POSTURA

POSTURA – ACTITUD – ALINEACION CORPORAL – RESPIRACION Y TECNICA EN EL KARATE TRADICIONAL

1. El énfasis que debe todo instructor de Karate realizar antes de cada clase es la posición del cuerpo. Nishiyama Sensei lo indicaba en cada una de sus clases o seminarios.

2. Dos elementos principales cuentan en este proceso, uno el mental y el otro físico. Es allí que debemos de incluir la Actitud en la parte mental y la Alineación Corporal en la física.

POSTURA:

· Deseo hacer énfasis en que la condición física y la practica cotidiana del Karate Tradicional van a colaborar en ella; pero sin las indicaciones permanentes del Instructor o la conciencia del practicante es muy posible que nuestro cuerpo intente dominar ciertos hábitos adquiridos por la vida cotidiana: ordenador, coche, marcha etc…

· Encontramos mucha información para corregir la postura y dentro de los Artes marciales el Karate es una respuesta. Es allí donde aparece la:

ACTITUD:

· Es en ella donde veremos el avance del alumno considerablemente, dicha experiencia la realicé en una semana de trabajo con un grupo de Karate Tradicional de Costa Rica (2009), donde los alumnos y principalmente niños, luego de culminada cada clase, le notábamos una actitud y postura completamente distinta y mejorada. Al final del seminario las acciones de cada uno de ellos con respecto a la concepción del cuerpo en el espacio colaboró con la:

ALINEACION CORPORAL

· A partir de todas las indicaciones y la repetición de las acciones antes de la práctica y durante ella el cuerpo comienza a alinearse y a comprender el equilibrio tanto en las posturas de pie como en los desplazamientos y giros, manteniendo el eje del cuerpo perpendicular al suelo y sintiendo la presión al mismo para realizar cada movimiento, eso colabora con la:

RESPIRACION:

· El bajo vientre (3 a 4 centímetros por debajo del ombligo) Tandem (en japonés) y un punto entre las 2 cejas Kami Tandem, están relacionados con la respiración. Es cierto que el acto físico de respirar es algo natural, pero en el Karate Tradicional estos 2 puntos mencionados tienen un elemento común que si los disociamos la técnica y el impacto serían completamente diferentes. Es desde allí donde llegamos a la:

TECNICA:

· Para poder cumplir con la exigencia y evolución técnica debemos cumplir antes los 4 puntos mencionados anteriormente. Estudiemos la técnica a través la aplicación de ellos y la practica del Kata como elemento de unión de todos ellos.

Es así que invito a todos vosotros a investigar en este tema para ofrecerle a los practicantes elementos de estudio que colaboren en el crecimiento de su performance total. Creo que con ello todos saldremos favorecidos.

Muchas gracias

Nelson Carrión

KI

KI

by. Nelson Carrion

For more than 4000 years Chinese people have developed the martial arts. Only few techniques were developed using brute muscle power.

But about 200 years B.C. they discovered the channels of energy and chi (Ki in Japanese) circulation in the Chinese medicine like acupunture and massage and for that reason they arrived to understand this kind of internal power.

This exercises were used at the Shaolin Temple by the monks with the name of Wai Dan, for health proposes and the efficacy to increase the strength of the muscles. They developed the Chi with a hard training to resist blows. These techniques were developed to protect the monks against attacks of the temple at that time.

As soon as the understood how to use the Chi for self-defense and health, they started to train how to stop the Chi flow of the enemy. In many cased these techniques were developed by the Kung Fu art or others Chinese system of self-defense.

Today we do not study too much these kind of training, but we must know about, because our muscular power will not be the same when we are young or old.

Nishiyama Sensei is trying to make us understand this matter so my investigation is concentrated in this subject since I meet him in 1988.

I discovered a small person, with a small body but with a lot of energy. Of course at the beginning was a big impression, but the most important thing was the system he created to develop the internal power. And he opened my mind, so I started to investigate by the different kind of energy, also muscles training as bodybuilding and halterophilie. With my studies of Shiatsu and Thermie and some experience of meditation. I realize that we can increase our internal power through a good method of training like we do in Traditional Karate and incorporating those others ways of training.

In Chinese Chi Qung we have the Nei Dan training method were the abdomen generates the Chi and guided by the mind through the body.

Is a method were we use the muscles relaxed and by consequence the Chi channels are ready to accumulate good energy and flow.

This in Traditional Karate we can develop by training, principally during Kihon and Kata, when we do applications with an opponent we must control this kind of internal power to avoid injuries; but in self defense this energy is very efficient because we can destroy our enemy more easily without too much effort.

I recommend the Traditional Karate student to study that and try deeply, for woman which physical power is not the same as men it is also recommended and children too.

I will try to introduce some easy physical and meditation exercises to develop Ki and health. Also the Ten No Kata as a training method to develop these principles of energy through Karate techniques.

Meditation.

The practitioner can use the “Agura” cross leg posture; the back should be straight without being bolt upright. We can use a cushion of about 5 centimeters thick. The body will take some weeks to adjust the new position. Both hands at the center of the Tandem, one in the top of the other with the thumbs and middle fingers touching.

Try to do it faced to the east; the experienced mediators discovered that empirically following the rotation of the earth.

As all exercises, we can train and make an effort to arrive. The concentration in the breathing it’s very important and we must try to clean our mind of all our thoughts.

The position of the tongue, teeth and eyes must be realized as follows:

The tongue must touch the roof of the mouth near the center, the teeth should touch lightly. The eyes are better to maintain half closed, like mokuso.

