When learning a kata, the first thing we have to get past is the sequence. As discussed earlier, there are different depths of learning sequence. You really know the sequence of a kata when you can do it without conscious thought. Or, I suppose, you’d really be good at it if you could do it in the opposite direction or in backwards order. The great benefit of knowing the sequence is that you can practice the kata anywhere, at any time, by yourself. The second aspect we being to work on are the proper postures for each movement. Facing the correct direction, head and back straight, strong stances, hips in the prescribed position, feet rooted to the ground, and on and on. However, when I refer to posture, it’s so much more than just trying to “look correct”, nor is it limited to just the static positions such as one sees in the instruction books. To me, proper posture is not really about looking good, but to have a total body alignment throughout the entire process…from initiating a movement, executing a speedy, efficient transition, and finishing with a powerful, full-body kime at the point of impact and completion of each [...]

Some thoughts about kata. The first time I ever saw a group of people performing kata, it was at the old Pearl City dojo (used to be located on 3rd St). I can vividly remember that there were about 8-10 green belts performing Heians Sandan and Yondan. I was amazed at their precision… not to mention their memory, being able to do these exotic, powerful looking moves in unison. I remember thinking that I’d like to be able to perform these kata too, and how little these looked like what my mom had pointed out to me when I was a little child. My mom, being proud of her Okinawan heritage, used to tell me that the Uchinanchu had developed a martial art of their own, just like judo and aikido had been created by the Naichi or Japanese. One night, we were at a party where some of the old Okinawan men had drunk a lot of beer/sake and had begun doing some “dancing” with their open hands twisting and turning in the air in time with the music. Looked kind of silly to me, but my mom insisted that they were doing martial arts movements. Some fifty years [...]

When I was a kid, I remember reading about the wonders of leverage. One of the things that stuck in my head was a drawing of a man using a long pole, placed under a large boulder, and a log under the pole acting as a fulcrum. And by using leverage, the man could lift/move the boulder as if he were several times stronger. I think it was Archimedes who said, “Give me a long enough pole, and I could move the Earth.” …or something to that effect. When I was in Aikido, they often cited the concept of proper alignment with the Earth during execution of a technique, giving one immense power. We all know that it’s easier to carry a heavy box closer to one’s body, rather than holding it with one’s arms extended outward. In earlier notes, I mentioned my feelings about proper shifting of your center-of-gravity to lend more power into your punches and kicks. All of these methods are about properly aligning oneself to maximize help from the huge advantage that gravity can give you. But the advantages of proper alignment exist everywhere and in everything. If you’re surfing the big (or small waves), it [...]