The philosophy behind karate is vast and complex. It stems from thousands of years of armed and unarmed combat. Techniques that were perfected hundreds of years ago are still being perfected over and over again by each new generation. Buddhism, Taoism, and the code of Bushido have all played parts in the development of the martial arts philosophy.

There are three stages of learning:

• Primitive – As a beginner, you are learning the basic movements that appear in techniques and forms.

• Mechanical – You understand the mechanics involved in the execution of the techniques, but not necessarily the flow between techniques. You can neither react very instinctively to an attack or adapt techniques to variations in the attacks (or factors such as the force of the attack or height & weight of the aggressor).

• Spontaneous: You understand both the execution of the techniques and how they flow together. You react appropriately to an attack without having to think.

• If you do not have a solidly based stance, you will easily lose balance and nothing will work correctly.
• Keep distances: stay clear from the attacker and get off the line of attack.
• Control, disarm and execute the technique: The priority in an attack is to not get hit then control any weapon the aggressor may have. Once this is done, we can run the technique to eliminate the threat of a new attack.
• Strike and check: When we strike we must control and avoid being hit with an arm, hand, or leg, the possible cons of our opponent. The check avoids exposing vital areas to the agressor.
• Economy of movement: You must not squander energy with unnecessary movements and displacements.
• Action-reaction: Each action of the opponent must be followed by a reaction.
• Instantaneous acceleration: You must be relaxed right until the moment of the impact, so that the power is maximum