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• Tenses the body at the moment it receives a blow to direct the force of the blow throughout the body. When you are attacking, you are generally moving forward and vulnerable to a counterattack. If you are hit by a counterattack, you cannot absorb the blow as well as you might if you were retreating from the blow or even standing still.

• Helps absorb an attack. By expelling air, the chest and stomach become firmer and less susceptible to having "the wind knocked out." Also, letting a blow slowly force the remaining air from the lungs gradually absorbs the power of the blow. If kicked in the chest while holding the breath, the rise in pressure in the chest cavity may cause the heart to go into fibrillation (heart muscle starts trembling instead of rhythmically pumping), which is potentially fatal.

• May surprise an opponent and break his or her concentration.

• May intimidate or "psyche out" an opponent.

• May actually stun an opponent, preventing an attack. Once there was a martial art known as "Kiai-jutsu," which focused on the use of the kiai as a weapon.

• May be used to create an opening. When used prior to the actual attack, it may cause an opponent to flinch or step back.

• Help release maximum energy. For example, when lifting weights, at some point your body says this weight is too heavy to lift. However, there are two common methods, and the use of the kiai, to circumvent your body's good sense:

  • The most obvious method is panic, or being "hyped up." Everyone has heard the urban myth of a mother who sees her son working under his car just as the jack holding up the car breaks. She rushes out and lifts the car off of him. This may or may not be true, but, in law enforcement, we see plenty of situations where a panicked small woman is able to resist the efforts of many large officers to subdue her.

  • The other method is to use some type of drug. The most notorious one is PCP. It was originally used as an anesthetic for animals but was later rejected. Its effects on people include psychosis and an inability to feel pain.

  • The method Taekwondo students use is the kiai. It momentarily blots out fear and indecision and short-circuits the body's safety mechanisms for a fraction of a second. This usually is not harmful because full strength is only exerted for a split second and it is not being exerted against a significant opposing force.

• Makes sparring judges take notice.

• Boosts the overall spirit of a class of students.

• May impress and deter other potential aggressors.

• Alerts others to your predicament.

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