The Gokui: breathing methods are either hard or soft

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Michael Clarke Sensei of the Shinseidokan Dojo blog provided the following quotes in his recent article, read it HERE, that inspired another view of the ken-po goku-i, in the old version stated as, “The manner drinking (inhaling) and spitting (exhaling is either hard or soft,” and my version, “breathing methods are either hard or soft,” have a new meaning I didn’t think of till his mentioning of inhaling and exhaling, etc., see the quote next:

“The learning of karate is at first a little like inhaling; everything new comes rushing in. At some point you have to exhale, to allow your karate to flow outward from inside. At that point you'll know if you have been breathing oxygen or stale air. The history of karate is fractured and imperfect, it contains fewer 'masters' than some would have you believe, and more heroes than you can imagine. The famous get noticed, the heroes...not so much. So, be particular about the past that you accept, or you may find yourself reading about the people who wrote history, but not the people who made it.” - Michael Clarke Sensei of Shinseidokan Dojo

When I think of inhaling I think of a soft or yin aspect but for this one I would make a stab at learning karate as hard and that to learn, like Clarke Sensei would insinuate, learning karate is hard but you have to take it in, wholeheartedly, to truly learn karate. As he often writes karate is also about what you put out as it is influenced through karate practice matters, exhaling as yang but rather a softer side when in reality it is a soft side or yin because once you achieve proficiency of your practice and training things become easier … BUT …

When I contemplate hard and soft, inhaling karate then exhaling experience, knowledge and understanding of karate while also contemplating the difficulty in teaching or passing along karate I see the dichotomy of yin-yang or hard-soft where both intertwine to make for the holistic wholehearted essence that is karate. 

One reason I advocate the study of the goku-i as well as other philosophical and theories such as yin-yang, zanshin and shu-ha-ri, etc., is that it is a mutual yet separate effort that makes for the one whole that is karate. It is how the yin-yang of principles applied to multiple methodologies that as yin are that which are hidden but crucial to the foundation of karate while karate itself is the outward manifestation, i.e., inhaling to the inner in learning while exhaling to the outer in practice, training and applications. 

In short, the concept provides another way to see your karate, to make it a deeper and wider study of a universe of possibilities derived through the study and practice of such an eclectic form of body, mind and spirit development. 

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