Visualization and Kata

A study conducted in 1967 at the University of Chicago where basketball players were split into three groups and tested on how many free throws they could make.

The first group practiced free throws every day for an hour. The second group just visualized themselves making free throws. The third group did nothing.

After 30 days, they were tested again.

The first group improved by 24%.  Practice, after all, helps us improve.

The second group improved by 23% without touching a basketball!

The third group had no improvement which was expected. And some indications were seen that this group actually got worse.

So, imagine what you could achieve if you combined physical practice and visualization.

Kata allows us to do just that. Physical practice, the repetition of hundreds of techniques over thousands of hours is the path to mastery.  But visualization makes kata practice real.  You can strike, punch, kick, block, all with full power and at full speed.  No worries about injuring a training partner.

But you cannot simply imagine a formless blob in front of you, it has to be a visualization of a real opponent. The opponent need not have a face, but you should imagine/visualize the clothing they are wearing and the vulnerable points that are hidden by the clothing. You should imagine/visualize the setting, outdoors, or your living room, or an office. You should imagine/visualize time of day, season of the year. You should examine what you are feeling.  Is it fear? Surprise? Anger?

Take your favorite kata, if you have one. Practice it fast, then slow, then completely relaxed, then with tension in every move. Practice it backwards, if you can. Go halfway through the kata and reverse directions, just to see where you end up.

Kata practice should not “always” be done the same old way.  Seek out the nuances, the subtleties. Research everything you can about the kata.  Who created it? When did they create it? What influenced them?

Learn the kanji (Japanese Characters) and the Traditional Chinese Characters to see if they mean the same thing, or if there are differences. Sometimes there are clues to the meaning(s) of the characters that change between Japanese and Chinese languages.

When you have done all this, and practiced it 10,000 times….there will still be more to learn.