San Chin :
The most important part of karate is the kata San Chin. The reason that it is so important is that without San Chin there is no Karate. In China San Chin is pronounced Chi Kung, our version Means “Iron Shirt” Chi Kung. The words and spellings are different; however the internal martial art of Iron Shirt Chi Kung or San Chin is the same. They differ in their outward appearances however the results are the same. San Chin literally means "3 Chi" "San" is the number 3, and "chin" is how you say chi (or ki) in Hogan the traditional Okinawan language. It can also be translated as three battles.The first Battle involves the breath, the second involves the muscles, and the third battle involves the spirit or chi. The purpose of the breathing, is to get energy from the air (oxygen). The mechanics of the breathing in san chin is as follows: First you inhale rapidly while your hand is moving inwardly towards your body, secondly, your hand moves forward slowly while you simultaneously exhale matching the speed of the movement. This injects oxygen into your blood stream, arteries, veins, organs and your muscles.

The first Battle, (Breath) On the inhalation cycle, breathe in by expanding your stomach (this can be achieved by belly breathing), At the same time move your torso downward while simultaneously pulling your crotch and anus upwards. After this pull your naval towards your spine while exhaling slowly and powerfully while keeping the tension between your descending torso, your ascending crotch and anus, and your inward naval movement. You should be experiencing 3 movements simultaneously, down, up, and in. Compressing the breath in your solar plexus region. When your exhalation it is at the end, force the last bit of air out by making the "tssssss" sound. In the medical profession this is called, peak exhale expiratory pressure. This gets all the stale or bad air out of your lungs so you can have clean fresh air to help your chi to circulate. It's the same as having dirty gas in your car or clean gas.

"To do yoga belly breathing properly you should allow your lungs to fill from the bottom up, this will assure you of maximum air penetration and absorption. The lungs lay just behind the rib cage and are attached to the ribs, they are therefore pulled open and closed by them. If you are breathing only with the top half of the chest, the top of your lungs will open first so that the air fills them only up at the very top. If on the other hand you push your belly out as you inhale you will expand your diaphragm first. The lower ribs will then push out and open the lower portion of the lung first. The air will then rush down into them to fill the vacuum there and so fills your whole lung chamber from the bottom to the top. When you exhale, you are in effect reversing the process, by pulling the belly in at the end of the exhalation. This last movement pushes the air completely out of the lower portion of your lungs and so pushes all the toxins of the used air out of your lungs."

The second Battle, (Muscles) Tense up all of the muscles in your body, arms, legs, neck, stomach, back, etc. every muscle every where. Either pretend that you are lifting weights, or as if someone is about to hit you, but you don't know where they will strike. Make your body as hard as stone, or in this case hard as iron. The Muscles are relaxed when you inhale, and tense when you exhale.

The third Battle, (Chi or ki or your karate spirit.) To get into this mode you need to stimulate the reptilian brain. To do this you need to position you body in a specific way.
1. Tuck your chin in towards your chest
2. Pull your shoulders down,
3. Flex your back
This posture stimulates in the reptilian brain, which is the part of the brain based on instinct. By maintaining this posture electrical impulses are directed to the reptilian area. This reptilian brain only knows self defense, just like a reptile, it does not know about love or hate, he knows only survival which to him is self defense, survival and self preservation. This is the position is where you get your chi as a human being. You use your chi not just to fight, but also to accomplish any difficult task. In our American culture we have the _expression, "just put down your head down and go do it".

"The brain stem is the oldest and smallest region in the evolving human brain. It evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and is more like the entire brain of present-day reptiles. For this reason, it is often called the 'reptilian brain'. Various clumps of cells in the brain stem determine the brain's general level of alertness and regulate the vegetative processes of the body such as breathing and heartbeat. It's similar to the brain possessed by the hardy reptiles that preceded mammals, roughly 200 million years ago. It's 'preverbal', but controls life functions such as autonomic brain, breathing, heart rate and the fight or flight mechanism. Lacking language, its impulses are instinctual and ritualistic. It's concerned with fundamental needs such as survival, physical maintenance, hoarding, dominance, preening and mating. It is also found in lower life forms such as lizards, crocodiles and birds. It is at the base of your skull emerging from your spinal column. The basic ruling emotions of love, hate, fear, lust, and contentment emanate from this first stage of the brain. Over millions of years of evolution, layers of more sophisticated reasoning have been added upon this foundation.

Our intellectual capacity for complex rational thought which has made us theoretically smarter than the rest of the animal kingdom.

When we are out of control with rage, it is our reptilian brain overriding our rational brain components. If someone says that they reacted with their heart instead of their head. What they really mean is that they conceded to their primitive emotions (the reptilian brain based) as opposed to the calculations of the rational part of the brain."

You have to be careful when you finish the kata san chin, at this point you either have to kumite or just kick or punch the bag for three minutes, and this gets the excess energy expelled.