I’ll be talking quite a bit about Karate, and especially Kata on the blog. For good reasons.
Kata is amazing for traumatized and neurodivergent children… for so many reasons. And I talked about them in an earlier post.

I’m currently training for my next belt. You would think that’s a good thing, but for me it kind of goes in the direction of…

“The more you know, the more you realize that you know nothing.”

And since I realized that, I really want to learn all the invisible prerequisites that are needed for the real authentic kata, and therefore karate altogether!

This led me to researching the body-mind connection in martial arts, breathwork, balance…

Today I want to focus on breathwork. Like I said before, I’m by no means a coach or knowledgeable in the field. I’m just learning myself. These are ideas I’m experimenting with and just sharing while in the middle of it, in case somebody can relate or come up with something better.

So I have worked on breathing the past couple of weeks. And I felt that when I grounded into breathing before actually training, my punches were more accurate, the focus was better…

I started simple. Step 1:  learning to breathe through the belly, not the chest.
Because the core isn’t just physical strength. It’s the center of balance, energy, and calm … in martial arts and in life.

Take a natural stance, place one hand on your chest and one on your lower belly. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth as if you are fogging a mirror. Feel where the hand is moving and make sure you are breathing through your belly.

In Tai Chi, I learned a little about how energy (chi) circulates through the body. And with every movement, you either gather energy toward your body or discharge it away from your body. It’s like you gather good energy around you to integrate it and discharge the bad energy by pushing it away.

After the belly breathing, I integrate movement through punches. Inhale through the nose and then exhale sharply and audibly through the mouth while tightening the core when punching. Good energy in, bad energy out.

Then I take one kata, for example Heian Shodan, slow it down to maybe half the speed or even less, inhale through the preparation and exhale through strikes and blocks. The breathing stabilizes the stance and makes your movements a little sharper.

At the end, I visualize the energy flow through the body. Inhale = drawing energy from the ground and the air, exhale = discharging energy.

You will feel that the breath is driving your movement rather than following it.

So why all this?

When you learn how to breathe well, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to lower cortisol, steady your heart rate, and reduce muscle tension … which in turn helps to stay grounded but focused:

The very state that helps to regulate emotions and attention in everyday life.

It’s that grounded but alert state where emotions stop running the show and focus returns. For example, when you exhale slowly before speaking instead of snapping back, or when a child who usually storms out of class suddenly takes a breath and stays.

If you are somebody who is prone to anger or frustration, which many kids are… the kata breath trains your body to release the energy through the exhale rather than keeping the energy inside. So it’s literally releasing instead of suppressing or lashing out in ways that are socially not acceptable.

Imagine a child who clenches their fists when they’re overwhelmed and now learns to channel that tension through a controlled strike, breathing out sharply as they punch the air. With time, they may only need the breathing. Same energy … new direction.

I talked a lot about proprioception (body awareness) before… when you match breath with movement, you teach the brain to notice subtle changes in tension, balance, and posture, which heightens interoception … the awareness of inner sensations … which is the key skill for emotional regulation.

You start feeling the surge of emotion earlier… like the tightening in the throat, the warmth rising in your chest … but instead of reacting, you exhale through it.
You feel the release move through your body like a tide going out.
You don’t have to think about regulating … the breath simply does it for you.

When you inhale, exhale, focus, release within a structured sequence, that rhythmic structure has a calming effect just like stimming does for neurodivergent children (bouncing the leg, rocking, drumming, etc.).
So this is perfect for ADHD kids, trauma-sensitivity, or for emotional recovery.

You see, true strength in kata isn’t in power or speed. It’s not in the choreography.
It’s in awareness … of breath, of movement, of emotion all coming together.
The body moves, but the lesson is always stillness.