KUMITE

As you train, kumite provides three different ways for you to test yourself and your technique. There will always be opponents who are weaker or less experienced than you, there will be those that are equal to you, and of course, those that are stronger and more experienced than you. Each presents you with a different opportunity to show your respect for yourself and your opponents. Try to approach each from this perspective:

1. With the less experienced, go hard. Always try to improve your technique, but don't be a bully. Role model intensity, effort, and most importantly, control. Bring the opponent up to your level, don't go down to theirs.

2. With your equals, go hard. Each encounter is an opportunity to improve, to raise your self from where you are, and a challenge for your opponent to do the same.

3. Finally, with your seniors, go hard. There is nothing more respectful than effort, and to give someone else the opportunity to show you their best.

The Sooner, the Better

The most sophisticated type of timing is to be able to counterattack your opponent or to defend yourself in some other way - before the attacker actually attacks you. This doesn't mean that you can read minds or predict the future. It does mean that you are aware of your surroundings, people's intentions, and the messages people give off with their bodies, facial expressions, and movements. It also means that you can react to that information before you find yourself in true danger.

The true beauty of having this type of timing is that, in most cases, you will never have to actually use your karate. In most cases, you will be able to move, evade, escape, or avoid a situation almost before your opponent actually has had time to for­mulate a plan of attack.

Hey, Just Stand There for a Minute, Will Ya?

Now, distance is the flip side of timing. At one time or another, you will wish with all your heart that you could just get your opponent to stand still for a moment. But you can't. All techniques have an ideal range or distance, the one point where all the karate dynamics come together and the punch, kick, or strike is most effective. The problem is that people just keep moving. Worse, they keep trying to hit you while you are trying to deliver this perfect technique.

As you train, try to identify and really understand the distance you need to throw certain techniques. That way, if your timing is good, when your opponent is at the right distance, you will have the right technique for the job.

From Kissing Range to Kicking Range

One of the most common mistakes you will make (along with everyone else) is not recognising what range you are in, and attempting to use the wrong technique at the wrong time. Remember the adage, "Always use the right tool for the right job."

Fear and Anxiety: Control Yourself

The single most important factor in a self-defense situation, or when facing an opponent in sparring, is stable emotions. By stable emotions, we mean that although you might feel fear and anger, you will be able to use those emotions to your benefit. Controlling yourself really is about learning how to deal with stress and anxiety, which are two of the deadliest enemies of modern life. Just as strong emotions such as joy and sorrow always manifest themselves in some part of our lives, anxiety also manifests itself in one form or another in our bodies. Different people react differ­ently to stress. Some develop ulcers, some get skin problems, and some experience heart trouble. The stress itself is the outer force that bears down on us and causes anxiety. Anxiety, in turn, can play a major role in causing pain, allergies, obesity, heart disease, learning disorders, speech disorders, sexual maladjustment, and mental illness.

Anxiety is an unpleasant state of tension or uneasiness that arises from the mind's perception of stress as a danger to the body. When we fight against anxiety, we often overreact and cause both the body and the mind to develop symptoms indicating that a severe conflict is taking place. This occurs because the body is pretty well-equipped to respond to fear because fear is a reaction to a short-lived, external threat or danger. But the body is ill-equipped to maintain the fear response over an ex­tended period of time.

Fear occurs in response to a specific stimulus, while anxiety is like a drawn-out fear of something that you can't see or recognize or specifically define. When your brain per­ceives a threat, it "supercharges" your body's defense mechanisms and temporarily suspends a number of normal body functions. In fear, the heart beats faster, the blood pressure rises, and blood is redirected from the stomach and intestines to the heart. The spleen contracts and discharges its supply of red blood corpuscles to pro­vide the increased oxygen necessary for the extra energy needed for fighting the dan­ger. And the mind automatically decides to either escape from the danger or fight it. This is universally known as the "fight or flight" response. In a state of anxiety, these body functions continue to occur and produce extreme muscle tension, greatly in­creased energy expenditure, fatigue, a fast pulse, high blood pressure, nausea, heart­burn, and many other nasty, ugly symptoms.

The basic karate method of achieving emotional stability and overcoming anxiety is to train the body and mind together, face stress and anxiety in the controlled atmos­phere of the dojo, and find out firsthand what it's all about. A good instructor will place you in one stressful situation after another and teach you how to cope. Remem­ber that, originally, the practice of karate was part of a life-and-death struggle. Of course, we don't think much about life and death in the dojo today, but that's where karate's roots are, and that's why the training needs to be strict and disciplined.

In the dojo you will learn the importance of placing your trust in the instructor because the will place you in stressful situations again and again.