Breathing Timing

[Killer Miller]

Well, since I was awarded “Member of the Month,” and I know from my corporate days that you get nothing for free lol, I guess I better offer this thread with a Breathing Article I promised…

So, what role does Breathing have in Karate and why do we keep hearing so much focus being put on breathing?

There are several aspects to breathing in Karate:

Medical: The medical aspects of breathing are fairly obvious. You breathe to allow oxygen into your blood stream. This allows for a clear mind through good blood flow and keeps you from passing out or getting dizzy as well as promotes good muscle development and longevity. Also, this lack of oxygen to your muscles creates Lactic Acid, thus cramping muscles.

Muscle Activation: There are two basic types of muscles, muscles that contract (picking up a rock), and elastic muscles that are like rubber bands (like snapping a towel). Activation of contracting muscles are primarily through exhalation of the lower diaphragm. Activation of elastic muscles through relaxing the lower diaphragm and filling the lungs – however, in order to use the elastic muscles, you must first provide a quick burst of the contracting muscles and quickly relax to provide the quick starting action, then the flowing action of the elastic muscles occur. Any type of incorrect tensing of the upper body, like shoulders, constrict the blood flow to the brain via constriction of the arteries in the neck area – causing dizziness or possible passing out if this action is prolonged.

Body Clock: This is known as Breathing Timing… Most body actions are made up of Contracting large muscles for the starting action, Relaxing large muscles to activate Elastic muscles for smooth movement over a distance, and then contract large muscles at the target or focal point to convert speed and mass into energy or force, then relax to allow oxygen back into your blood stream and brain. However, this does not mean that the same muscles have to contract for the starting action (hips and leg muscles) versus the relaxing muscles for distance (the arm muscles for moving the arm) and finally converting that action into energy or force at the target (contracting all muscles to apply the forward movement to the target preventing opposing force coming back through your body and redirecting it to the target).

The true art of Karate is to bring all three aspects mentioned above as into unison via Breathing Timing. Note: Breathing Timing was one of Nishiyama Sensei’s biggest focuses during training – learn this, everything else naturally falls into place. Proper breathing is the key to not just all Karate actions, but all body actions in general for everyday activities. Through proper breathing, you could go for hours and not get tired or sore muscles, assuming your body is conditioned for that activity, and not miss a beat… It also allows for clear thought and action of the three concepts of the Concious Mind, Sub-Concious Mind, and Body Movement Activation (which I discuss in my Mind Dumping Article) through good and relaxed blood flow to you brain and body without distractions, obstructions or constrictions.

This is the basic concept of the importance of Breathing in Karate (or Martial Arts). I have intentionally not covered all discussion items in order to leave room for general discussion on the topic. So if you have question, fire away – however, my approach will be to make you think about it a bit instead of just firing off an answer…

- Killer -

[Wa-No-Michi]

Hi Killer excellent post

Ok question then if I may, what is your view on breathing and its timing in relation to how one realtes to their oponent?

WNM

[Killer Miller]

EXCELLENT QUESTION! And I'm glad you asked that question...

There are two breathing timings - Yours and the Opponents. The idea is to identify and match your breathing timing with your opponents (known as picking up your opponent's breathing timing), then anticipate their next move or when they are relaxed. The idea is to attack your opponent in their relaxed state when their large muscles are not contracting and the soft tissue is exposed of vulnerable. Thus, you quickly change your timing after matching theirs to your advantage for the attack. Also, recognizing their breathing timing, you will pick up their inconsistencies (twitching finger, wiggling foot for a kick, etc.) as an indicator that they are going to attack you - you attack them exactly when you see the twitch of the finger or wiggle of the foot when they are in an imbalanced state. They will typically, twitch for a sec, relax, then attack... With pactice over time, you can learn to pick up an opponent's breathing timing almost immediately as they are coming towards you - then WHAM...

Does that answer the question?

- Killer -

Hi Killer excellent post

Ok question then if I may, what is your view on breathing and its timing in relation to how one realtes to their oponent?

