by Doug and Deneise Wojtczak

Karate, a martial art rooted in discipline and self-improvement, offers a unique platform for exploring the concept of unlearning. While traditional learning focuses on acquiring techniques and forms, unlearning in karate involves clearing the mind of preconceived notions, allowing practitioners to approach their training with renewed openness and opportunity for growth.

Some Personal History

In early 2020, after training for over 15 years, I started to get full of myself. I felt that I had learned everything I could about karate training. I believed that I was as close to looking like the pictures in the Best Karate books as I would get. Not only that, but I was training for the sake of training and often felt that I wasn't learning anything new. I was mentally stuck in the Groundhog Day way of training and was extremely stubborn to believe that there was any other way to learn.

The Karate Paradigm

Karate training involves mastering techniques, kata, and principles that form the foundation of the art. However, as practitioners advance, the very techniques we have learned as beginners can become obstacles if we continue to rigidly chase what was said to be the perfect form.

The Unlearning Process

1. Forget What You Think You Know

Just as a white belt enters the dojo with no knowledge, advanced students must approach each lesson with a similar open-mindedness. Unlearning involves releasing assumptions about the "right way" to perform techniques and being willing to explore alternative approaches.

After training with Rick Sensei, I found that the advanced stages of karate training require a profound understanding of unlearning and the ability to let go of familiar movements and interpretations to attain deeper insights. For a long time, I concerned myself with not only the perfect end result of the technique, but also trying to move into it according to how I was told I should move. Moving in such a prescribed way caused me to move inefficiently and also caused significant pain in my joints. After letting go of the "this is how you need to do it" and finding how to execute the same techniques using what my body is capable of, not only do my techniques feel more powerful and precise, but the pain in my joints is gone.

2. Adapting to Opponents

In sparring, unlearning is crucial. Relying solely on learned patterns can make a practitioner predictable. By unlearning the rigidity of familiar combinations, a student can adapt in real time to their opponent's movements, leading to more effective and unpredictable responses.

This is another area where, because of the sport-oriented training that I was learning before, only specific techniques were allowed to be used. Most of my training was geared toward sport sparring techniques for grading purposes or tournaments. Using certain open-hand techniques and kicks to the lower body was forbidden, and using attacks outside the "karate" standard was frowned upon.

3. Fluidity Over Perfection

Unlearning in karate emphasizes fluidity over the pursuit of perfection. Techniques that are too rehearsed can lack the power and spontaneity needed in combat. By unlearning the need to be flawless, practitioners can focus on dynamic, adaptable movements.

Fluid movement is one area that has been the hardest for me to unlearn. After many years of “one strike, one kill” mentality, the opposite of fluid has been deeply engrained in my training. This made my techniques robotic and about as fluid as pancake syrup pouring from a cold bottle; however, this can be improved with the correct, open mindset.

Although being fluid is a work in progress for me, embracing a "just move" mindset has allowed me to feel like I am learning something new each time I train.

Be Mindful

Mindfulness is crucial to the unlearning process in karate. Being aware of one's thoughts and habits during training allows practitioners to recognize when they are relying on familiar techniques out of habit rather than necessity. By staying present and mindful, karateka can create mental space for unlearning and growth.

Embracing Curiosity and Humility

Unlearning in karate is driven by curiosity and humility. Curiosity encourages students to explore different approaches and perspectives, enhancing their overall skills. Humility allows them to acknowledge that their journey is a continuous process of growth and that there is always more to learn.

Realizing Mastery Through Unlearning

Mastery in karate or any martial art is not solely about executing flawless techniques; it is also about understanding the essence of the art. By unlearning, practitioners move beyond the surface-level execution of moves and delve into the principles that govern them. This depth of understanding is what separates true masters from skilled practitioners.

Karate is not just about physical techniques; it's a continuous journey that requires unlearning as much as learning. By releasing assumptions, adapting to opponents, and embracing fluidity, students can achieve a deeper level of mastery. The concept of unlearning challenges martial arts students to approach their training with humility, curiosity, and an empty mind, enabling them to unlock the true essence of the art and embody its philosophy of continuous self-improvement.

by Wolf Herbert

Before we start a Kata or begin with the training of basic techniques we adjust our body and mind in a natural stance. Traditionally the command “yôi” is used to call us to attention. I vividly remember how my mentor Kanazawa Hirokazu-sôke went into the yôi position, majestically almost. It was never a half-hearted affair, but a full commitment and total presence. It is well known that Kanazawa practiced Taijiquan and therefore was well aware of the Taijiquan principles of how to align the body when standing or moving. I shall thus try to describe the important elements of a good posture in the performance of martial arts.

