“Straighten the front foot, move from the Seiki Tanden, circle the foot through a line dropped from the hip, put the bodyweight through the power point on the foot, sink the chest to find the feet, tuck in the tailbone and stretch the neck as you would touch the opponent and apply the movement……..”

We were working on Sanchin Kata and Sensei was working our “brain muscle” hard.

“What’s the hardest muscle in the body to train?”

“The brain muscle Sensei!” we all chorused, familiar with question.

“Then why aren’t you using it?”

“It’s too hard to think of all these things at the same time Sensei, we just go into overload…..”

“Then why are you trying to think of them all at the same time?”

“Because you told us to!”

“No I didn’t……  I gave you a list in sequence, you do each point as you get to it, no wonder the pea in your brain went into overload!……”

“Yeah, but the movement happens too quickly to be able to think and then do in such a short space of time…..”

“That’s because you are moving too fast dohbrain…..  slow the movement down until you can think and move at a pace that you can do it correctly….”

I love sanchin, a ‘core’ kata to many karate systems, it adds the qigong aspect, harmonising mind, breath and body.  It consists of three sections gradually increasing the level of difficulty in physical co-ordination and breathing technique.  In the first section you move one side at a time opening and closing one side of the body with a whole breath followed by a half breath (to prevent dizziness), in the second section you move opening and closing both sides of the body at the same time flexing the spine  whilst taking deep breaths utilising the abdomen and opening and closing the chest and back; in the third section you apply the highest level of co-ordination with each side of the body moving independently of the other with the highest level of restrained and focused breathing. 

All the time the body is holding the internal connections and pumping the internal energy….

“Soften guys…..  soften….  You’re moving like a car with the handbrake stuck on… the tension is also limiting the amount of breath you can take in, sink the chest and open the back… 

“I thought I was…”

Sensei put his hand on John’s lumbar region, “you have to open all the back, your lower spine is seized, you need to be able to open here to ‘bow’ the entire spine and open the ming men to energise the kidneys – hold your posture but keep softening…”

John was obviously frustrated as he couldn’t do it…  “It just won’t move!”

“Sanchin!”

Ahhh ….  My favourite…. Sensei can be a bit intense teaching this kata, it’s when we get on to principle number seven, the internal system.  Our version of sanchin appears to be soft, in fact very Chinese in comparison to many other karate styles.  It’s the pivotal point in our karate system where we go from external to internal at 5^th kyu, the half way point from white to black belt.  Sensei was giving correction to Tim, a slightly nervous guy who doesn’t take correction too easily….

“Tim, straighten your back, that’s better, now stretch the neck upwards, don’t stick your chin out, tuck it in….  now eyes, use intent…  good!  Tongue to the top palette, okay……    now soften down the conception vessel meridian, close the hui yin, hollow the chest and raise the back…”  Sensei was gently coercing Tim’s body with  his use of words and a gentle touch here and there to open the meridians.  The problem was that Tim wasn’t responding too well, he has a tendency to over react…

“Don’t lose the original good posture Tim, put one layer on top of the other..”  Sensei gently corrected the original instructions again.  “Now, loosen the waist so that your bodyweight gets into the thighs and accesses the feet properly, keep your mind in the arm position to ensure the chest is hollowed, the arms lock the chest in….”

“Sensei, you’re driving me mad!”

“Why’s that?”

“ I just can’t possibly remember all these things at the same time, it’s too much…”