the tension of the completed technique lasts for any measurable length of time.

Kime is manifested by the speed of the technique involved. Karate movements convert speed into power.

Thus
some of the techniques when ‘fired’ _gradually accelerate and hit the target at maximum speed.
If all the muscles are tensed or focused at this instant, all the body strength will be transformed from speed to power as ‘kime’ is achieved.

The key to Kime is the breathing. In a relaxed and controlled manner, breathe out through a slightly opened mouth; complete the breath and technique at the same moment closing your mouth instantly as if biting. At the same time tense the abdomen, locking your muscles for a FRACTION of a SECOND_ before relaxing and breathing in normally.

Dr Lam

[f.Channell]

Ultimately breathing is only important if you become fatigued or winded in an encounter or fight.

Beyond this I fail to see the importance.

If I look to any athlete they exhale during the strike or hit.

Lately I have seen a lot of Kiai coming from Okinawa on their DVD.

They always kiai on the strike.

F.

[Van Canna]

True Fred_ Tomoyose sensei made this observation at camp years ago. Many seniors breathe out with the power stroke.

[Van Canna]

As in all Qigong, correct breathing is of vital importance. Breathing in while drawing and breathing out while shooting.

Chen Jin (one of the most famous Chen style master whose writing was responsible for making Chen style known outside the Chen village) said when opening your are solid outside and soft inside and when closing you should be soft outside and solid inside.

For example, in the Chen style 36 Form, Form 34 Forward Cannon Punch, bringing both fists backward and downward to near the left hip (see picture one) is drawing the bow, then the punching with both fists (picture two) is shooting the arrow.

Breathe in while storing energy, your outside is solid and inside soft; then breathes out when punching out with the outside soft (and elastic) and inside solid (Qi sinks to the Dan Tian). When breathing in Qi moves upwards and when breathing out Qi sinks downward.

________________________________________


Dr Paul Lam MD

[Van Canna]

Sonnon

Focus upon exhaling through every movement. Never inhale consciously. Don't move unless you are exhaling. Keep exhaling while you are moving... one long exhalation. Match the exhalation explosiveness to the biomechanical acceleration: slow if slow movement, explosive if explosive, but keep exhaling always...

[Van Canna]

As to how one should ‘train to breathe’ for efficient power transfer and for coping with the deleterious affects of ‘fight or flight’ _ that is another story, and one that is vital to survival.

When under pressure, the physiological effect of “fight or flight” response, results either in rapid uncontrolled breathing [hyperventilation] or ‘stopped breathing’ with a loss of blood flow to the extremities, including the brain.

The body becomes tense, the mind races, and the ability to execute movement and to think rationally deteriorates rapidly.

Next we shall look at something of interest _ “lessons from the ancients” as published in Guns magazine.

[Van Canna]

Sonnon

For instance, one of the methods I've used was a biofeedback machine which recorded heart rate and respiratory speed and depth.

I and the doctor with whom I worked incrementally increased stress of performance on a group of untrained college students, and a second group of college students trained in a particular breathing exercise of active exhalation on perceived effort, and a third group of college students who were encouraged to hold their breath.


Our findings concluded that the group of college students trained in a particular breathing exercise of active exhalation on perceived effort proved themselves to FAR out strip the performance of the control group and the inhalation holding group as well as keeping the lowest arousal levels under stress.

[Van Canna]

Internal breathing is like a tea kettle that is building up steam. As the pressure in the kettle increases, there will be a slow release of pressure though a small hole in the spout.

There will always be near constant pressure within...With a rapid series of strikes; there will either be a release of several short bursts of air, or a release of a continuous stream of air out of the lungs.

At the same time there will be air pressure maintained within the lungs, much like the tea kettle...

Exhale when delivering a strike or kick, and train yourself to exhale and tighten the muscles when receiving a blow. This prevents the air from being knocked out of you and prepares your body to absorb the impact.

Minimize your breaths. Shorter breaths mean even less vulnerability to a strike. Force your breath out through your mouth; inhalations will return through the nose almost automatically.

Breaths are taken between movements (strikes, steps, blocks, drawing the arm back), and even during your breaths, you should hold your teeth tightly together, so you could more easily take a blow to the chin.

