As martial artists, we want to generate as much power for our strikes as possible, with the least movement and as direct as possible.

Many Eastern martial art schools will tell you to use your lowerdantian/hara/danjeoneffectively to generate power. This confuses many people, who are unaware as to where the lower Dantian is located, if it really exists and how to exercise or train it. Well, first things first - we will identify the region where the dantian rests and offer you practical exercises on training up your dantian.

So where is this dantian?

First of all, the dantian is not an organ or actual component of the human Body, it encompasses a region. The lower dantian region is located in the area a few fingers below your navel.

In terms of medical anatomy (take note that i am no medical expert), that area encompasses the region of the following organs in your body - thesacrum,theLumbarand thePsoas Muscles.

This is why some students i know who have histories of lower back pain or strains cannot punch or generate the kind of force that they should be generating - their lower dantian is unhealthy and cannot help the healing energy (Qi) circulate freely all over their body as well as utilize stable biomechanics to generate power.

If you have had injuries in the past to your back, or if you have just recovered from surgery, consult your physician as well as your physiotherapist before taking up the dantian strengthening exercises i will be talking about shortly.

1) Post Standing aka Zhan Zhuang

Those of you who are familiar with Internal Chinese arts such as Qigong and Yiquan/Taikiken will find this familiar. Zhan Zhuang is the core of internal arts whereby posture, muscular tension and mental focus all are incorporated into a single exercise.

Combat sports athletes, crossfit practitioners and those who love intensive exercise may scoff at it or look upon this practice with curiosity. However, there is a reason why the practice has been handed down from generation to generation, teacher to disciple.

Zhan Zhuang helps to strengthen the leg muscles, the sacrum, as well as the lumbar area. You may think that situps, weights and all those modern high intensive workouts would help, but sometimes less is more.

Moreover, when you do your zhan zhuang, practice feeling and mindfulness. Be aware of the muscles in your body and your posture.Make sure your back is straight, your tailbone tucked in and pelvis slightly tilted forward, and both your hands at dantian level, with thumbs pointing inwards, holding an imaginary ball. Knees should be slightly bent, feet apart at shoulder level.

Hold this position for 180 seconds when you first start. It may sound simple, but if done correctly you will feel muscle fatigue and soreness. As you practice it on a daily basis, however, your body gets stronger and you find yourself standing for longer periods of time. This also builds energy in the dantian area and strong legs, which is why Yiquan and Taichi practitioners have the ability to suddenly explode in their strikes towards an opponent.

2) Kiba Dachi aka Horse Stance

If you have seen footage of old school karatekas or even shaolin monks, you will note that in traditional schools, they instruct the novices to stand in horse stance for a period of time to strengthen their legs.

Now there's the thing - Many mistakenly think that the wider they open their legs, the stronger their legs and lower body will be.This is not true. You should be comfortable yet balanced - and this means the knees should go past the shoulders but not to the point where you could topple over easily.

As with zhan zhuang, the back should be straight and not hunched, shoulders relaxed and pelvis slightly tilted forward.Now, here's a slight variation away from the traditional Japanese Kiba dachi- Instead of having both arms spread out like the image above, close them together so both elbows stick to the sides of the abdomen. Lock your arms at a 45 degree L shaped angle so both your hands stick out pointing away from your body. Imagine holding anorange ballthat covers your dantian and tummy region. Look away from the ball into the horizon, and rest your upper body on your sacrum. Similar to what these Hapkido guys are doing (Note the arrow pointing to the hand position at Dantian area)

Start with 60 seconds in this position. As you progress, you will find your legs getting stronger, as well as the center of gravity naturally locking itself around the dantian region. If you use this as a form of meditation you will feel mentally sharper, more alert and moregrounded- You will learn how to naturally use the ground as a base to channel energy into your fist or palm and launch the force into your target.

3) Sanchin aka 3 Battles Stance

Commonly found in a variety of Nanquan styles and karate styles with Naha-te roots, the pigeon toed sanchin is the core of karate dantian training. A proper sanchin stance will ensure that your legs give stability, protect the groin and offer secure grounding from which you can train your dantian.

The commonality with sanchin and the previous two styles is that your pelvis is to be tilted forward, your upper body has to 'sit' on your rooted sacrum and your back has to be straight. Sanchin can be trained as a stationary meditative posture for rooting (sanchin dachi) or as amoving kata.

As with the other two styles of strengthening the dantian, either keep a stationery position or execute your kata slowly. Some knockdown karate schools execute fast paced kihon in sanchin dachi position. That is in itself not wrong, as it strengthens the hip and builds whip like striking power.

However, if you wish to take time to build a strong dantian, keep the stance stationery, focus on the moment and feel your muscles, your body and the energy accumulating in your dantian.

In a nutshell...

Having a strong dantian is one of the best ways to generate a strike or a push in a split second, and a strong dantian leads to good health, relaxed power generation and strong core muscles.

This takes time and patience to build though, and many in the modern world think standing in a horse stance or pigeon toed battle stance is antiquated. Nothing could be further from the truth - the ancients knew a lot more about body mechanics and muscle strengthening that modern coaches are just discovering, and it is good to sometimes go back to the past to get answers for the future.

NOTE:When doing zhan zhuang, kiba dachi or sanchin if you find difficulty keeping your back straight, vizualize a rope from the sky or ceiling collected to your head, pulling you up so you won't hunch. The rope runs from the top of your head  to sole of your feet forming a straight line, and should be aligned with your body. Have your partner observe and correct you accordingly.