Technique of the Week (February 22nd, 2010)

From Sensei Boris L. Grossman/San Dan
Rockville Centre, NY
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Keep the Heel Rooted

This week's Technique of the Week is a basic principle that if practiced regularly yields immeasurable benefits which enhance one's karate. Keep the heel rooted (nailed) to the deck, ground, gravel, rocks, grass, sand, or water. No matter the surface you are standing on, the heel must always be rooted. Master Nagamine once said that our Tachikata (stances) rely on three principles, a. Long endurance, b. Stability and balance, and c. Flexibility and mobility. These characteristics would be impossible if our heels weren't deeply rooted into the surface. Let's review all our stances:

1. Soto-hachiji shizentai-dachi (Open-leg natural stance)
2. Chokuritsu-fudo-dachi (Formal attention stance)
3. Heisoku-dachi (Closed-foot stance)
4. Shizentai-dachi (Natural stance)
5. Jun shizentai-dachi (Quasi-natural stance "heels touching, feet 60 degrees)
6. Nekoashi-dachi (Cat stance)
7. Jigotai-dachi (Wide open-leg stance)
8. Naihanchi-dachi (Straddle-leg stance)
9. Zenkutsu-dachi (Front-leg-bent stance)
10. Naname zenkutsu-dachi (Slanted front-leg-bent stance)
11. Kokutsu-dachi (Back-leg-bent stance)
12. Kosa-dachi (Cross-leg stance)
13. Ippon-ashi-dachi (One-leg stance)
14. Iaigoshi-dachi (Kneeling stance)

Each one of these stances must be studied relentlessly for the rest of our lives. But the one thing that they all have in common is that at least one HEEL is always firmly rooted to the surface (deck, etc...) From this point forward please make the correction during our warm-up exercises with regard to jumping with your heel always touching the deck with every jump, whether straight up and down, front to back, or crossing the feet. KEEP THE HEEL DOWN.

Domo Arigato Hanshi

Boris L. Grossman/San Dan
26 Kennedy Avenue
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
646-331-8493
bgrossman3@optonline.net