Breathing control in Karate
Breath Control and ‘Kiai’
Breath-control has been described as being ‘zen itself in its physiological aspect’. Even
before schools of Zen existed the relation of breath-control to awareness was a major
preoccupation of Indian ‘yoga’ and chinese ‘taoism’.
One’s rhythm of breathing is, after all, affected by either the physical or mental state that
one is in. When exhausted after training, one breathes heavily; when excited, one breathes
quickly; when one laughs, the emphasis is on the outbreath; when one cries, or is afraid, the
emphasis is on the inbreath. But also it can work the other way: one can affect the mental and
physical condition by controlling one’s rhythm of breathing.
The use of ‘kiai’ (or a shout) in Karate is one aspect of a wide application of breathcontrol.his confidence will tendstable – this point is certainly important to karate.simply by breathing! – is to exercise the advanced martial art of ‘kiai-jutsu’. This
In order to shout one must breathe out. The obvious point is that sharp exhalation tends
to contract the muscles, and particularly the abdominal muscles the use of which is essential for
any really solid technique. Another point is that by emphasizing the out-breath (by the same
token as that by which one emphasizes the out-breath while laughing) one tends to increase one’s
confidence, and if this is communicated with the ‘kiai’ to your opponent
to be correspondingly undermined. A further point is that one’s vision is clearer (look at a page
of print and breathe out sharply) and reactions quicker during exhalation. It follows from all these
points, not only that one should breathe out at the moment of attack, but also that the moment
of attack should come when your opponent has just emptied his lungs and can therefore only
breathe in.
Don’t imagine that a loud shout is necessarily a strong ‘kiai’. It must be full of aggression
and come from the stomach. Breathing into the stomach rather than (or as well as) into the chest
is in fact a rule common to all the oriental disciplines, spiritual or otherwise, that are concerned
with breath-control. Breathing in this way does increase lung capacity, but in addition contributes
a sense of well-being perhaps physically connected with the resultant lowering of the centre of
gravity. One feels more
Breathing into your stomach must become a habit and then your ‘kiai’ will be spontaneous
and effective even when not necessarily loud. To begin with, however, you must simply
remember to shout loudly from the bottom of your belly when you perform a technique. In due
course, you will perhaps master ‘kiai’ in its real sense, and will then often be able to overcome
an opponent without fighting at all! To be able to convey so much confidence and will-power
as to do this –
might be said to be the perfect finished form to which all the martial arts aspire.