[Van Canna]

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_78900529

[Van Canna]

Humans anatomically freeze when threatened with an edged weapon. The thought of loosing life or limb stuns us into shock, and as a result we stop breathing. Ancient studies of shock illustrate that the average male will slightly inhale and momentarily freeze his breath when threatened (as documented by Procopius, the military historian of the 6th Century Byzantine Count General Belisarius who rid Rome of the Ostrogoths in 536 A.D).

[Van Canna]

By training to breathe with action/motion/movement, you educate your instincts to recognize this ‘stress antidote’ _

Your breathing pattern is a direct reflection of the level of stress on the body and mind at any given point. It is the mirror of your internal physical and mental condition, something that can be trained.

And you want to train , associate _ powerful breathing with powerful action. The way all power athlete are trained by world class coaches.

It is a mind set.

[Bill Glasheen]

Focus upon exhaling through every movement. Never inhale consciously. Don't move unless you are exhaling. Keep exhaling while you are moving... one long exhalation. Match the exhalation explosiveness to the biomechanical acceleration: slow if slow movement, explosive if explosive, but keep exhaling always...

This is where I disagree with Scott. I've told him this before.

Some movement in life - such as a sudden startle or flinch - naturally results in a sudden, forced inhale. (a.k.a. gasp) Fighting this is like pissing in the wind. When the low brain takes over, your body will try to do what it wants to do. To train your high brain to fight what the low brain might do is IMO a VERY bad idea.

This is where Dr. King - a former Green Beret - steps in. He taught me a method where a flinch-like block was done with an inhale - as if startled. In other words you shape a natural low-brain response ever so slightly so it puts you in a good position. It was immediately followed by an attack with an exhale. The attack could be a thrust (e.g. seiken tsuki) or throw (e.g. shomen atte, a.k.a. breath throw). This wasn't the only breathing method that Dr. King taught, but it was one I'll never forget because 20 years after I learned it I began learning about high vs. low brain and flinch responses. It made sense.

IMO this is a small issue. Most of what Scott writes about and publishes is good stuff.

I'm all about trying to find efficiency and power in movement. Some of what I do in the weight room - such as clean-and-jerk motions - is very complex. I can't do the whole thing on a single breath. Therefore it's important that I find ways also to inhale while moving. If you look for such places, you will find where they naturally can be done. It's no different than a lot of complex movements of the body where the pre-stretch is just as important - if not more important - as the subsequent muscular contraction. It's a time to set up and trigger dynamic stretch reflexes, which allows you to use neuromuscular energy.

Anyhow, good stuff. I always learn something every time I visit the subject. I suspect a lot of statements can be taken out of their proper context, so it's dangerous to apply them across the board to all activities and movement. IMO this is the trap that the Sanchin breathers fall into.

NEVER SAY NEVER!!! It just isn't natural...

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Jeff

When you get a chance, please take some time to share your thoughts. I want to know what you are thinking, and how you make what you do work.

Thanks.

- Bill

[Van Canna]

This is where I disagree with Scott. I've told him this before.

Some movement in life - such as a sudden startle or flinch - naturally results in a sudden, forced inhale. (a.k.a. gasp) Fighting this is like pissing in the wind. When the low brain takes over, your body will try to do what it wants to do. To train your high brain to fight what the low brain might do is IMO a VERY bad idea.

Good point and I don’t think Scott was implying the defeating of the low brain, at least this is how I perceive it.

He has written that the body breathes you, so I assume he took the flinch and the ‘gasp’ into consideration.

What I take from in his words is more of the training to embed_ to ‘pair’ motion and exhales to overcome this ‘freeze’ of both breath and movement

Humans anatomically freeze when threatened with an edged weapon. The thought of loosing life or limb stuns us into shock, and as a result we stop breathing. Ancient studies of shock illustrate that the average male will slightly inhale and momentarily freeze his breath when threatened (as documented by Procopius, the military historian of the 6th Century Byzantine Count General Belisarius who rid Rome of the Ostrogoths in 536 A.D).

Many people are frozen to immobility as well as breathing at those moments.

Anyway, as you say, we learn more and more as we revisit and try scenarios based on what we think we learned.

I look forward to listen intently to Wes Tasker [Pekiti Tirsia] when he explains the system’s breath coordination with their deadly moves, armed and unarmed. I shall report my understanding of it here.

~~

[f.Channell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze5o7IAM2Hc

I find it interesting to listen to the exhale as these professional athletes hit the tennis ball.

F.