Breathing.... How Important is it for you?

How important is breathing in your training? Are you actually corrected for improper breathing?
Regards Gabriel

Breathing is important for everything, without it we are nothing . Sorry, couldn't resist . Actually, I think it is very important in training. When I was in Japan, we used to do breathing exercises and they were stressed in techniques sometimes, here in the UK, I don't hear it mentioned to the same levels. Personally, one of my really bad habits (since forever), is that I tend to hold my breath when concentrating on something, this doesn't help me at all in a randori or ninin dori <GASP>.

Breath


rgds

Bryan

For me, breathing, relaxation, mental clarity and endurance are interlinked.

Best regards,

I find that just trying to breath naturally is most important while doing techniques. If you try to breath in or out for different motions, then your rhythm gets boggled. If you try to breath naturally, then your breath will eventually find the correct rhythm.

Gabriel Arias wrote: How important is breathing in your training? Are you actually corrected for improper breathing? Regards Gabriel

Well...proper breathing is part of Ki-aikidos first Ki-rank: Shokyu. (we have Ki-rank and regular Kyu-ranks side-by-side) Part of the rank requires the student to display his grasp of "ki breathing", (I think its called Kokyuho), while sitting seiza.

We usually do Kokyuho before, and sometimes during training sessions. I have my own Shokyu grading session coming up in Feb so I've been practicing breathing at home and even at work. Kokyuho is actually quite refreshing when I do it at work so I try to do it whenever I feel a bit drained.

IMHO, breathing is critical. I run out of breath if I hold it and separated ribs when I took ukemi. We aren't corrected much about it. At first I tended to hold my breath due to stress and anxiety. Then I tried to breathe in with the blend and out with the throw. Now I tend to just breathe naturally that way.

So most of you just try to focus in normal breathing.... exhaling. This is what I do.

Proper breathing is important. In my style we do quite a bit of what is called "circular breathing". This is drawing in the breath, and just releasing the outbreath, with no gap between the two. Sometimes we coordinate the breathing with technique, but often we don't.

In a randori, we are encouraged to "pant" breathing very quickly and deeply to really oxygenate, and the breathing is not coordinated with techniqe, just inoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinout the whole time.

One time I stopped breathing. It did not work out very well at all.

At a seminar with Kato Shihan in Corpus Christi, he made a point (several times in fact) that breathing was very important. I worked out with an 8th dan in karate who has a great respect for Kato Sensei. Sensei would come over often and make corrections, but also to make points that would help my partner in his karate. Breathing was a very specific thing he mentioned.

In various techniques, but with kokyunages especially, I try to inhale on the blend and exhale on the throw. Breathing forces you to relax and not clinch up. If you make yourself into a ball or stiffen up, you'll feel your inhaling constrict and not flow easily. If you relax, it comes easier and it somehow gives you more power.

It truly is amazing how "muscling" something will not work, where relaxing, breathing and blending will absolutly move your uke.

Breathing is important... and it is something that takes practice and time to learn, despite the fact we breath constantly.

... just isn't the same kinda breathing.

I agree with just about everything john said. Except one thing. It is the same kind of breathing. The one thing that we all do wrong is hold our breath when we exert ourselves. And this carries over into our techniques. Holding your breath is not a natural thing, It's just something that we sort of teach ourselves to do. Through breathing exercises we try to relearn how to breath properly again and it helps our technique. But it can also help us with every movement that we do all day long. Breathing correctly is an all the time thing. We just have to let our bodies do the natural thing and not let our mind bug it all up.

I'll just find out.


*Slowly turns purple.*


GASP!!!


Hmmm. I would say quite important.

On a more serious note, we do an exercise in Kendo where you do so many techniques in one breath - but you are breathing out at the time so still breathing in a way. The only way to do them is to relax and use your body efficiently, although as Lynne says above, holding breath is not good for ukemi practice.

Cheers,

Matt.

breathing is critically important for me because it is where our energy is projected when we move or do a technique. Is my speculations right, seniors?