Sanchin is a Chinese martial art form designed specifically to introduce the practitioner to a number of important fighting principles. Sanchin is not a form that is designed to teach the practitioner self defense techniques, indeed there are no self defense moves built into Sanchin, yet no self defense techniques within our art could be executed properly and effectively without understanding all the principles of Sanchin.
     
      A prevalent myth taught by the majority of Uechi-Ryu instructors is that Sanchin means three conflicts, mind body and spirit, and that Sanchin training will eventually lead to the resolution of  these conflicts. Some instructors even claim that sanchin practice will eventually lead to 'samadhi' or the highest state of awareness This however is nothing but a myth that has been propagated by some Okinawan masters and blindly accepted by their students. There is not a shred of evidence that a single practitioner of Sanchin, living or dead, ever achieved mind, body and spirit harmony as a result of Sanchin practice.
     
      Sanchin simply means three battles, those of the mind, body, and breath. When you first practice Sanchin your mind is constantly battling with your body. The mind tells the body to move in a certain way but the body fails to carry out the order, this is due in part to the fact that the body has a certain pace at which it can adapt to new movements. As this battle continues, the breath becomes a victim of this battle, the breath becomes uneven, irregular and rocky, thus a triple battle takes place between the mind the body and the breath. Sanchin practice, therefore, is designed to slowly reduce the intensity of these battles and eventually make the movements of the mind, the body, and the breath as one integrated movement.

      The majority of Okinawan masters teach Sanchin as a form designed for the most part for iron body training, “The more blows a student can absorb while he is practicing Sanchin the better his martial arts skills are”. This particular thinking has caused practitioners of Uechi-Ryu to move away from the true essence of Sanchin training. From a martial arts perspective, punishing the body with powerful strikes as part of your regular training serves absolutely no purpose, all your iron body training will be rendered useless if you are punched in the face, kicked in the groin, chocked or put in an arm bar. Almost anyone can learn how to develop iron body skills without having to learn Sanchin.
      
      Iron body training is good for the show, for public demonstrations, and has little martial arts significance. Additionally, iron body training only works under very strict conditions, once these specific conditions disappear so will your iron body training. In the street there are no rules and no conditions, and if your martial art training is designed to only work under certain conditions then your martial art training is utterly useless. Having the ability to absorb few strikes is not the same as having the skills to fight.

Jim Melki teaches five principles associated with sanchin training. These principles not only represent the foundation of Sanchin practice but also the foundation of many traditional Chinese martial arts systems, for what is the point of spending years studying Sanchin if the principles of Sanchin could only be applied within the frame or the movements of Sanchin?

1- The development of rooted movements
2- The development of proper body structure
3- The development of integrated force
4- The development of proper footwork
5- The separation of soft and hard

      Training in Sanchin without having clear understanding of these central principles will lead your training to no where. One could train in Sanchin for decades, and even reach a master level, and only learn the external movements of the form. Some practitioners do not even know why they practice Sanchin, and some practice just for the sake of practice, believing that something magical will eventually happen, or a deep secret will one day be revealed. Sanchin is simply a tool designed to help us become better martial artists, no more nor less.There is nothing magical or special about Sanchin, it is just a form, though an exceptionally refined form.

Why we practice Sanchin

      The sanchin form represents the essence of Uechi-Ryu, and is the bedrock upon which all Uechi-Ryu training depends. “Sanchin is everything” refers to the fact that within sanchin one can find the source of every movement and every technique in Uechi-Ryu. The sanchin form puts us on the trail that leads us to discover the hidden principles of our art. Sanchin also teaches us how to cultivate and use our internal energy (not to be confused with chi) which is rooted in our breath, and manifests itself through every movement in the form.

      Sanchin contains within it three indivisible elements, internal, external and an invisible element. The flow of energy in the body embodies the internal element of sanchin, the physical movements of the form embody the external element of sanchin, and the mind represents the invisible element of sanchin. Three aspects to sanchin exist because sanchin can be experienced from three dimensions; body, mind and breath. Sanchin energizes the body, cultivates the mind, and invigorate the breath. To connect the three together, however, is the real aim of practicing sanchin.

      When we first begin learning sanchin the internal element is, in every respect, suppressed by the external element, however, as the quality of our sanchin improves, a reversal of this relationship occurs: the external element begins slowly to fall under the control of the internal element. The relationship between the mind and the body follows a similar path. In the beginning of our sanchin training the mind directs all of our movements, at this stage of learning, a clear conflict between the mind and the body emerges as the body finds it exceedingly difficult to follow the mind. After years of proper training, the body not only learns to follow the mind but it also begins to identify things that the mind had failed to observe in the first stage of training. At this stage the body begins to teach the mind things the mind had missed in the early stage of training. Eventually this mind body conflict turns into harmony; mind and body, external and internal merge as one. This progression is essential to help the student develop strong mind-body coordination, and quick reflexes.