On Stances of Karate

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A karate professional once said, "One of the most misunderstood words of karate is 'stance.'" This, to my perception, is true and it took me many, many years of study to discover that what I was taught about stances was, "both correct and incorrect." 

What is stance, both generic and karate definitions?

Stance (generic): the way in which someone stands, especially when deliberately adopted (as in karate, martial arts, baseball, golf, and other disciplines); a person's posture. 

Karate Stance: (Note: there are no real definitions of karate stance for what is found goes directly in to the names of karate stances and how they are assumed dependent on style of system.) A positioning of the legs into body postures to manifest certain methods or techniques. It is a position taken that changes according to how karate is applied be it:

• Taking a karate stance (stances vary);
• Taking a karate stance to perform karate basic techniques;
• Taking a karate stance that varies to the point within a kata being performed;
• Taking a karate stance appropriate to a drill, such as for self-protection, that changes according to the techniques performed by paired karate-ka, called "uke and tori." 
• Taking a karate stance appropriate to situations where physical violence is applied toward self-protection against a committed attacker or adversary. 

As we can readily perceive karate stances are easily misunderstood and misapplied in training and practice. Misapplied because many karate dojo teach stances as a static type of positioning that is believed to deliver the appropriate power and force to stop an attack. This is with the teaching intent, practice intent, of sensei and student for self-protection.

One reason people misunderstand and misapply stances is when it is taught in a competitive environment where stances and kata are examined and critiqued toward a more expressive dance-like competition where judges look for stances assumed in a static way to assess variables of that stance once assumed, etc. A more aesthetic application like the floor exercise in gymnastics, etc.

Karate-ka, initially, learn to assume and stand in a static "karate stance" to learn, especially learning about physiokinetic's, a fundamental principle of martial disciplines in its purest form. Where many people go astray is failing to learn, be exposed to and lead toward the next evolutionary step in learning karate where stances are no longer those static stationary-like stances taught. Where things become more, complicated and complex - at least in teaching, practicing and apply stances properly for self-protection. 

Stances are and are not "fixed and static" when applied in reality to self-protection. They are merely a breakdown of pieces chained together to form a fluid holistic movement of body, mind and spirit to achieve proper applications that are powerful and forceful in stopping a violent aggressive attack and attacker. 

The confusion is compounded because our society through its educational system are taught that to take a stance, to stand, is to assume a preset, unchanging and static position or viewpoint. Where life, especially in regard to aggression and violence, is anything but static and immovable. Life, as aggression and violence, a moving fluid and chaotic mess that we humans have to perceive, interpret and act on in each chaotic fluid moment. 

But, also, humans need to break down things into their purest, simplistic and atomistic form, to understand it, encode it to memory, then analyze and synthesize it so that we can condition the answer of word and action to handle things. 

This is true of karate, we need to break things down to its simplest forms to understand and see and feel and taste and touch things so the mind can later choose a properly conditioned memory toward a properly conditioned response according to the stimulus that our sensory systems encounter in every movement of life - emphasis on karate self-protection. 

Once the stances and positions and differences are learned and conditioned then it is our objective to ensure that we take the next step to ensure that we are no longer static but in constant motion. One of the objectives of stances when added to kata is movement and the type of transitional movement that takes karate-ka from one stance to the next according to the kata, to start, and later according to the situation dependent on actions taken by a partner and later by an adversary. 

Body mass shifting between stances is critical to maintain physiokinetic's such as posture, alignment, structure and so on - all necessary components of movement first, energy conservation second, proper positioning third, proper movement of body mass fourth and application of powerful and forceful methodologies to end aggression and violence as quickly as possible. Note: notice how I numbered the steps; those steps are meant to be a holistic whole but to understand it is broken down, just like stances. This is where things like space or void come in. It is that space where we add in transitional structures and movements that make it all work.

Example, one of the most used teaching methods for power and force is the boxer's "drop step punch." I use it to teach students how to generate power and force by body mass movement and the boxing drop-step is easiest. 

Natural body positions is a phrase used by one karate luminary whose articles inspired me to write this chapter. It comes from a translation of Funakoshi's precepts, i.e., "Stances are for beginners; advanced students will use natural body positions.”

I feel the use of natural and positions is like, "taking a stance in karate," where once again a feeling and idea of something static, a position taken like standing upright and something that is stand alone. It comes down to defining the word "natural" when it comes to body positions. 

In my mind, body positions often assumed during a crises involving aggression and violence such as self-protection using physical means is not natural. It is anything but natural and yet, with my limited experiences and understanding of karate, I get the sense that natural is more inclined to be a body positioning that best manifests fundamental principles in ways that maximize the efficiency of the body so certain methodologies of physical nature can be applied in unique and unnatural positions while ensuring the most force and power are available to be applied. 

Yes, that is a mouthful but here is the goal I have, to ensure the best meaning and understanding is achieved especially when it is presented and discovered by others without the guidance and demonstration from a qualified and proficiently knowledgable and experienced teacher. 

I also believe that natural also means that one assumes that is either exact to the natural way the body moves, its physiokinetic processes, or a close proximity that allows us to utilize principled based methodologies to achieve our goals and objectives. 

As example, and as example of predatory attacks in general, we must be able to use principled based methods that can achieve results especially when our bodies and minds are forced as far away from natural as the attacker can achieve, i.e., when they surprise you completely; when they disrupt your balance totally; when they destroy your natural body structure beyond experiences; and when they are totally destroying your minds ability to orient and make decisions let alone act appropriately to end the disruption of mind, body and spirit. It is about taking unnatural steps to reorient and act in a naturally semi-natural way to stop the damage. 

A major difficulty of most karate people is the assumption that how the stances in karate are currently taught, a first level novice basic form, is the totality of how karate is taught, learned, trained, practiced and applied. It is truly the "educational form" of karate developed and taught to young adults in the Okinawan and Japanese school systems circa early 1900's of WWII era. 

Here I recommend that people seeking a better understanding of this subject do some heavy research of others who are professional and knowledgable teachers of traditional defensive and protective karate, as well as other forms, on things like, "stances; kata; blocks; and other" aspects of karate. As learning tools we humans take an atomistic simplistic position so that we see the basics so later, we can start to evolve, morph and collectively combine in any number of ways those simplistic atomistic understandings into more simplistic yet complex combinations that are conditioned to be triggered in memory during the OODA processes. 

Read also "My Stance on Stances" by Iain Abernethy Sensei 

Read also "Function of Stances" by Iain Abernethy Sensei 

Read also “Stances: An Observation”

Read also "Deep Stances"

Read also "Stance Effectiveness"

Read also "Stance Usage or Important Fundamental"

Read also "Shizen dachi"

Read also "Deep Stances, what is their true purpose?"

Read also "Why do some systems have lower stances?"

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