This is Part 2 of a 3-part blog entry. It was co-authored with Neil MacInnis. This section provides some suggestions on how you can improve your practice of kata.

What can you focus on to improve your kata?

Clear your mind. Kata needs to be practised with a focus on each action and the transitions between them. If your mind is distracted, you will shift into a robotic mode where you mechanically go through the motions, but without really doing the kata. Little is gained by such practice. We want to make the kata come alive, which requires all your concentration and body awareness. This also makes its practice far more interesting. It has been said that kata is a form of moving meditation.
 
Practise the Kata with the goal of making the entire form a single motion. It begins and continues to completion without stops and starts, each motion distinct yet linked. Even when the hands and feet aren’t in motion, we aren’t completely stopped—the hips and body weight continue to shift, however slightly, as we transition to the next technique.
 
 Practise the kata slowly until you are familiar with the moves and are confident that you are completing each with proper footwork and body involvement. In fact, you should continue to practice it slowly most of the time. The slower you do the kata, the more areas for improvement become obvious. Take advantage of this and polish your actions. There is a saying, “fast is fancy but slow is perfection.” The kata will never be perfect, but it can always be improved.
 
 Practise with intent. It is easy to fall into the habit of moving through the karate forms and forgetting that you are not just practising static moves, but that you are practising active strikes and blocks. Maintain that intent; as you punch feel your body extend as if your fist is seeking a target; as you block feel your body contract and expand with the movement as if you are blocking a massive attack that requires your whole being to redirect.

Maintain outward pressure on your knees. Don’t let them sag inwards—keep them pushed outward slightly and engaged as you move from stance to stance. Feel the slight tension of your leg muscles directing force down the outside of your legs to the outer edge of your feet and your heels connecting your upper body to the floor.  Keeping this outward pressure on the knees will facilitate the effectiveness of your actions and protect the joints. This is a skill you want to be automatic, and the more you develop it during Kata, the less attention you will have to devote to it in other practises, such as when someone is trying to hit you!
 
 Focus on your footing. Your heels should remain firmly connected to the ground as much as possible. Your movements rely on your body transmitting energy by pushing against the biggest thing around you – the ground on which you stand. Impact from a received force should travel down through the back leg to the floor and be returned through the leg muscles. Be conscious of your feet as you move through the stances. In addition to having weight in the heels, be aware of which direction your feet are pointing and the distance between them.
 
 Try practising the kata as a mirror image occasionally – instead of going left go right. This will give your mind a workout and skills learned on one side of the body bleed through the mind to the other side. Practising the reverse movements can help to improve doing the kata in the “normal” direction.
 
 Practise your kata with energy in your hands. By energy we don’t mean something mystical, just that they should be engaged and not limp. You can’t drive a nail with a piece of rope.  In karate (literally Kara = empty and Te = hand) your hands and feet are your tools, and they should be ready and properly formed throughout. Fists should be tight with the thumb tucked, bladed hand attacks should be ridged with the fingers extended and tensed. You should never be unarmed; that is your hands and feet should always be in a ready state with intent, ready to strike out. The more you practise this the more it will bleed into your other practises without your having to consciously remind yourself to do so.
 
 Be gentle with yourself. When we start karate, we all have limitations. We might be too inflexible to kick high. If we can kick high, we might have no aim. If we can kick high and aim, we might have no power or perhaps our kicks are too slow. Kata is a time to be kind to yourself and work on your flexibility and body control. Where Kihon is typically preformed at the speeds you would utilize in partner practise (Kumite), the slower pace of Kata lets you really work on your body control and mechanics.
 
Focus on your focus! This might sound odd, but most of us do not come equipped with a razor-sharp focused mind; focus needs to be developed. In partner practise the more focus we bring to bear on our partner, the faster we can respond to attacks and the smoother and more fluent those actions will be. By focusing on our body during Kata we train our minds to automatically move our bodies correctly and fluidly. The last thing you want to be thinking of during partner practise is which way your feet are aimed! Develop your focus during kata and your focus during other practise will also improve.

Stay tuned for Part 3, which will provide additional tips.

This is Part 1 of a 3-part blog entry. It was co-authored with Neil MacInnis

Are you unsure of what the point of Kata is, why it is important, and how to get the most benefit from its practice?
 
The internet abounds with hints, tips and strategies for perfecting kicks, punches, and blocks but information and guidance on kata is fairly lacking. Various interpretations of what the moves “mean” in relation to self-defence can be found, but is kata really just a recipe book of techniques strung together to form an imaginary scenario?
 
Kata is one of the three core practises of karate, along with Kihon (repetitive solo practise) and Kumite (partner practise). At its most basic, kata is a series of turns, strikes, blocks, etc., that are completed in a choreographed sequence, but it is also more than that. It is also a mental exercise and a way to learn how to develop body awareness.
 
Almost every school of Japanese karate has their own take on the kata as laid out in Karate-Do Kyohan, the definitive text by Gichin Funakoshi. In Shōtōkai the forms of the kata stay largely true to the written descriptions       found there, although some elements of the kata were modified to better correspond to key Shotokai concepts such as always maintaining a relaxed body condition. Because of this, not all the advice in this article will be fully relevant to practitioners of other styles—even though there may still be some points of interest for them.
 
The goal of kata is to train one’s body and mind—learning how the body works and how to fully focus on the movements. In Shōtōkai the Kata is done with all moves at more or less the same speed, versus the rapid and slow combinations of speeds found in many other schools. There is a continual focus on measured movement throughout; each technique is concluded individually but linked to the motions before and after. It should flow. Most of the time we practice the kata relatively slowly to be able to concentrate on the details of the movements and weight shifts. Even the most basic techniques should involve an awareness of the elements such as torso rotation, use of the elbows, engagement of the hips, pressure in the knees, etc. We want to feel the kata as we move through it.

Part 2 of this blog entry will offer a list of in-depth suggestions on how to improve your kata.