Seiyunchin teaches the other end of the emotional spectrum from Saifa: love. Love creates life, forms the bedrock of compassion and can be every bit as powerful as rage.
Seiyunchin Kata meaning: Control and pull into battle
Seiyunchin means to control, suppress, pull off balance, grasp and draw an opponent into your fight. Its low stances, close-range hand techniques, rising and falling, expansion and contraction, and sudden releases of power create the ability to control the encounter without relying on kicks.
Yet the deeper form of control begins within. If an opponent senses that there is nothing to fear, the situation may soften. A lowered guard can create a tactical advantage, but more importantly it may allow a confrontation to be avoided. In this way, compassion is not separated from effective self-defense.
The emotional intent: Love
Seiyunchin primarily travels along diagonal lines of the embusen—the directions I associate with life. Love is also the force that creates and sustains life. While martial training often concentrates on the Dantian, Seiyunchin brings attention to the center of the chest and the energy of the heart.
Before beginning, I fill myself with loving thoughts: people I cherish, first accomplishments, moments of belonging and experiences of gratitude. As the feeling reaches a peak, I enter the first movement. The hands repeatedly cross the body’s centerline, opening, projecting, absorbing, turning and balancing the heart energy.
The first movements can be experienced as opening the heart and offering love. Later sequences manipulate that energy through vertical motion and double-elbow actions. The kata finishes by holding the heart gently between the hands. The goal is to infuse the techniques with peaceful, soft and loving feeling without diminishing their martial power. An observer may even notice a slight smile.
Movement as meditation
Seiyunchin contains elements I associate with the internal Taoist art of Xing-Yi, or “Mind Boxing,” combined with Shaolin methods. Its slower passages are sometimes called moving meditation. But slow does not mean empty. Beneath the calm surface, physical, emotional and spiritual energy are being generated and controlled.
Seiyunchin as a stepping stone
Saifa teaches us to turn rage on and off. Seiyunchin balances that lesson with love. Together they teach that emotional control is not emotional numbness. We can feel deeply, use feeling to enrich technique and still choose our response. The next kata, Seisan, purifies the practitioner so the journey can move from emotional mastery into character.
Explore the complete spiritual progression of Goju-Ryu kata and the One World Dojo Koryu Kata curriculum. Read book excerpts or learn about training with Roy Kamen.
Explore all ten kata
Sanchin · Tensho · Saifa · Seiyunchin · Seisan · Seipai · Shisochin · Sanseiru · Kururunfa · Peichurin
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