I think of Kata as a type of meditation. I've struggled with depression, PTSD, and other issues. Kata has always been there for me, and has always helped me get through the tough times. Glad it works for you as well.

I am glad you were able to benefit from the more practical benefits of martial arts training. I have trained in JKA-style Shotokan karate for 52 years since I was 17 years old. In the first dojo I trained in, we had two-hour classes in three parts: kihon, kumite and kata. Kata was always last. Our sensei wanted to see our resilience and perseverance in performing katas correctly after the grueling basics and sparring since he thought kata was the heart of karate. He thought mental and physical toughness were essential and correct kata practice will help in developing them. I was there for 3 years and learned the 5 Heian katas. I was a green belt. At that time, katas were assigned to rank. I do not see that nowadays. You are right, most martial artists never would use their learned skills in combat situations for the reasons you mentioned. Rather, we are all subject to our human frailties. I practice karate/kata almost everyday for this reason. Now I have the choice of 26 Shotokan katas. Good luck to you and thank you for this video. This to me is a validation of the 'folk dances' I hold dear.

I couldn't agree more. I studied karate from the age of 12 and took a break during during college and early in my career. I ended up getting stressed out, not sleeping much, and had bad mental health. I always tell people when they ask why I do martial arts, the same thing you say here. Our biggest battle is with ourselves and our strongest competition should be ourselves and personal improvement. I train not to beat someone up, but to not get angry and prevent myself from doing that.

This is one of the best videos on karate I have seen in a very long time. I think we all from time to time ask ourselves these questions about the purpose and meaning of kata. I regard karate training as stress-relieving single-tasking, which means my brain relaxes better than when l sleep.

I currently hold the rank of Shodan in Shito-Ryu, the karate style with the most katas, and in a much earlier phase of my life was 1st Kyu in Uechi-Ryu, the style with potentially the fewest katas. Without getting too deep in the weeds of what kata was likely originally intended for (a way to solo practice 2 man defense drills), the original arena the techniques were intended for (it wasn't consentual fighting in a ring or octagon), or how the sport aspect of karate has greatly changed they way they are practiced in a lot of dojos, I do want to say I agree whole heartedly with your sentiment regarding them and a person's mental/physical well-being. Kata has always been a form of moving meditation for me, and a wonderful way to clear your mind and enhance your mind-body connection. And, if you want to practice your kata at a hard and fast pace, it is a great aerobic and strength building workout. I personally practice my kata both slow and hard/fast for the total benefits package. As a young man in my late teens and early 20s I used karate a handful of times in self-defense situations (and yes, I did instinctively use a move or two from kata). However, as a middle aged man my main enemies are stress, potential cardiovascular disease, and not developing type 2 diabetes. This is what I use my karate for these days, with all of the available training methods, including sparring, bag-work, fundamentals, kobudo, and yes, kata. Anyway, I appreciate you highlighting the mental and emotional benefits of kata practice. Keep up the good work.

Timely video. Excellent points, well said.

If you're doing kata correctly, then it IS shadow boxing. The big problem with kata is that few people keep in mind where the opponent is supposed to be at any given time. Keep in mind that when we move our hand/arm back, that's usually supposed to be holding the clothing of the other guy, it's not just for show. When we elbow our own hand, that open hand is supposed to holding the back of the other guy's head etc. Iain Abernethy is the guy to look at for correct/practical application of kata. All that being said, kata is phenomenal for building endurance, for getting the technique correct, it helps immensely with calming and correcting your breathing, and can have many wonderful applications aside from having a scrap. Good vid, great work buddy.

I love thinking of kata as a grounding technique, but even more I love the idea of it as the moves for your mental battle. Kata has never been my favorite, but this new perspective gives it value to me, too.

I've never trained karate, but I have a black belt in taekwondo, and their forms (taegeuks/poomsae) are based on karate kata. I've always thought of kata as being bad for fighting but good for body control. And look at the old Okinawan men and women doing kata at the age of 80, still being healthy.. it's not just their diet that helps with their health; kata (and Chinese martial arts forms, e.g. Tai chi) is also a good and safe way to continue exercising when you're getting older.

I am happy KATA helped you with your anxiety. One of the MANY benefits of KATA. I hope you can continue to learn an appreciate the myriad of components that not only make up a martial artist but also contribute to being a great fighter.

I’ve heard it said that karate isn’t just self defense against another person, but defending yourself against things like aging and illness.

L O V E THIS! So many uses for Kata: meditation, stretching, a diagnostic (ie, where is my balance off, what muscles need work, where is my mind and focus today? etc), and a database of biomechanical tools that need to be adapted for your fighting purpose, and a whole lot more....great video bro!