Always try to make meditation when you are calm and not worried, do it twice a day at the beginning (five to fifteen minutes), if you consider positive for your health, try to investigate deeply with a teacher to introduce you in the method.

Physical exercises could accompany our work to build the Ki; they can be made seated in the Agura posture.

Breathing

BREATHING

Shin Ki Taiso

We now the action of breathing is something natural, it is independent of our brain. Automatically we breathe, but we can try many different exercises to breath for different reasons, health, sports, yoga, diving, running and for Traditional Karate too.

In India, China, Okinawa, Japan and occident this idea was always a big subject to study and develop.
Was Nishiyama Sensei who wrote in 2006 a very deep research of breathing, I want only to collaborate in this matter using Sensei’s work as a starting point.

Of course we need to try different kind of breath and adopt the one our body accept mostly. But Buddhist breath using tanden and kami tanden connection is the one who can help us mostly in my opinion for Traditional Karate practitioners.

To achieve this I recommend of course, kata, kihon and kumite training, but before this we must develop the correct use of our breath using exercises to increase lung capacity and function.

Thoracic Diaphragm is a very important muscle, which operate in the process of breathing. This muscle we must train, when we inhale the diaphragm contract and relax when we exhale. So it’s necessary to study body exercises and movements to develop this muscle in the profit of our health and by consequence for Karate purposes.

Karate practice collaborates in our health but many instructors don’t know how to explain the breathing process carefully, for that reason I recommend Nishiyama Sensei article written in 2006 for ITKF Instructors Seminar.

But individually we can investigate to have more knowledge about breathing and in my case I am studying this subject since 1996.

In my opinion to develop breathing techniques we must practice how to use all elements, which are implicated in the process, principal muscles as I mentioned before as the diaphragm, low stomach, back, and lumbar, pelvic region, etc.

We train first all of the totally and then by individual groups. As soon as we can control the exercises we transfer to the Karate training.

Old Yoga masters use to say we must think about breath for that reason they have many different methods of training breathing and majority of them are with physical movements. But in Karate we do not have so many and the purpose is different.

The Shin Ki Taiso System will guide the students to develop many ways to control the muscles and the breathe at the same time, by consequence when they train Traditional Karate their body system is more comfortable to perform the techniques.

In the next Winter Gasshuku at Stara Wiess Dojo in Poland from February 2^nd to 6^th, we will practice Shin Ki Taiso System; I would like to share this with all Karate people in during the event.

Nelson Carrion

Why Iori ashi?

Why do we need to train Yori Ashi? All instructors know that most Shotokan kata movements are executed in characteristically long stepping-in movements (oi ashi). The main reason for such is that the first kata movements were essentially originated as a protection system against the use of long weapons like the bo, jo, katana, and others. The effective distance or range involved in defending against such long weapons was great and required long range movements in order to be effective. Now, of course, we don’t see people walking down the street with these kinds of long traditional weapons, mainly because they can’t be concealed. Times have changed, and because of such, we now see people carrying knives, guns, and other short weapons that can be concealed and kept out of sight until needed. Since the distance or range involved in defending against short weapons is slightly shorter than the one existing against an opponent armed with a long weapon, one long step is simply too much and not very effective in applying defensive techniques at relatively shorter distances. Because of such, a shorter version of the original stepping-in movement can be effectively applied. Such a movement is known as

Yori Ashi - (sliding, gliding movement).

(1) First of all it is necessary to maintain total body control and balance, as well as fully understanding the biomechanics of ground contact and the action-reaction principle stemming from Newton’s third law of dynamics.

(2) Yori Ashi is initiated when the back leg exerts pressure backwards towards the floor and simultaneously thrusting the body’s centre of gravity - and the rest of the body - forwards. This movement coincides with a short forward lunge of the front leg as well as a turning of the hips.

(3) Greater pressure can be exerted backwards thus producing a sharper forward movement of the body if the centre of gravity is maintained low.

Exercises which will improve the execution of yori ashi:

(1) Walk gently forward as if walking upon a thin and fragile sheath of ice.

(2) To execute this technique correctly simply control the internal pressure of the body, making believe - and feeling - that it is suspended from above from a thin chord. At all times the body must be maintained perpendicular to the ground.

(3) Each step must be controlled with the abdominal muscles of the tanden making believe - and feeling - that one is walking on a thin and fragile sheath of ice. (4) From that point on, and in the kamae position, one must exert pressure with the tanden and simultaneously glide the body forward executing a clean yori

ashi movement. (5) The ground forces of acceleration

and deceleration are used twice in each yori ashi. The first occurs simultaneously with the initial acceleration thrust of the back leg towards the ground, and the second is when the front leg; e.g. decelerates and completes the forward movement.

At all times it must be kept in mind that in regular training sessions traditional karate techniques are stopped just short of making full contact upon the opponent. This technique is known as control. However, the application of control does not mean the energy transference capacity of the karate technique remains low - all to the contrary. All techniques of traditional karate are controlled with a high degree of precision due to their extremely high energy transference capacity.

Such transference of energy or momentum is known as kime - the essence of traditional karate. Though a karate practitioner does not make full contact upon his opponent, he must conceive the technique as real and fully delivered upon its target. The technique stops physically but not mentally. An important component of internal energy must be transmitted even when the technique is pulled short. The technique stops externally but not internally - the external component is known as zanshin.

Nelson Carrion
www.karate-institute.net

Shin Ki Taiso

Parte fundamental del entrenamiento personal es la adecuada preparación de nuestro cuerpo. En el siguiente link intento compartir con vosotros mi trabajo:
http://www.shiatsu-zen.fr/shinki.html