I was going through my empty hand katas today in the USF Rec Center. They had the Borg Scale (also known as Rate of Perceived Exertion) listed on one of the walls. Between forms I would glance at it, and I started thinking about how I would rate the performance of kata. Also, what should it be? If you are not familiar, the RPE is an arbitrary number indicating how hard you are working. It starts a 7 (I assume below 7 your are comatose or dead), and goes up to 20: maximal exertion. Around 10 is an easy pace.

I gotta tell you. I love kiba dachi. There's something about it. The root, the ch'i. Sure, it has its flaws. At first blush, it appears 2 dimensional, off balance. But a deep horse stance is stable. You see it in sumo. It is a place of balance, but its advantages are hidden, like sanchin dachi. Only years will unlock this koan. It is also strong. The true power generators of the body: the hamstrings, gluts, and quads, are coiled, ready to act. The aversion many people have to a deep horse stance is probably related to the difficulty in getting up and sitting down the aged and unexercised suffer from. It is not a problem with the stance, but a problem of our own inactivity. Too much sitting in front of the computer. So, I will not be neglecting my horse stance.