Importance of Posture

Posture is important because the body must have a strong foundation to impart power for a technique. The natural position of good posture demonstrates that the person is comfortable, relaxed, well balanced with each foot under its corresponding shoulder. This is the best position for both defence and offence. Your hands and arms are relaxed to enable in all your joints and muscles to be ready for movement. It is essential to be relaxed because this permits free quick movement, increasing the full use of power at the point of attack. The tension of the body reduces the internal energy and needed power for defence or offence.

Method of Posture to be used

Miyamoto Musashi states in his book of “Five Rings” that, “In all the martial arts, it is essential to make the everyday stance the combat stance and the combat stance the everyday stance”, basically the way you walk in life is the way you fight.
He added, ”As for your posture, do not raise or lower the head or lean it to the side. Do not let your eyes wander, and without wrinkling the forehead, from a furrow between the eyebrows. Steady your gaze and try not to blink; narrow your eyes a little more than usual.
With a calm facial expression, hold the bridge of the nose erect and thrust the chin slightly forward. As for the neck, keep the tendon at the back of the neck straight and tense the nape. From the shoulders down, maintain an even distribution of tension throughout the entire body. Lower both shoulders, hold the back straight, and do not stick out the buttocks. Tense the legs between the knees and the toes and tighten the abdomen so the hips do not bend”.
A great swordsmen such as Miyamoto Musashi clearly states the importance of good posture in life and in fighting. Without the correct alignment of the head over the hips and feet, when the body moves during the course of a technique, can and will reduce the effect and power of the technique. I.e. a throwing or kicking technique

Posture Promoting Health

Muscle tone and flexibility increase posture; to much muscle tone can reduce the amount of movement decreasing posture.
Tension of the body even at rest, is created by the unused energies of the body. Excess waste products being stored that can not be eliminated creating a lockup or hindered energy availability, making it possible to assume a correct posture. Correct massage techniques can eliminate this locked up energy to assist in correct body alignment.
This inturns increases the person’s longevity; the reduction of waste from the body increases the energy flow assisting in correct posture, providing better means for the body to function. This is evident in older adults, from a long life of working, or from injury the individual stoops over, increasing their decline in overall health.
Correct body alignment or posture can than aid in an increased amount of power due to the correct alignment of body joints. Increasing the ability for better biomechanics, increasing the stability and motion of the body. Again this can be seen in older adults, poor balance and limited strength enables the joints to be easily dislocated or broken, brought on by reduced amount of strength created by poor body alignment.

Use of Posture within Jujitsu

Against the Attacker
To increase the affect of your technique, Jujitsu aims at reducing the attackers posture to decrease balance, strength and their natural ability to generate power, or a counter attack.
I.e. Rear arm entanglement or tenkai kote gaeshi

Using Posture as an advantage
Sometimes it is important for the Jujitsu exponent to give away part of his or her own posture to aid in the technique. This can be seen in a throwing technique when the head is turned off alignment, to increase leverage for the body due to its weight and overall for biomechanics of the technique, enabling the upper torso to over rotate to provide an increase power for the technique. I e Koshi guruma

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