Cross-over points in kata

Photo courtesy of Szift

Another interesting thing about kata practice is what I call cross-over points.  There are places where the flow of one kata intersects with the flow of another one.  I'm sure you've noticed this - you'll be sailing along doing one kata and then you realize you ended up in some other kata.  Somehow ou just fell out of one kata into another one.

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This can be an anoying thing when you are working on learning one particular kata, but it can also be an interesting, valuable thing if you take a broader perspective.  Each of these cross-over points represents an option, a fork in the road.

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An interesting thing to do when your kata practice becomes stale, is start doing one kata, and whenever you get to a cross-over point, take it.   You might set a timer for 5 minutes and do kata the whole time, meandering through your kata set taking one alternate fork after another. 

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Doing this, you can start to see all of your individual kata as parts of one giant, mixed-up kata with wormholes from one place to another and cross-over points scattered throughout.  It is as if this one giant kata is your hometown, and you might walk around town taking different paths every day.  You might behave differently as you walk through some parts of your hometown than you do in others.  But they are all still your hometown.

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Learning your way around this one giant hometown kata is an important skill.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮
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