Kata and CBT.

I'm currently undertaking an online course in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help me unravel the Gordian knot described in "Suicidal thoughts".  Part of this is to practice three sets of techniques each day to help with mindfulness and relaxation.  Basically you have:

• Awareness, going through each part of your body in turn to explore what you can feel
• Tensioning, tensing and relaxing muscles to help relieve tension
• Breathing, feeling each breath to bring you into the now and focus on the present

This reminds me of a lot of the techniques I have learnt through Karate, such as the relaxation and cardio slow kata learnt with Robey Jenkins, the tensioning in Sanchin from PJ Broomy and the breathing learnt from Noah Legel, in Tensho.

As a result, and due to my need to get back into deliberately practice every day, I decided to see whether I could combine the two.  So I perform Naihanchi Shodan, Sanchin and Tensho in sequence.  Naihanchi, I perform slowly, paying attention to how my body moves and feels.  Sanchin, I am currently experimenting with tensioning on 1 rep in 2 and 1 rep in three for the whole body and relaxing in between.  In Tensho, it is a case of using the breathing much as is done in Mokuso, to empty the mind and come into the present.

The two videos shown are from the last couple of days, one with the 1 in 2 Sanchin, the other with the 1 in 3 Sanchin.  Very much a work in progress, but ironic that I chose without thinking the three kata labelled as fundamental kata to Karate by Miyagi Chojun.  I didn't even think about that until it was pointed out by PJ Broomy.  

Will document how it goes in a later blog.

A different Naihanchi

My Sensei tell me that it's good to practice Naihanchi in different ways, slow, fast, arms only, footwork only, open handed,etc.  Also that the elements remain the same, but in a real world situation can be applied as different techniques and will rarely be used in the order in which we train them.

With that in mind, I decided to take a look at a different version of Naihanchi from my own, Tachimura no Naihanchi, which looks substantially different to my own.  A version is shown in the link below, by Noah Legel.

Tachimura no Naihanchi (Noah Legel)

I decided the easiest way to do this was first of all to try to break it down by studying the video several times and this is what I came up with (please excuse the fact that I don't know all the technical terms):

Formal opening,
Look to left
right foot (rf) step over, left foot (lf) to Naihanchi dachi
Left hand (lh) open gidan uke, right hand (rh) hikate
Rh punch across, lh hikate
Look to right
Rh open gidan uke
Lh punch across, rh hikate
Lf step over, rf to Naihanchi dachi
Look forward
Lh chudan-tsuki, mark out, rh back fist, left arm comes up to support
(substitute with lh chudan-tsuki, double block, rh back fist)
Look to right, rf wave kick, rh chudan-tsuki to the side
Look to left, lf wave kick, lh pull in to hip, coupled to rh
Look to right, double punch, rh under left, rh shuto uke, lh hikate, lh elbow strike to rh clasp
Look to left, lh open gidan uke, rh hikate
Rh punch across, lh hikate
Rf step across, lf to Naihanchi dachi
Rh chudan-tsuki, mark out, lh back fist, rh comes up to support
(substitute with rh chudan-tsuki, double block, lh back fist)
Look to left, lf wave kick, lh chudan-tsuki to the side
Look to right, rh wave kick, rh pull in to hip, coupled to lh
Look to the left, double punch, lh under right, ln shuto uke, rh elbow strike to lh clasp
Look to right
Rh open gidan uke
Lh punch across, rh hikate
Lf step over, rf to Naihanchi dachi
Look forward
Lh chudan-tsuki, mark out, rh back fist, left arm comes up to support
(substitute with lh chudan-tsuki, double block, rh back fist)
Look to right, rf wave kick, rh chudan-tsuki to the side
Look to left, lf wave kick, lh pull in to hip, coupled to rh
Look to right, double punch
Formal close

I then decided to try to put it back together with the individual elements picked out from the version of the kata I know. There are a couple of substitutions indicated as above, where I wasn't too confident of, and in no way was I going to try to emulate the different stepping of Tachimura no Naihanchi.

