Some hints if you are practicing the Stick Kata
 

• The imagined attackers are nasty types with bloodied weapons - quarterstaffs or pikes
  (bo / con). The clearer you see them and their actions the better the kata works.
• The eyes are fully open and up, and apprehend the entire scene. Likewise ears & especially vipassana/body-kinesthesia awareness. The head faces the action, and the vision stays wide and does not narrow down. You have to be able to see ALL the dudes with the pikes and staffs AND all the real details of the dojo, cars in the street, dogs barking, cooking over the way... The awareness is pumped with the energy - each breath makes the present brighter and more detailed. The eyes / awareness lead all the actions.
• Sound-effects help.
• The breathing is important - in-breaths used to accumulate energy, (at hara) which is held, and released into the counter-attack.
• The pace is roughly as illustrated, but a little faster (and firmer) would be better - sort of snappy and crunchy. However, I would recommend learning it at Tai Chi pace, then speeding up and sharpening the focus. Remember, though, that the use of a stick significantly amplifies martial technique, and so the kata is never performed at 100% hardness. All techniques should be effective but non-lethal.
• Like Tai Chi we want smooth fluid motion between stances and postures. Unlike Tai Chi we want that smooth motion to focus into firm/hard muscular tension (kime) - but only at the moment of focus. Think whip-crack. The arms & torso snap into focus on the attacks, along with the entire muscle-set which anchors the pelvis to the torso & legs. Most karatekas start to focus way too soon, hold focus too long, and release it too slowly. This makes their kata look hard and effortful. Others don't or can't focus at all, which makes the techniques ineffective. It helps to tighten the hands on the stick at the moment of contact or focus. The art is to release into fluidity as soon as the work is done, to move fluidly, and to begin to apply force to the technique once the feet are settled. The force builds as the technique is executed and reaches a max, which is a micro-second long directed muscle lock in most of the body, at the moment of focus.
• The kata is partially designed to help correct a bias that most folks have to the right hand. Once you have it pat, you ought to do it in mirror sometimes (seems daunting but surprisingly easy.)
• Attention is directed to the placement and feeling of the target that one presents, which 'draws' (and controls) the attack. The right ribs, in the case of the first attack, the left rear in the case of the third and so on. If you can feel the exposure, you can also make sure that the block intersects effectively with the imagined trajectory of what it's blocking.
• No movements for their own sake - each technique should be effective in the actual martial situation. Effective blocks and disabling attacks, in other words.
• The kiai is effected by contracting the stomach muscles, thus anchoring the hip-torso juncture and pushing hard on the diaphragm which in turn expels air from the lungs. The throat is opened and a terrifying bark is emitted, which must come from hara.
• By the time you have marked off 300 repetitions, your body will have learned the sequence and many of the details, at which point you can just relax in the kata and let it support you.
• Take care to breathe as you bow.