In fact there is a Taijiquan-stance, in which you stand erect in preparation. It corresponds to a posture called “stand strong” and can be employed for a standing meditation (ritsuzen). The renowned master Cheng Man-ch’ing describes it as follows: “Both feet should point directly ahead and your knees should be bent slightly. The distance between your feet should equal the width of your shoulders. Bend your elbows slightly outward and the backs of your wrists upward. Your fingertips are raised slightly and are relaxed, neither stretched not clenched. Your palms are down. Hold your head erect, your shoulders slumped, and your chest depressed, enabling your chi to sink to your navel. Your tongue should be held against the hard palate (roof of the mouth) and your mouth lightly closed. Without staring, look directly ahead. Your mind is at ease and concentrates calmly on your breathing.”

Now here all the essentials for a proper yôi-posture are enumerated. With one difference: in Karate we do clench the fists - lightly, as I would like to suggest. Yôi is not a military call to attention where you thrust out your chest, stretch the shoulders back and thus tense up. It is quite the opposite: “lower the chest, raise the back and sink the shoulders, drop elbows” are two alignment principles that will allow the subtle energy Ki to flow to the tanden (lower abdomen). The “tailbone is tucked in” as one saying goes, i.e. the coccyx is slightly tilted upwards, thus the natural S-curve of the spine is flattened. Ki can then circulate more smoothly and unimpeded. While assuming the yôi stance you loosen up, exhale calmy and then breath naturally.

The head is held upright, the neck relaxed, no strength should be used, it should feel as if the crown were suspended from above. The Taijiquan classics state: “The spine should be like a necklace of pearls hanging from heaven.” Taijiquan emphasizes the vertical stance by elongating the spine.

Yôi (用意) consists of two Chinese characters of which the first means: “to use, apply, exert” and the second: “heart, feeling, thought, will, intention”. The second character 意 has again two parts, the upper one (音) signifies “sound” and the lower (心) “heart, mind”, hence literally it means “what resounds in the heart/mind”. The 意 (Jpn. reading: i, Chin.: yi) is used to describe the agent which mobilizes and directs the inner energy of 気 (Jpn. reading: ki, Chin.: chi or qi). The Taijiquan classics assert that all embodied movement begins with consciousness or intention. The mind/intention (i) leads the ki, and the ki moves the body. In yôi you summon your will (i), accumulate ki and get ready for any ensuing motion. With yôi we go into a mental state of an all-encompassing alertness, a choiceless awareness, which is manifested and supported by our bodily posture. It is a form of a brief standing meditation (ritsuzen).

We all know zazen, the sitting meditation in Zen-style. Kanazawa used to call Karate “moving Zen” (dôzen, the Japanese reading of dô is ugoku, which means “to move”). Once he said to me: “While Karate is moving Zen, Taijiquan is ‘standing Zen’ (ritsuzen)”. I did not quite understand at first. You also move in Taijiquan, I thought. The Zen in ritsuzen is used in the original meaning, which derives from the Sanskrit term dhyana = meditation. It is a Daoist practice and meditation is an integral part of the Chinese martial arts. Hence in good Taijiquan practice, you do still meditation to calm and strengthen your mind so that it can lead the Ki strongly and steadily. The basic exercise in ritsuzen is called zhan zhuang in Chinese (站樁, Jpn. reading: tantô). It is usually translated as “post-standing, pile-standing, standing like a tree”. You stand in a sort of shizentai (which adequately translates as “natural stance“), feet slightly apart and the arms hanging down naturally at the sides. The spine is straight, the crown of the head pushed up. One way to perform ritzuzen is to hold your hands in a relaxed manner in front of your chest as if you would hug a tree. Coordinated with breathing it calibrates your Ki and prepares you for moving, i.e. exercising Qigong or Taijiquan. The movements are then an extension of ritsuzen.

The Daoist masters have perfected the posture which defines us as humans: standing on two feet. They experimented with it to find out the most natural, effortless way to stand. With the spine erect, tailbone tucked in, head high up, feet rooted and the body centred in the tanden/hara it turned out that the Ki flux found its perfect equilibrium. In this very posture you perform Taijiquan, thus you are moving while “standing”, hence doing ritsuzen! And if we perform yôi with all the alignments described above we also do ritsuzen! And your bearing will be a majestic one too!

Mindful Unlearning

Yôi is Ritsuzen!