Thank you for sharing your experience with panic attacks and therapy. It shows strength and courage to be able to do that.

I love this man, I used to compete in kata/poomsae competitions all the time. But that doesn’t deter me from judo and bjj along with my boxing and Taekwondo

Awesome video. Very well done. Nice work!

I really enjoyed this segment. Great insight into "the way".

I always used Kata as a way of meditation. The ability to get lost in the movements was always such a draw for me

I used to hate kata in my younger years. Especially how my instructor drills us into it. It was pretty rigid. But overall, it helped with self discipline. If you could endure the training, you can endure anything. I'm in my 40s and I have stopped competing in kumite. Although I have cross trained in MMA and Muay Thai, and I now workout religiously, I still do kata for the health (both mental and physical) benefits.

The primary justification my instructor always gave us for forms training was the level of mastery over yourself it develops. I would also recommend looking into Iain Abernathy's material on kata bunkai. It is not just based on creatively interpreting the movements lile many people do, but based on thorough research into historical sources on how the old masters trained and how kata fit into that. He has a progression system of kata-drills-sparring where you spar with the techniques you have drilled taken from the kata. This isn't the 1-step, 3-step, 5-step "sparring" that many are familiar with, but real sparring that actually looks a lot like MMA Clinch fighting

Fascinating video! I can relate to so much of this. Kata is my favourite part of martial arts but I sometimes wonder what is the point? Am I wasting my time? This video just reaffirms so much for me. Thanks for posting

I’ve always found forms practice good in many ways, great excercise,fun to practice, and the applicatio

Some people say kata was created by people who wanted to pass their techniques down because they couldn't read or write, some people say that it's a method of conditioning that helps the practitioner fight with a conditioned and flexible body and some say it's a way of combat meditation. Either way I don't think it really matters as we already got a falsifiable way to test what's efficient in martial arts and what isn't, so there is no reason why we can't just appreciate these martial arts and there culture and kata for what they are. I love kata and I love aesthetics in martial arts as well as the dirt practical combat and self defense. I want to see these patterns of movement preserved for as long as possible. The culture in these martial arts are full of richness.

I always thought that's what most martial arts was about. Most martial arts don't seem particularly practical in a real fight

These physical symptoms of panic can be caused by electromagnetic high frequencys like wifi or cellphone towers,

What I've come to understand : When the martial arts were developing, they had to put the principals and techniques somewhere so that they wouldn't be lost. Kata, or Taolu, as we call it in Kung fu, were a way of doing this. The extra benefits of practicing kata - the health and meditative aspects - were probably discovered along the way(?). There were also non-martial patterns of movement in existence that were created specifically for health and well-being, and this might have been thought of while martial arts kata/taolu were developing. Perhaps it helped give rise. In the book, The History Of Kung Fu, by Danil Mihailov, it is explained that the forms had originated as short repetitive drills taught to the armies to prepare them for the battle field. This was what the author termed "proto-kung fu." This kind of repetitive drilling, along with pressure-testing, was vital to the development of fighting ability. Eventually the longer patterns of movement were added, probably for the purpose of preserving the techniques and ideas so that they could be passed down from teacher to student in peacetime. I also read of the belief that practicing patterns of kata actually enhanced the ability to react randomly. I imagine it is similar to professional dancers who practice choreographed movements so much they can go out onto a dance floor and bust random moves better than anyone else. Of course fighting is not the same as dancing, but it was an interesting comparison. As for kata/taolu causing bad habits, I don't know. I imagine that might depend on the students understanding and attention.

nowdays I actively practice Shorinji Kempo so i do lot of Embu training which is similar to Kata but as its really designed to do with a partner/partners i often find myself doing Katas that i learned as i was young mind training Karate. Really helpfull and big part of my spiritual life.

I've not done karate so I do not know how it is like, but for what I am learning, a 'kata' or form is a conditioning tool to train to move the body according to certain principles so that it becomes second nature, and to develop qualities with regards to controlled tension/relaxation.

