Breathing

It's easy enough to say that efficient breathing will help your endurance, but it's very common for people to hold their breath during strenuous activity - like martial arts or taiko - keeping in unneeded tension.

In both arts, simple motions are done in one breath. A lunging punch or a single drum hit is done on the exhale, which comes pretty easily. But what happens when you have to throw a combination of techniques, or play a series of rapid notes? Where do you breathe?

I'm not going to be able to give "the answer" to that because it really depends on what you're doing and who you are. The reason for this post is to bring awareness of your breathing and give you some things to think about.

If you get a chance, try these:

• Do a long sequence of moves slowly (like a kata or a song) while holding your breaths.
• Do the same sequence, but concentrate on even breathing that doesn't fluctuate. Deep breaths in and out.

Neither one is easy to do, but the latter is easier simply because you get to breathe. Ultimately, you want to become familiar with any given sequence to know when you can take a breath and how to ration your exhaling (short bursts, gradually, etc.) However, before you can get to that point, you have to be aware of what your tendencies are.

Finally, if you find your tendency is to hold your breath, kiai more. It's simple - you exhale in the process of kiai-ing, which forces you to take a breath afterwards!

Staying relaxed is one of the hardest things to do while exerting yourself, but also one of the signs of mastery. Most people don't work at it; it comes about with practice. But why wait for it to "come around" when you can work on it now?