LOL ..... if you've ever trained with Chinese "Masters"... believe me, Viagra is a LOT cheaper!

And with this type of mistranslation - you could end up with an election! [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by karate-do:
Does anyone have a reasonable amount of knowledge on kiai's they would like to share,I'm learning Shotokan karate and in that my teacher just teaches us to make as loud a sound as possible to increase the power of eg a punch but from the info ive read on the internet there are specific sounds, syllables etc to pronounce for different effects is this true?[/QUOTE]

This is a similar question I asked when I studied GoJuRyu. For the past 12 years I have studied internal styles based in Kempo. I have come to believe that the Kiai or spirit yell actually interferes with proper breathing and therefore flow of internal energy (Ki) and thus power. Breathing is an art in itself and it is a lot easier to understand and master with an instructor willing to teach you, but some general rules: learn your techniques properly so that you can allow your body to relax. Any muscle tension impedes Ki flow. Breath in through your nose, and out through your mouth. In on a block and out on a strike. The exhale becomes the Kiai and can be hard (eg Sanchin), soft (eg Tensho), or silent, as practiced in internal arts. The important thing is not the yell, but allowing energy to flow unimpeded. Some people concentrate so much on the yell, that it takes energy away from the technique. You may want to read technigues in Aikido to further explore breathing on your own, and add this to your style.

want to know how i do this so called technique. simple yelling is not needed. relax the muscles raising you Ki energy to the point of the attact and focus on that target then using your energy strike that target using your energy. someday i will be able to explain this stuff at my own dojo. till then i plan on seeing you at a coming World Martial Arts tournament hopefully it will somewhere in the USA so i don't have to travel to some country like England. unless it is somewhere like Japan.

Here's something I found on another message board in response to a similar question. Hope this is helpful. Written by Shaun Ravens Sensei.

Well, actually, in an interview that I published in the old Dojo Magazine, Seagal Sensei said, "I don't breathe during the technique." That is somewhat different than merely holding the breath. In the beginning levels, one learns to breathe out when executing a technique. However, that is merely to begin to train the muscles associated with the correct breathing method.

When observing advanced practitioners, one of the things that you begin to notice is that you breathe a lot, they don't breathe at all. It is not that they are not breathing; it is that they are breathing in ways that prevent you from seeing breathing at a physical level, so as to prevent you from knowing their timing.

The process would be:

1. Breathe out

2. Breathe out with Kiai

3. Breathe out with silent kiai (all of the breath is expelled prior to kiai).

4. Kotodama-no-Gyo (practice of the practical study of kotodama) Does not actually correspond to where in the rythmn of breath you happen to be).

5. Kotodama-no-ho (application of kotodama) a synthesis of the other four levels plus Otakebi & Okorobi all focused through Chinkon-Kishin.

99% of martial artists never get beyond level two. Observing two individuals training at level three is interesting. Two individuals at level four, dangerous. Two at level 5, impossible.

Hope this is helpful.
Sincerely,
Jim

This link may be helpful as well.
http://www.shotokai.com/ingles/filosofia/mondozen.html

Jim