Basic #4 - RIKI （力）Technique/Power

In the episode we going to wrap up our mini-series about ichi gan, ni soku, san tan, shi riki as we take a deeper look into the forth and final element riki: technique & power.

The forth element, is literally power, but is often referred to as technique. This alludes to the fact that real power is created from correct technique, rather than physical strength.

This final principle relies on the correct application of the preceding principles first, without proper use of eyes, legs & attitude, the opportunity to generate natural power through correct technique is lost.

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Martin: Hey everyone, this is Martin & Sandra Phillips and welcome back to the Karate 4 Life Podcast.

Sandra: Today we want to dig a bit deeper into the basics of karate and life...

Martin: ...taking a closer look at the forth and final element of ichi gan, ni soku, san tan, shi riki - technique and power.

We've noticed that everyone faces challenges in life, some big some small. But not everyone has a way to navigate these problems.

Sandra: It’s not always easy, but we’ve found that we always keep coming back to what we’ve learned from our years in the dojo.

Martin: And that’s what this podcast is all about...

Sandra: Helping us all find the solutions to life’s problems. Or even better yet, to remove the problems before they arise.

Martin: This is Martin & Sandra Phillips and welcome to the Karate 4 Life Podcast.

Sandra: Getting a bit excited today, Martin, as we come to a close with our Ichi Gan Ni Soku San Tan Shi Riki series. How are you feeling about this?

Martin: It's really good to get it wrapped up. It's been a bit of a mission, hasn't it, to get through all of these? It's quite a lot of ground we've covered.

Sandra: There's been some great feedback though. It's really been helping some people in their dōjō but also in their lives as well. We're learning that quite a few people are also having chats with their kids about this sort of stuff.

Martin: Yes, it's really good to see how especially the parents, they listen to this and they take it in themselves as the parents of the training course, they take it in themselves and they're sharing with their kids and it's creating a bit of a conversation point. This is what we're doing this for in the first place is to hopefully get a bit of that happening.

Sandra: Yes, it's fantastic, isn't it? Well, look, let's just get ourselves moving into this last episode for this particular series and see how we go.

Martin: Ichi Gan Ni Soku San Tan Shi Riki. What's the saying Soke's Kyohon (Soke's teaching manual)?

Sandra: We have Riki is technique. "Through diligent training of Kata and Kumite, technique will develop naturally."

Now I know this disturbs you just a little bit. Do you want to share why it disturbs you certainly it gets you questioning?

Martin: I'm always a little bit disturbed by this but it's okay, that's a good thing.

Sandra: It gets you thinking deeply.

Martin: It makes me think and I love that, I love that. Again, the character that's used to describe this Riki is literally power and yet in that description there, there's no description of power at all and I asked myself that question if the character says power, why are we not talking about power? This is technique, we're talking about technique. I did come up with a bit of an answer to this but I don't know you....

Sandra: Yes, but I mean we're having a chat a bit earlier as well and we both reflected on our journeys. We both agreed that when we first started our training, we focused on trying to be really powerful and being strong.

Martin: That's the mistake that everybody makes, if the focus is on power, yes through the process of developing good technique you will generate natural power and that's the goal. If you focus on developing power, most people will misinterpret that and think physical strength which is the opposite of what we're trying to do. As we say in training we see so many people far more advanced than us that are able to generate incredible power and yet they have such small bodies.

Sandra: It's a very natural power, isn't it?

Martin: Yes, natural power and that's the way I like to describe it, looking at natural power as opposed to physical strength.

Sandra: Yes and so this power I guess in our training and as you've just said we have people who are way ahead of us doing this. We're quite young on our journeys really with this but in our experience so far, we can both say that once we flipped it on the head and we stopped focusing on trying to be powerful and we went back to Ichi Gan Ni Soku San Tan and we went through that process, and we layered that continually over and over and over again, going deeper and deeper, we naturally found more power.

Martin: Through the practice and study of technique. I guess that's why this fourth one, one way that I'll have this described to me that Shi Riki, the fourth element being technique is all those little things that make things work.

Sandra: When you get back into life, it's the little things in life which make a big difference. If you do them.

Martin: Yes, that's one that you love to talk about all the time.

Sandra: I do when it comes to you.

Martin: What are you trying to say?

Sandra: No, it's good. For those who are listening and who of course do practice karate, for our personal experiences and we can only speak for ourselves of course. If you do move forward with your journey and you have experienced the thought of, "I just want to be more powerful and get more physically stronger," and you trained with that mindset, it'll only get you so far potentially.

Martin: You'll hit a wall really really quickly.

Sandra: There's a ceiling on that.

Martin: You'll hit your limit. That's why we're going, as I say, through that process, go through those elements. First, the eyes Ichi Gan, second is stance Ni Soku, San tan, develop that spirit, that guts and determination and then we will get the technique which is getting your body in the right position.

Sandra: Don't you think the most exciting thing of this, is it just me? I love application. When you go through this cycle time and time again, you go deeper. Ichi Gan Ni Soku San Tan and Shi Riki you get more effective in your application in being able to do your application while I guess all different bodies. For me, that's quite exciting. How about you?

Martin: Yes, absolutely. That's the thing I love about partner training application is when you first start to try and teach someone how to do some self-defence techniques, for example, when you see a beginner trying to do it, first thing you see is they're just trying to use their arms to do all the work. Then you realise, "Okay, the condo got the idea, they've got the general form of it," but how effective is it really until you start to look at these elements of how do you move your body? How do you align your body? How do you position yourself? How do you use your stunts? How do you use your eyes?

When you put all those elements together, you're able to make things work, like you were saying before, in an effortless way.

Sandra: It's quite beautiful, isn't it? You're doing things and it's like, "How did that actually work?" It will amaze you when it first happens to you. Would you agree?

Martin: Yes, it is. That's the thing I love about partner training is so many times of having being both on the receiving end and the giving end, if somebody is throwing you to the floor, they barely touched you, and you're looking up from the floor and going, "How the heck did I just get there?" You've hit the ground really hard.

Sandra: Yes, it's funny. I don't know who said this to me on my journey many, many years ago. They said to me that if you have to try hard to throw somebody or to try hard to do a punch, it's a good chance of doing it incorrectly. But if you feel the punch just happens with no force and it's effortless and it just flows as with throwing somebody else, it just works, it's a good chance that you're on the right track.

Martin: It's a good chance that you're on the god track, yes.

Sandra: I don't know who told me that, they used to really frustrate me when I was coming through trying so hard to get physically tougher.

Martin: I love seeing those light bulb moments in class when you see students in particular. You see these big strong men. They're trying to do something, working really hard and it just doesn't work for them, and you give them a little bit of encouragement just to relax, sink into their stance and breathe, and they do it again, and it's like they barely put any effort into it and the other person is just flying across the room.

Sandra: Yes. It's pretty amazing to watch.

Martin: We saw a little bit of t