This is what I came up with:

Elements of Tachimura no Naihanchi

Which I then compared ro what I do in the version of Naihanchi Shodan that I practice:

Naihanchi Shodan (Shorin Ryu)

In essence the core sequences frim Gedan uke to double punch are much the same, but the variations which make them look so different are the start sequence, direction of travel and number of repetitions of the core sequence.  The Shorin Ryu version goes:

Start to the right, shuto uke, elbow strike

Core sequence to the left, shuto uke, elbow strike

Core sequence to the right

The Tachimura no Naihanchi version goes:

Start to the left, gedan uke (open hand), punch across

Core sequence to the right, shuto uke, elbow strike

Core sequence to the left, shuto uke, elbow strike

Core sequence to the right

Compared to the different versions of some kata, such as Seisan, although they might look different in appearance, there is actually very little difference in content. Appearances can be deceptive, for in fact when the Shorin Ryu kata and Tachimura kata are broken down like this, it can be seen that the Shorin Ryu version element wise is exactly the same from the shuto uke going to the right.

Start to the left, gedan uke (open hand), punch across

Core sequence to the right, shuto uke, elbow strike

Core sequence to the left, shuto uke, elbow strike

Core sequence to the right  

Tachimura no Naihanchi only
Shorin Ryu and Tachimura Naihanchis

I wonder why I didn't see that in the first place, but probably because it is partly masked by the visible differences in the stepping, the dropping stances in the gedan strikes and the variation in the arm techniques.

So just to conclude, thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this, and hope it might have been of some small interest.

Naihanchi drills

The key kata of my style is Naihanchi Shodan, and in essence for us "all things are Naihanchi" in basic techniques.   With all the time spent on online sessions, my Sensei have started to present a series of pad drills centred on the kata, for use in lessons and to be tested as a part of gradings. 

This is my attempt to document them to refer back to, and where I can spot the relationship, pin them to the kata.  The videos are of me trying to memorise the drills, so aren't the best for form or power.  However they do I believe, show the core elements, and will give a basis for comparison as I progress.

The common features of all the drills, whether pro or reactive in nature, are to occupy the oppontent's space, unbalance the person, then disable them.  This may take one step or many and we are told that sequence is not important, just the principles.  The techniques that can be applied depend on the opportunities presented, rather than the sequence in which we practice them.

So to the drills themselves:

Naihanchi Drill 1:

#1Teisho, hammer fist, elbow, knee, step back drag down

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

Drill 1 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8xCYdlaxuU

Drill 1 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0v4ECif7QU

Naihanchi Drill 2:

Initially I had this noted as:

#2 Teisho, crash, head clasp to shoulder, shoulder bump, head butt, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head clasp, turning drag down

But this has developed into:

Teisho, crash, head clasp to shoulder, shoulder bump, head butt, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head clasp, elbow, step back drag down

As with the videos for drill #1 the videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side. The first video features the first version of the drill and the second features the second version of the drill.

I believe this refers to the opening section of the kata, from yoi to the pull in after the stike and elbow sequence. The step overs represent the knee strikes and this is shown in the third video.

Drill 2 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIOjYresdf8

Drill 2 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5VBYC5rBmE

Drill 2 Video 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJOgKC_qutY

Naihanchi Drill 3:

#3 Step back foot across to side, low block, hook, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head grasp, rotating drag down.

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

I believe this refers to the section of the kata, from gidan uke to the next step over. This is shown in the third video.

Drill 3 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LCUyz6NO1g

Drill 3 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn9OccwQSbc

Drill 3 Video 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5VTx3p5Mw

Naihanchi Drill 4:

#4 push down and uppercut, roll into backfist, clinch and knee into heel stomp, cm neck crank takedown.

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

I believe this refers to the section of the kata from the ukes to the wave kicks. This is shown in the third video.

Drill 4 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiGnCo3Xq5U

Drill 4 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRr6OscPfpM

Drill 4 Video 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdOyRtmiLow

Naihanchi Drill 5:

#5 Percussive clinch, knee, hammerfist into side of head/jaw, forearm strike into base of skull, turn and throw into wall/person/ environment.

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

Drill 5 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nEbZOIsfz8

Drill 5 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaXSGZy7J3Y

This is very much a work in progress, but thought it worth documenting, for reference and to be able to check my progress. Thank you for reading, if you got this far :)