Kiai

The "Kiai" is an essential but initially awkward component of karate. It's the shout emitted during a particularly good attack. Every kata will have a couple of kiai points. I had been suffering under the illusion that the kiai meant that you had to shout "kiai" loudly at the appropriate time. Not so. Ki is your inner strength and it is put simply a battle cry designed to momentarily stun or terrify your opponent. To a degree the kiai is a natural part of performing the technique. Once you develop even modest technique, you will feel that air is expelled from you involuntarily as you perform a technique - especially upper body techniques such as punching. Your breath is simply forced out without our control. If you build on this to add sound you have your "kiai". It could be any sound. I still shout "kiai" along with the rest of the class, but this is wrong. I don't know what my proper kiai sounds like yet, but Bruce Lee had one that sounded like a girl and he was a great fighter. His kiai certainly would have successfully distracted an opponent while they looked round to see where the small child was, giving Bruce vital split seconds to gain the upper hand.