Ask a martial artist why he or she yells when they do a technique be it a punch, a kick or a throw and you are likely to be told that it is a "spirit yell" and it will give you more power. Well, ok. That is true to an extent but it is not the whole story behind the "yell".

I do not speak, read, or write Japanese. Please forgive my crude attempt at Romanji. It must be a Gaijin complex or something.

Martial arts can be broken down into three basic levels: 1. Shoden, 2. Chuden, and 3. Okuden. These levels may be termed basic, intermediate and advanced respectively. It may also be termed physical, intellectual and spiritual respectively. It may also be understood as superficial understanding, deeper understanding and profound understanding. When I speak (or write) of the spiritual level it has nothing to do with religion so nobody freak. Spirit in this case is that thing that animates your body.

At the Shoden level the kiai is nothing more than a yell. You can see this at any tournament and on TV. People in funny looking "uniforms" screaming at the top of their lungs in order to impress the judges and to make others intimidated by their high level of skill in yelling. They contort their faces as if they were constipated after a night of eating Thai food. Sometimes they shake and quiver kind of like Bruce Lee did in his movies. That was in the movies, hint, hint. If you were to stand in front of one of these martial artists and I do not question their skill level in the things they do but their KIAI would be just a yell and not much else. Besides at my age there is no way I would even try a back flip. Even at a Shoden level you should be able to physically feel the energy of a kiai penetrate your body.

At the Chuden level the kiai is done with a specific visualization of where the energy is going. This must be trained in advance of having to use it. Kiai may be done with color visualization, the color representing your intent. Red color usually represents pain; black could be representing death, gold or green for healing (hummm? I have heard of people stopping other people's nose bleeds with a kiai!) White would be neutral. It is what the color represents to you that is the deciding criteria.

Now for the Okuden level. We must examine what the word kiai actually means. Ki means energy or spirit. Ai means to bring together. Therefore kiai may be translated as "meeting of the spirit". This spirit-to-spirit contact is the highest level of martial arts. At this level it is possible to read the attack before it begins and be waiting in ambush as your attacker initiates his movement. It is also the level where your warning alarms go off and you don't walk down that dark alley - a 6th sense allowing you to avoid danger. (See Gavin DeBecker: The Gift of Fear)

I have seen people actually knocked unconscious with a kiai. Literally knocked cold. These were not wimpy, wussies either. One was an accomplished MMA fighter that would not give you an inch of slack in the ring. He is a humble yet very tough individual with the credentials to prove it. It took the instructors almost ten minutes to revive him. I have a picture of the event and you can see the pain in his face. I assure you that it was real. The Okuden level encompasses everything in the other two levels.

My core art is Dan Zan Ryu Jujutsu. I am also ranked in Shotokan and Hwa Rang Do. In all of these arts there are kiais at every level. The kiai has a specific purpose. I still practice the Shotokan Kata at least five times a week. In each kata there are two "mandatory" kiai. What does the kiai mean in the kata? It is at that juncture you are killing your opponent. But does that happen before or after the kiai. Why? Therefore your techniques must reflect that intensity and interpretation. (Really? And all this time I thought it was just a block.)

What is your intent spiritually enlightening movies you kiai? That is up to you and should reflect the level at which you are performing. What about the mechanics of a proper kiai? First you cannot do a proper kiai with your mouth wide open. The energy emitted must originate from deep in your center utilizing the diaphragm and abdominal muscles to project the kiai up your throat and out of your mouth. The energy cannot originate in your throat. I have heard several martial artists kiai by saying "kiai". They obviously have been poorly trained and do not understand what they are doing. There are no bad students, just bad instructors.

Words have meaning and power. An excellent example would be a dog handler giving the command "SIC 'EM" to his 150 pound Rotty. The dog, having been trained in advance, knows the intent of his handler. The results would be a big brown dog biting you in the butt. So what do you say for your kiai? You don't have to say anything specific but let loose a deep piercing grunt. It may be loud it may be quiet but it must have intensity. However, there are specific sounds that resonate at different frequencies and accomplish different things.