Stance is perhaps one of the most fundamentally important techniques a student of any fighting style must master. Balance is the key to every technique in karate. In karate, the body becomes a weapon. As such, the student must learn proper stance to wield the body as a weapon for effective execution of attacks and defense. Since in any fighting situation, we do not know when and where the attack might come from, it is critical to maintain a proper stance to handle these unknowns.

Chinese Goju instructs the students a variety of stances for both self-defense and form training. Stances train the student their center of gravity as well as balance in all aspects of karate. As a result, stances should not be viewed as minor details. The very foundation of a karate student's potential lies within the proper mastery of stances.