sanchin

[xyz]

from in internal martial arts perspective, what can you tell me about the seeminlg external karate form sanchin. you think there is any internal value there. if there is you think you can disect it on how it works?

[Geneh]

Some years ago I studied Uechi-ryu karate, and sanchin is the first kata. Seems very hard to me, but I only got to shodan (first black belt). Uechi-ryu was brought back from China by an Okinawan and tradition says he learned PanGaiNoon there and PanGaiNoon means half-hard-soft. I never got to the soft part, much less the internal, but you might direct your question to the PanGaiNoon site (Google it).

 

BTW: After I got my black belt my teacher (a yondan at the time) suggested my style was too hard and I should try tai chi, so I don't think he saw any softness down the road, or internal stuff (maybe I conflate them, am I wrong?).

 

Geneh

Edited November 9, 2009 by Geneh

[dwai]

from in internal martial arts perspective, what can you tell me about the seeminlg external karate form sanchin. you think there is any internal value there. if there is you think you can disect it on how it works?

 

Was reading Glenn Morris' book series "Path Notes of An American Ninja Master" and he mentions Sanchin as being a kind of internal cultivation method. He also says iirc not too many people know how to do this.

 

I have read B K Frantzis say something to that extent in one of his books (I believe in The Power of the IMA)

 

Maybe you should try doing it softly, as slow as possible without evoking any aggressive thoughts if you can.

Place your tongue on the upper palate of your mouth and do deep belly/diaphragmatic breathing through out the kata. I guess rule of thumb to follow is "breath in when moving into a section and breath out when ending it". Try and make the breath as smooth, soft and long as you can. Do the Kata for a few repetitions (perhaps on both sides if possible, ie if you are starting with the right side first, do the left side next).

 

If you decide to give it a whirl, let us know what you experienced.

[steve]

I've practiced sanchin as taught in Goju-ryu and Shorinji-ryu and the method we were taught is very similar to the breathing methods used to build Qi in martial QiGong such as the ShiBa LuoHan Gong. I would consider it more external in that the technique uses the breath to "pack" Qi into the dan tian rather than using the mind of intent to guide and sink Qi to dan tian. Both methods of Qi cultivation are used in QiGong depending on the goals (ie I practice ShiBa LuoHan Gong with the more internal approach) and that could be the case with sanchin as well. There may be other aspects to sanchin that I never learned so my response is certainly not definitive.