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Old 11-08-2005, 02:30 AM   #9
Chuck.Gordon
Location: Frederick, MD
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 509
United_States
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Re: The Power of Kiai

First off, 'kiai' is not a yell. It's not necessarily even a sound, though if you do achieve kiai, there will very likely BE a sound. The noise, the yell, is a byproduct, and can be in early stages of kiai training, be a training tool, a sort of mnemonic used to help the student create the conditions wherein kiai exists.

Kiai can exist independently of the sound, and even of the breathing, though for proper kokyu and riai, both elements of creating kiai, the rhythm and flow of the breath is, again, a powerful tool in achieving the conditions conducive TO kiai.

Kiai is not a thing, it is a condition of things. IMNSHO, YMMV.

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