Why slow movements in kata?

[DWx]

I know I'm TKD but....

Movements should be like water. Sometimes they are slow, sometimes they are fast. Sometimes they crash with a great force, sometimes they gently redirect. Different scenarios and different outcomes.

Why we practice some movements slow and others fast: for tension, resistance, balance, emphasis.... and for aesthetics. If, in your application, you feel other movements could be executed slow, then practice them slow. Either in the kata itself or in isolation.

[Alan Armstrong]

I know why some movements are intended to be practiced slowly.

I don't expect to be agreed with, due to it being something energy based and not tool based.

Energies vs tools isn't easy to understand from the karate mind set perspective.

Martial art energies are a psychological blind spot for many hard style, exterior minded individuals.

Calling the slow parts of a kata as grappling, or throws or dynamic tension is missing the point, the esoteric point.

Just for a moment not judging it but better to understand the significance first, without guessing it or making up theories.

If I seem difficult or impossible right know explaining the significance, please have some patience with me.

Now for the explanation.

The slow parts of the kata is energy based.

It is very very very profound.

By practicing certain movements slowly, it is also practicing multiple energy forces, such as forward, downward and outward or inward movement in one slow motion.

In this way a punch forward with the fist can also be a deflection with the outside of the forarm and a block with the elbow.

The same idea can be practiced with a leg, as the front of the foot is a kick and a deflection with the outside of the thigh and a sweep, all within one movement.

A way to understand this idea more clearly, is to think of a cat walking and leaning against a wall with its body on the right and rubbing its head on the left on a chair; three points of contact simultaneously, as the ground is also a point of contact.

The question would be, how would a person know if it is being done correctly in a kata and there is a way to know.

When done correctly the arm for this instance, while moving slowly, will vibrate.

As the person performing the kata, is focusing on three energy directions simultaneously, this will vibrate the arm, which is where the mistake, of thinking it is a dynamic tension excerise comes from.

[Kusotare]

Coming from a Koryu background, I'm not a stranger to esoteric concepts of energy development.

The problem is trying to translate this.

For most today - the measure of a martial art is how efficiently it stands up in the MMA cage or the street.

Talk of 'internal energy / chi / ki' tends to weird people out.

[Alan Armstrong]

Coming from a Koryu background, I'm not a stranger to esoteric concepts of energy development.

The problem is trying to translate this.

For most today - the measure of a martial art is how efficiently it stands up in the MMA cage or the street.

Talk of 'internal energy / chi / ki' tends to weird people out.

Thanks Kusotare you are very right.

Perhaps multitasking would be an acceptable modern equivalent.

While attempting to land an airplane as it touches down might be a better visual description, as it is moving forward, leaning to the left and right and also sinking/landing, touching down, all at the same time.

[Alan Armstrong]

Could be asked, what is to be learned by all these simultaneous connections?

Personally I'm getting older, considered to becoming more stiff, weaker and prone to diseases, yet as I practice with flexibility, healthy eating and strength exercises, on the contrary, I'm becoming more flexible, youthful and healthier instead.

[wildbourgman]

I know that some styles have slow movements where others have fast moves in the same kata. For instance the opening two moves in Pinan Yandan, in some Okinawan styles those moves are fast where as in Shotokan it's very slow. Why, I tend agree as many others here, sometimes for no reason other than show and other times because it's not a strike but something else such as a tuite technique.

[Alan Armstrong]

Also while using tuite, understanding multiple energy flows is in important.

As gripping, pulling, pressing, circling and sinking are vital parts of tuite techniques used together, separately and simultaneously.

Knowing and practicing this makes the difference between a novice and expert.

The very subtle energy controlling and tuite go hand in hand, also not forgetting that all techniques involve energy pressure and directions.

[Alan Armstrong]

This video is from Black Flag Wing Chun, demonstrating shock power.

As the demonstration shows slow internalized movements (basic energy principles) that train the body and focus the mind for a high level Wing Chun.

[Luther unleashed]

I don’t hold the belief that all movements in forms are for fighting. It’s realism that most traditional Larate guys will think otherwise but I believe some movements are to help focus on breathing, some to focus on balance, some to look cool (as Noah said above). Some are for the skill and to show it, and of course many ARE for fighting.

My instructor in 2013 gave a speech about the many benefits of forms (Kata) which had little to do with fighting. He mentioned the 90 year old man that had strong hips instead of needing one replaced. He spoke of him having balance and not needing a walker. You see he went on about how the portion of martial arts that is for fighting is such a small portion of ones life, especially considering a good martial artist won’t easily fight anyways. Sometimes I joke with my wife and call forms “old people Karate”. Actually I use forms to warm up before I train, as it’s an excepent pace to warm a student up, and help them relax and focus on breathing!

To me, and I’d like to say that I do a good deal of slow techniques in forms, it’s what really makes the forms look beautiful. The slow parts really accent the fast parts. At any rate, I have never really thought so deeply about this topic, interesting topic jr137.

[JR 137]

I don’t hold the belief that all movements in forms are for fighting. It’s realism that most traditional Larate guys will think otherwise but I believe some movements are to help focus on breathing, some to focus on balance, some to look cool (as Noah said above). Some are for the skill and to show it, and of course many ARE for fighting.

My instructor in 2013 gave a speech about the many benefits of forms (Kata) which had little to do with fighting. He mentioned the 90 year old man that had strong hips instead of needing one replaced. He spoke of him having balance and not needing a walker. You see he went on about how the portion of martial arts that is for fighting is such a small portion of ones life, especially considering a good martial artist won’t easily fight anyways. Sometimes I joke with my wife and call forms “old people Karate”. Actually I use forms to warm up before I train, as it’s an excepent pace to warm a student up, and help them relax and focus on breathing!

To me, and I’d like to say that I do a good deal of slow techniques in forms, it’s what really makes the forms look beautiful. The slow parts really accent the fast parts. At any rate, I have never really thought so deeply about this topic, interesting topic jr137.

A big part of why I like kata so much is it’s versatility. It can be used for a lot of things and in a lot of different ways. And there’s nothing wrong with using them in a lot of different ways. Some people use them as warmups, as a way to drill the basics, as a moving meditation, as an exercise unto itself (think tai chi).

And even for “fighters” there are kata that aren’t packed with “fighting moves” but rather principles of movement. Take Sanchin for instance. It teaches coordination of breathing, being rooted, and body conditioning. There’s probably more, but there’s very little actual bunkai going on, as there’s 3-4 different moves in the kata itself...

Different schools do the kata differently, but the underlying principles are the same IMO.