The breath is the bridge between body, mind, and emotions – everything takes place within you.
Why do we put so much emphasis on breathing? Breathing is the connecting link between body, mind, and emotions.
It is influenced by everyone, but can also influence everyone. All old, serious martial arts styles always include inner work and therefore breathing techniques. To be a good martial artist you have to be able to control every muscle in your body, feel it, and use it. You have to be in contact with every part of yourself through the breath. Our way is to make our techniques usable for you directly in your everyday life so that you can train SKEMA martial arts in every activity, every movement, and opportunity and use their effects.
If the contact is there, you can perceive and feel as a whole person, and only then can you develop your full potential, not only on a physical, but also on a mental and emotional level. Only when you feel free, can breathe freely, will you experience joy and your thoughts will be correspondingly different! See, when you have an emotion, it also affects your breathing and the tension in various muscles. For example, if you are startled, your breathing will stop and your diaphragm and neck muscles will tense up. The oxygen supply and blood flow in the muscles are reduced, and energy and oxygen are directed to the head. If this lasts longer without you being able to neutralize the tension, the muscle memory sets in and the tension becomes chronic, but you no longer notice the emotion itself. Since this is unpleasant, people often flee from unpleasant situations or distract themselves in a variety of ways so that no emotion can arise at all.
Now that we are all close together at home in the current situation, emotions can quickly arise, also because we cannot escape the circumstances. But we should see it as an opportunity to consider why we need so much distraction. Family and home should be a place where we feel comfortable. We should work on it and thus also move closer together internally. Perhaps we will see that many potentially costly excuses are no longer important.
If tensions that have existed for a long time are worked on, by yourself or, for example, by a good masseur, the stored emotions can reappear and you have to process or neutralize them. For example, a traumatic experience may be relived. In this way, you can gradually cleanse your subconscious/body. However, if you continue to suppress this and the tension is not released, your breathing may become increasingly restricted. You may no longer feel the unpleasant emotion, but you also shut yourself off from everything positive. In other words, you can no longer live yourself. You can see this clearly when singing, for example: for the voice to be full and powerful and to be able to express all the subtleties, all the muscles in the “orchestra” have to play properly, otherwise the voice cannot develop fully.
Everyone goes through emotional experiences, some of which also settle in your body. But with the special exercises, you can free yourself from this tension armor and neutralize the energy. What’s more: If you exercise regularly and get a good feeling for your body, you can neutralize stress factors over time before they can take hold. The more you practice, the bigger your cushion will be, and the capital of stress resistance will increase. This is the essence of martial arts. Think about it: What did warriors have to do to survive when they were face to face? Everything is within us and only partially dependent on external factors. You see, martial arts cannot be done without energy and energy without breathing. In the new SKEMA program, it is also breathing that connects everything, it will run like a red thread through all programs, so you always take some energy and self-defense with you into everyday life – no matter which program you train.
SiGung Suny Kamay