Recently, a friend sent me an article on an aspect of Martial Arts that talked about using posture to increase your power. I thought this was worth commenting on. Posture is very important in your training, power is not.
Posture is what allows one to have and maintain balance. If we are to be concerned with taking the kazushi of an attacker, we must maintain our own. Many times we see a practitioner bent over his uke at the end of a practice technique. This is something to be avoided as the attacker can simply hold on to you and you will be pulled over and to the ground if you are leaning over. I will, often, practice my kata with a book on my head to help me be mindful of my posture.
Power is another matter altogether. In our sword practice, the design and balance of the sword will allow it to cut if it is merely dropped through a target. There is no need to add power to that. If one does attempt to add power they will simply add to the likelihood of losing kazushi, and they will tire themselves out much more quickly. In a battle, if you tire yourself out, you may be effective with the first few adversaries, but what happens once you are out of energy?
We train to use the power of gravity, the strongest force available to us. Many Martial Arts concern themselves with increasing your muscle power, and/or utilizing leverage. no matter how strong you become, no matter how much leverage, you cannot beat gravity! Our answer is to take the balance of the attacker that they cannot help but give you and allow that to flow into the void where gravity will happily take them to the ground. I have heard it said that” the ground is the harshest mistress.” Certainly, if the attacker does not know to take a fall, they will be dissuaded from further attack.
If you would like to look into this, further, come on out to the River of Life dojo. We’d love to train with you!