I still practice kata for similar reason it's a great dynamic drill that goes over the underlining principles and concepts and yes it could still be used for non-consensual violence kata self is not fighting but I break down the kata into practical application and I cross train as well sure I'm no pro MMA fighter or boxer lol I don't want to specialize in those things just want to generalize I feel like combat sports is still a good testing ground but real life there's still differences between the two love the video good explanation of kata

Awesome take man. "Daniel San, first learn walk, then learn fight depression." -Mr. Miagi... probably

By definition Kata is not meant to teach you "how to fight". Only fighting (to a certain extent sparring, shadow, some randori, etc.) teaches you how to fight. BUT to say Bunkai is not a reason just means you are still young and have yet much to learn - then again in martial arts, discovery is life-long, so in that sense even after 3 decades, I could still say the same about me. You have, however, provided a significant touchpoint to the phrase "martial arts is life". I'm sincerely glad you've discovered a way of funneling and taming such a potentially devastating adversity. Serendipity at it's best. I do think your reason for exploring and practicing kata is absolutely legit and even inspiring! Sincere best wishes in overcoming your struggle(s), sir.

In okinawa I just get told Uechi-Ryū Kata is used just for health and wellness. shadow boxing side was removed in the 60-80's in Uechi-Ryū.

Okay while I do agree that kata are amazing as a grounding technique. I still think kata are good for teaching techniques it's just that the vast majority of people have lost touch with that part. While yes not EVERY move in a kata is useful there seem to be at least one useful technique and one useful principle per kata.

I need help every time I do kata I don’t look like how I imagine help

That is why Bodhidarma supposedly taught the Shaolin Monks to strengthen the meditation. Its a form of yoga to join the mind, breathing, and body. Grounding and rooting yourself together atone.

Despite the recent bunkai craze, my conclusion studying TMAs is that historically forms/taolu/kata weren't valued for their applications, they were valued as a sort of martial conditioning tool. That's not to say they don't have applications, but you don't need to learn a kata to learn a hip throw or a joint lock; you could just learn the joint lock. Forms were valued as a sort of martial exercise that also happened to make you practice martial movements.

Well I have used kata for self-defence. However as you stated in your video kata has functions beyond self-defense. Health and mental well being tops the list. Kata is important but still a piece of the puzzle. Kata should be included in your training. Additionally you should doing sparring, shadowboxing, etc. It is important to be well rounded.

Kata is the basis of the martial art not a form of meditation though it can help with that. All the techniques used whether upright or on the ground are found in kata. Most schools are sport clubs and have no real understanding of what they are teaching/learning. Real fighting is difficult and the use of kumite to try the techniques shows us this.

Yes I have always said this a base purpose for Kata.

I still think people miss the point when they say that it won't help you prepare for a street fight. I think people who say that are coming from a place of arrogance. There are so many intricate parts martial arts technique, and so many varieties of how to apply them (based on the circumstances) that you'll never run out of things to focus on, when doing Kata. Also, it does help strengthen joints by helping to strengthen the faccia around with him.

If you ask me, I use kata for the aerobics. They are small and dynamics. I never get bored when doing them. I know they have an application, but I don't think I am learning these movements doing them alone. They need a partner for real training, buy doing it alone engages my brain and body for longer then just jumping and kicking.

Combat Self Defense i wanna say thank you for everything thanks to you and many other martial arts i figure out once and for all what i want to learn krav maga,wing chun,muay thai best martial arts fighting styles of all time good,effective in self defence,street fighting against multiple opponents attackers fact and treu did my research i will learn them goodbye Combat Self Defense make more vids

Mouvement is life.

