The most beautiful breath in the world obtained with a custom-made mouthpiece.
Kiyou Shimizu (27) = MIKI HOUSE = who won the silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics Karate Women’s Form has been working on improving the breathing method using a custom-made mouthpiece for the past two years. Although she lost to her nemesis Sandra Sanchez (Spain) in the final on the 5th, she was fascinated by her powerful and beautiful performance with no disturbance in her breathing.
According to Associate Professor Koji Suzuki of Nihon University School of Dentistry, who handles custom-made mouthpieces for many top athletes
such as softball pitcher Yukiko Ueno, when Shimizu lost at the 2018 World Championship, the referee said that “the breathing sound is loud”. I knew what he was pointing out. Then, with Associate Professor Suzuki, she began to improve from the foundation of karate’s original breathing method “Breathing”.
The theme is to change what was particularly undesired for athletes: mouth breathing to nasal breathing. Associate Professor Suzuki recalls,
“I thought that if we increased what was negative to zero and then to positive, it would change significantly.”
The method I chose was to wear at bedtime the mouthpiece “Tongue Right Positioner”, which is patented by Tongue Lab of France and is only available at some medical institutions, She continued to correct the position of her tongue to make it easier to breathe through her nose, and it was time her sleep improved. Associate Professor Suzuki immediately answered, “When I asked if she would like to spend a year working on it,” Ms. Shimizu did a really wonderful work. I also introduced yoga at the same time. And I did not spare any effort to change my breathing. “
Since the event was postponed for one year, Shimizu’s weaknesses became “zero” and “plus”. “Breathing is an indispensable theme for everyone, not just high-level athletes. I want people to know the importance of being aware of the correct tongue position and function,” said Tongue Lab’s Japanese subsidiary.
Despite being defeated by a small margin, Shimizu’s performance conveyed the beauty of karate to all over Japan and around the world. Looking at the 4-minute video in detail, it seems that there is a clear reason and will for each breath.
Associate Professor Suzuki, who saw the performance at the venue, Nippon Budokan, said, “she lost, but her serious and sincere efforts were really wonderful. I think it was a performance that honestly showed what she had cultivated.” I praised it.
