SANCHIN

Reproduced by kind permission of Sensei Graham Ravey 6th Dan T.O.G.K.A.

As an explanation for any non-practioners of Goju Ryu, Sanchin is a kata, however it has no apparent applications . It is deceptively simple as far as its movements are concerned, the technique and difficulty involved come from the "Three Battles" as pointed out in Sensei Raveys article. I'll not complicate things further by trying to explain (it is beyond my wit), suffice to say if done properly, it's very hard and exhausting but.... the rewards for your body are worth the effort.( ED.)

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Once, a martial Master was conducting a seminar, he asked his students “How long is life"?One said 40 years, another said 70 years, no, 80 years said yet another.."We cannot measure how long life is" said one thoughtful student. "Because we all live to different ages".The Master insisted they were all wrong.
The master said “ Life is as long as this” and then he inhaled and exhaled a breath of air.

Yes, life is now and here right at this moment, not in the past and not in the future, if we put the words "now+here" together we get "nowhere".Air is vital to our existence, and yet there is no manual given to us at birth on the use and abuse of it. Most of us without training (Sanchin) will breathe shallowly in our chests thus never using the Diaphragm to its potential. Shallow breathing results in stale air being trapped in the body leading to all kinds of disease and as we get older we breath even more shallow. Oxygen is an oxidiser, it not only destroys bacteria in our body but also helps de-toxify it.

SANCHIN
Sanchin, in Japanese, means "The Three Battles" between mind and body and breathing, the latter being the glue that bonds the other two together. With proper breath control we can lead to spiritualism. In its own context "Air is Spirit".
When someone is in high spirits Oxygen is pumping around the body via the blood system rapidly. Killing bacteria and de-toxifying every cell making us feel good.Low spirit is quite the opposite and being low spirited for a long time results in disease.High and low spirits are triggered by both mind and body, e.g. Mind. worrying about problems, finance, work place or home equals stress.Body. Lack of exercise, bad eating habits equals Low Spirit.Sanchin if done correctly with the full one and a half pump action of the groin area activates the "Kundalini" energy (Hindu Serpent power)”This is the forest Chakra or Meridian on the spinal column and is connected to the beast, or physical make up of a human. To connect one to the earth Sanchin has a grounding action in its very "Dynamic Tension" nature, same as “Shaolin, Flesh and Bones Posture”. There is much controversy at the moment about how much pressure should be applied to the air being inhaled and exhaled from the body , as too much pressure can induce hypertension.

We are told to practice Sanchin regularly, but I agree that too much pressure (hard exhalation after deep inhalation. ed) is bad for you and certainly toned my pressure down after I left Japan.In Japan we were told to it just about until our veins bulged in the fore head, and felt dizzy if practiced 3-4 times in a row. This I agree is not good on a regular basis... So I say practice Sanchin with moderate air pressure when training regularly....

Sensei Graham Ravey.

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