Now, this is a first glance in right direction i think. Now have a closer look: brain and body has illness proplem - Kata is helpfull to fiix. Why? Lets go a a little forward now: Illness and symptoms are a problem, we have to deal with, right? Beyond illness and sicknes, is there any other problems, we have to face? Problems, where kata maybe also could be helpfull to fix? -> In live and also combat there are a lot more of problems. Lets have a look to some of them: - 1st step: How to use bodyparts and connect them for example. When and how to apply relaxation and tension. How to connect breathing, movement and muscle work. How to get a feel of good foot, knee and hip position, a feel of connecting abdominal and thoracal core and so on and so on. For all this problems to deal with there are some katas created. Sanchin and Tensho for example: They are here for teaching really basic stuff like this. How do they teach this? Slow Repetitions, over and over. They may look easy, even boring. But if you into it, maybe you start to realize soon, they are NOT easy or boring. Instead they give you - through easy to understand and executable moves - the opportunity and time to have a real closer "inner look and feel" to all this problems. You start to sense this problems, because you have the time now. You MUST note this problems by using your sensory system, because you need this awareness to be able for more and more fix and connect this problems. - 2nd: You now ready to do next step. Imagine this: There are a lot of different types of attacks, right? Someone could throw a punch on you, or a kick. In selfdefence situations typically attacks include some type of graping your clothes or arms. How can we learn to deal with all this stuff? How can we become ideas how to react, when such attacks are coming through? There are lot of ways to learn. Starting in your childhood when you playfull try some grappling with your friends. In Karate, Kata is a verry basic stuff for learning lot of maneuvers as ONLY basic ideas. How to move here and there the best way, what type of counterattacks to throw out in this or that situation. Examples: throwing easy but powerfull punches or kicks by yourself, poking the eyes, smash the chin, crush the balls, grap the ears or hair and forcfully twist the head, stamp and crush the back of the foot or the knee and so on and so on. AGAIN: ONLY BASIC IDEAS! If you want to be able to use this type of shit, you have to work with it. First you have to do over and over repetitions. With time, your body and mind start to understand the whole kata this way. More and more ideas starts to pop out, just by doing repetions of this old stuff. It dosent work after 7 days - OF COURSE! You need time, patience and trust. There is more to do: You should extract this little ideas coming to you - and give it a try. You should start to pratice with a buddy and look for yourself, how to apply this ideas in this or that combat/selfdeffence scenario. Some will work good for you, others not. Intense the first ones, forget the ones what not working for you (but maybe, they will work for other persons: people are different). Also start to use this ideas and train it against any type of target: pads, bags, makiwara and all this types of tools -> USE IT. You will not be able to use your forarms as weapons, if they are not worked for being usefull this way! And another one: Do different types of sparring. Okinawan people do - think about why! This is not a question about "doing kata OR sparring/kumite exercises". Sparring-exercises (and there are a lot of different ones, from simple to complex and fully free) ARE A PART OF KATA STUDY ALSO! They help you to get a sense for moving, punching, kicking, graping in free motion. And more i will teach you not today ;) But trust me, there is more. With many many repetions basic katas like sanchin, or more advanced ones, you will start to notice a sensory sensation in your body. A feel of "energy". If you get to this state and you have a good teacher, he or she will help you to understand this and to start to deal with it. Also in NEXT STEP this sensation could lead you direct forward to simply becoming aware, who and what you are for REAL. Let me call it just a "spirit" for now. If this starts to happen, you will know. It does not come easy. First you have to do the basic stuff. One hint: Key is repetion again. Doing Kata over and over, with its typical rhythms of tension and relaxation, breathing in and out, turning left and right, all this stuff: Do you know, how shamanic trance is working for example? They drum, sing and dance OVER AND OVER for hours in the night in the light of an fire - until there minds start to become "transzendent", until they feel, they are SPIRITS, and this way shamans all over the world can start to communicate with spirits of nature and all this stuff. Katarepetition the other hand, over and over and over again, with concentration, awareness, willpower, can transzendent people too. Its an other way, then the one shamans go. But there is a similarity. Want to know, what a high ranked karate MASTER is for real? Now: A Person, strong trained for many many years and decades in this special type of okinawan bujitsu - called "kara-te" nowadays - what has become aware of BEING A SPIRIT. "Kara" means empty, right? "Te" is Hand, okay? For the beginners, for the ones who cant understand the inner secret for now -> Karate means "empty hand" in meaning of "no weapons". Fully okay. But there is a deeper one hidden in here: For those who do know: "Kara-Te" can also mean somthing like "spiritfull hand". Its the voidness or emptyness focused in buddhism and meditationpractice also, what shines through in this word of "kara-te". Trust me: This works. I know. If time has come, you will know too. Do study Kata and ALL this other stuff over and over with patience. And give it some trust and love. What means dont talk to much about things you cant understand for now. For "fighting" and selfdefence kata has a lot to offer to you. But you have to know, where and how to look, how and what to train. And do it, just over and over and over... have a nice day!

This is all insightful. Kata trained right is also useful for encoding sound body mechanics and a high level of body awareness. It's a way to expand your mind into your body. That kind of awareness is less useful against trained fighters you've consented to spar with competitively. But i think it's probably pretty handy when your up against a wall with a random angry drunk dude in a bar or some actual uncontrolled aggressor. Trained fighters don't start fights in the real world. That being said, training is never complete without body conditioning and plenty of free sparring

Funny comment about Aikido, but seriously, it would help you in the same way as you're saying kata does. That is, if you can find a good dojo that practices meditatively.

very well said, i am converted.

Ftakes big man to admit there mistake credit to you

I’ve always found forms beneficial in many ways, but they should be combined with sparring and basics repetition. We use hapkido hyung sae, and hapkido weapon form,; older taekwondo forms like Koryo, keumgang, taebek and of recent creation like chungmu, gaebek, yushin,; ancestral karate form like chulgi, batsai, rohai, kusanku; and our own improved very demanding set of modern moo Sul Hyung, including a moo Sul yushin

no idea about karate kata, but judo kata is "practical". its basically just a demonstration of the fundamental concepts of the technique(s). a teaching aide. just with more "ceremonial" stuff.

