Hello dear Yūshin Geiko community members! 🙂
Here's a video of one of our black belt training sessions last year.
We worked a lot on using the Tanden as the starting point for each technique.
The Tanden is one of our internal energy centers, energy which is called "Ki" ("Chi" in Chinese, "Prana" in Sanskrit). In fact there are three main Tanden in our body (each corresponding to a particular Chakra): "Jo Tanden", "Chu Tanden" and "Seika Tanden" (also called "Ge Tanden").
In Karate, we focus primarily on the Seika Tanden (which is located inside the belly, a few centimeters below the navel), and when we say "Tanden", we are commonly referring to this one in particular which is the primary location of the Ki that we aim to use in techniques.
I believe this is one of the most important things - too often forgotten - to understand and master in our Karate training.
Using the Tanden will create more powerful techniques and put us on the way to "Kime" (battle-ending decisive attack).
We have a lot of preparation exercises to feel this sensation - that I’m glad to share with you during our live online classes ! 🔥 - and it's particularly difficult when performing Kizami Mawashi Geri because we have to use all our internal power (from the core muscles and Tanden) to control our bodyweight, fight gravity and avoid leaning backwards.
It may not seem like it, but it is also very difficult to execute this properly in Oi Zuki because we also have to defy gravity while the back foot slides forward.
For more details on the importance of Oi Zuki and why I believe it’s the most fundamental technique in Shotokan Karate-dō, you can read this article:
It's also very interesting to note that this core power we cultivate through the Tanden is also used in Yoga practice to perform some very difficults Asana (postures). In Yoga this internal power is created by using the Bandhas which somewhere are related to the Tanden in Japanese and Chinese culture (More to come on this topic soon!).
Hope you will enjoy this short video! 🙂
(Sorry, the training was in French, but don't worry, it has English subtitles!)
OSS! 🙏
Nicolas
📌 Information
Our next live online seminar will be held on Saturday May 17, 2025 from 5 to 6:30 pm (Paris time).! 🔥🌍
This not to be missed class is opened to all paying members of any level.
We'll continue to work on the core principles for generating speed and power, adding some exercises to achieve correct relaxation in the techniques, and the Kata we'll be studying is Empi! 👊
And at the end of the session, I'll reserve some time to answer any questions you may have.
So if you're not a paying member yet, and you'd like to participate and access the replay, join us now!
🎁 There's currently a very special price for the opening of the community, and if you sign up now, you'll keep this price - which will soon increase - forever!
Visit this page (👇👇👇) to find out more about our memberships.
🔥 Want to achieve great Karate kicks and improve your flexibility & core power ? Check this out! 👇👇👇
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