WNM

[Patrick]

Well, since I was awarded “Member of the Month,” and I know from my corporate days that you get nothing for free lol

It's not free, it was earned.

Thanks for sharing this.

Patrick

[JusticeZero]

Excellent answer and not one I usually see. Very Capoeira. What of the theories which place breath rate control during a conflict as necessary to hold the adrenalized arousal rate in the controlled, performance-assisting range? I would think that a synched breath rate would allow the stylist to drop out of the performance range, assuming a distressed attacker.

[Killer Miller]

Abnormal breath rate is part of the conscious mind that goes blank with panic - panic is a natural reation in the sub-conscious... The object is to train repetitive in the sub-conscious, like drills, bunkai, to where it becomes a natural reaction instead of the natural reaction of panic that changes your heart/breathing rate and affects your breathing timing. When in a confrontation situation, and if the conscious mind doesn't know how to process what it is seeing, it reverts to the panic button in the sub-conscious mind. If the conscious mind has practiced a given scenario that it is processing, then the trained repetitive scenario of the sub-conscious mind automatically takes affect and reacts - totally without thought. Thus, no panic and normal heart and breathing rate/timing during the situation...

Bottom line, "if you draw the sword, it is to slice." Meaning that if the processed situation of the conscious mind justifies a given rehersed reaction, then result would be a killing technique. The real question is, does the situation truly justify killing force...

Is that the answer you are looking for?

- Killer -

Excellent answer and not one I usually see. Very Capoeira. What of the theories which place breath rate control during a conflict as necessary to hold the adrenalized arousal rate in the controlled, performance-assisting range? I would think that a synched breath rate would allow the stylist to drop out of the performance range, assuming a distressed attacker.

[Wa-No-Michi]

EXCELLENT QUESTION! And I'm glad you asked that question...

There are two breathing timings - Yours and the Opponents. The idea is to identify and match your breathing timing with your opponents (known as picking up your opponent's breathing timing), then anticipate their next move or when they are relaxed. The idea is to attack your opponent in their relaxed state when their large muscles are not contracting and the soft tissue is exposed of vulnerable. Thus, you quickly change your timing after matching theirs to your advantage for the attack. Also, recognizing their breathing timing, you will pick up their inconsistencies (twitching finger, wiggling foot for a kick, etc.) as an indicator that they are going to attack you - you attack them exactly when you see the twitch of the finger or wiggle of the foot when they are in an imbalanced state. They will typically, twitch for a sec, relax, then attack... With pactice over time, you can learn to pick up an opponent's breathing timing almost immediately as they are coming towards you - then WHAM...

Does that answer the question?

- Killer -

Hi Killer excellent post

Ok question then if I may, what is your view on breathing and its timing in relation to how one relates to their opponent?

WNM

I think you are definitely right Killer, and although Wado Ryu (or at least the Wado that I understand) does not proactively promote breathing and its timing within its solo kata / ido kihon, it does manifest itself through the practice of our paired kata - Kihon Kumite.

So for us, it’s a case of reverse engineering things in a way, but I still agree that breathing timing is key when interacting with an opponent.

It's about getting the jump on them, in any shape or form, and in traditional Japanese ma they refer to this as the opportunity when an opponent becomes frozen or stuck even for the slightest moment. This offers you "suki" or an opening for your attack.

Hope that answers your answer to my question Killer

WNM

[JusticeZero]

It sounds as though you are saying that the breakdown under stress comes out of abandoning control of breathing, rather than from the specific tempo as internal time regulator, am I interpreting your answer correctly?

[tallgeese]

Very nice. Thanks.

[Killer Miller]

In a way. It's actually more of the body's natural response to stress and confusion is panic - which involves abandoning control of breathing. If that's all your rehersed responses know for a given situation, your body reverts to Panic. If it rehersed as a natural response, such as block/counter, that response will automatically over-ride the panic response - thus, normal breathing...

- Killer -

It sounds as though you are saying that the breakdown under stress comes out of abandoning control of breathing, rather than from the specific tempo as internal time regulator, am I interpreting your answer correctly?