It’s more dependent on the school of thought that you apply to your kata and what you visualize kinda similar to shadow boxing in shadow boxing you have slips weaves different types of punch’s etc free flowing your techniques and such in a real fight kata or shadow boxing you aren’t going to perform a jab or a cross or a dodge how you would when you shadowbox cause it’s a live opponent and you make adjustments to your opponent same thing with kata you’ll probably never use a full kata sequence on a opponent or even an exact technique from a kata you’ll prolly only use bits and pieces of information and modify to your opponent so it’s more applicable in whatever self defense situation you find yourself in before I started karate I was a skinny weak man that didn’t know how to hold my own in a fight 5 or so years later I can handle myself pretty well in a fight granted as long as I practice ironically I have no other train besides sparring and kata and I do just fine with black belts and other experienced fighters kata and marital arts never fight it is the practitioner that fights granted yes it is a form of meditation and stress relief I totally agree with that I just wouldn’t say that that’s it’s main purpose nevertheless thanks for a informational video have a good night.

Only joking, I'd never do aikido. Good video. I used to practice for the same reasons.

Self defense comes from Kata!

Katas do teach you how to fight, it’s the instructors job to teach you how to react with your natural reflexes then the importance of each body part in striking tai chi is excellent to showing the body how to gain control of your body, every punch must be stroked as if it’s your last every kick elbow the same

Some people do yoga. I do kata.

I was terrible at hyung 35 years ago and was one of my biggest obstacles to my black belt and now I do them most everyday for the very reasons you talk about in this video great job rob

Isn't shadow boxing a form of free form kata

Welcome to Budo.

"kata is not an efficient way to fight"....don't agree with that premise seeing there's growing content being produced on social media showing ways to make kata applicable. However, I do agree kata can help with physical and mental well-being.

kata are a textbook of techniques, nothing more than that. You learn to fight from the kata by extracting various techniques from them and practicing them against different attacks (esp not that ridiculous oi tsuki you see all the time in kihon kumite) with a partner in drills that are rote at first but evolve into freeplay. You will find a lot of useful stuff (from a self defense perspective, not the ring) if you do this.

The old karate masters, the ones the first generation of karateka talked about, coming in centuries before them, generally knew one kata. Only one. So knowing one or 100 kata serves this mental health purpose you discovered. I think today's karate schools generally have too many or too few. They'd be better just teaching one kata well than 4 or 8 or 20 different kata.

Dear Combat Self Defense or Rob: I do understand what you mean, when you say "If you take two untrained people, one of them doing only Kata for a week, one of them doing only Shadowboxing for a week...", but this is actually a bit questionable. See, the meaning of "Kata" is just "form" or "pattern". If you would teach someone to "shadowbox", you would actually have to show him at least a few moves and movement patterns to work with, like "jab-cross-hook" together with the needed footwork. So first you would teach him "Kihon", to learn a jab, a cross and hook seperately, then you would put the combination into a "Kata" or "pattern" to exercise. I mean, you did this and showed it really good in your "Kajukenbo Home Workout Number 9" as a "Combat Kata". The Problem with Kata in Okinawan and Japanese Karate, but also Karate-offspins like Kajukenbo, is how "old historical Kata" is used out of "Tradition", while the fighting methods of the Karate styles are drifting apart from that content in the Kata more and more, for several reasons. But on the other hand, not every Kata is for practicing combat drills directly, some examples are "Sanshin", the "breathing Kata" practiced prominently in Goju Ryu, or the "Kicking Katas" of Kyokushin which are just forms to train Axe-, Round- and Crescent Kicks in a pattern while stepping forward and turning. One offspin-style of Kyokushin, "Ashihara Karate" dropped all traditional "Combat Kata" and wrote new ones, reflecting more their style of fighting, instead of holding a on to tradition: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fK9jhrd7v9_SnIk.html

But couldn't you get the same benefits from doing a kata that contains more realistic movements that can more easily applied to actual fighting? Why do katas always have to look like dancing, rather than fighting?

😂 😂 sounds like you 'have it all figured out'

No disrespect intended, I just don't believe you've been instructed properly in bunkai. You make alot of declarative statements about kata and bunkai that are inaccurate.

Man, any neighborhood kid who trained in Middle School can tell you about the reflexes it installs and conditions overall expectation for movement. Can't believe how bad you whiffed this video my friend

Karate katas are useless ……. Weak punches, slow and unsafe ……