For a long time, I have been trying to tie kata with breathing and meditation techniques. A few weeks ago, I was doing kata at home and stumbled upon something that I don’t remember doing. Before each move of the kata, I took a very deep breath and then, like always, exhaled when I completed the move.
For example, in Heian Shodan, when in the ready stance, take a deep breath, then downward block, exhale and hold the movement. From there, take in a another deep breath, step forward, punch and exhale. Before each move of the kata, you take in a deep breath and then exhale as you complete the movement.
I did 10 katas this way and noticed that my moves were more relaxed, I was more mindful of each move, the moves felt as powerful as always and the pace of the kata was slowed down a great amount.
Now, I wouldn’t suggest doing this at your next tournament but training this way brings another way to add some variety to your kata training and allows you to get some deep breathing in at the same time.
Please leave me a comment and let me know if you have done this before and what your results were.
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