AikiWeb Aikido Forums

AikiWeb Aikido Forums (http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/index.php)
-   Training (http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15)
-   -   Training blind (http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4499)

Amassus 10-08-2003 10:23 PM

Training blind
 
Hi there.

Something I've noted at training lately.

Usually I wear glasses (spectacles) during training as I am short sighted. When it comes to serious randori or irimi nage techniques I take the glasses off to prevent damage to them or my face.

I notice that without my glasses, my techniques are better. I no longer focus on every little detail of the technique and I 'flow' ending with a better result.

Its quite a good feeling. As uke lunges in, I 'feel' more than 'watch' what I am doing.
Its great!

:D

JJF 10-09-2003 03:32 AM

Interesting - I'll try to figure out if I feel the same way next time we do iriminage.

One problem though: when I don't wear my glasses I have a problem judging distance, so at least my maai gets worse :D

SeiserL 10-09-2003 08:27 AM

One of the better stduents at our school doesn't wear his glasses when he trains and is excellent. He says he can't focus on the specific visual so has to depend on the feeling of it.

Confirms what you are saying.

IMHO, too much visual focus on the waza sends the ki where the mind is focused, on the hands, etc. instead of through the center to the balance point.

I try to stay a bit defocused, which isn't very hard for me.

Jeanne Shepard 10-09-2003 09:27 AM

:( When i couldn't tolerate contacts anymore, I tried to train with/without glasses. Without gave me a headache/ with made me afraid I'd get hurt or break them.

I ended up getting lasik surgery.

Jeanne Shepard

John Boswell 10-09-2003 10:20 AM

Just an observation, but for all your Bruce Lee fans out there... watch him a little more closely next time:

Bruce never focuses on just one person unless he HAD only one opponent. But most of the time, he keeps his eyes looking "outward" and not focused on any one thing. He used his peripheral vision almost soley during randori type situations.

Thinking on it myself, I focus more on my hands than on my opponent while training anyways. I KNOW I'm gonna be attacked and can see it coming out of the corner of my eye. Why focus on something that you KNOW is going to happen when you have so much else to think about and so many choices to make??

Just a thought. ;)

Kensho Furuya 10-09-2003 10:26 AM

All martial artists use peripheral vision in practice. The nerves around the iris are the nerves which catch movement so movements are more clearly caught when you don't look directly at the object. This is one of the fundamentals of basic sword training.

Don_Modesto 10-09-2003 12:52 PM

Re: Training blind
 
Quote:

Dean Suter (Amassus) wrote:
Usually I wear glasses (spectacles) during training as I am short sighted. When it comes to serious randori or irimi nage techniques I take the glasses off to prevent damage to them or my face.

I notice that without my glasses, my techniques are better. I no longer focus on every little detail of the technique and I 'flow' ending with a better result.

Buckminster Fuller credited his wide perspective on the world to having execrable vision that made everything visible as little more than a blur.

We'll be expecting great things from you!

BKimpel 10-09-2003 01:14 PM

As I said on another thread, I always use the "look sort of through" uke vision, so as to keep my peripheral vision -- so I am never completely focused on uke and I don't need glasses ever.

It took a little while to get used to it at first (especially since I learned to do it in Karate where someone is just as likely to kick you in the groin as punch your in the face), but when you get a little more comfortable with it you start to overreact less (i.e. parry or move out of the way to early in the technique). At least that's what I have found.

But I wonder if peripheral vision is affected by not wearing your glasses? Depending on the type of vision impairment (or stigmatism - as in the eye is stretched horizontally or vertically) does your peripheral vision suffer as well without your glasses?

PhilJ 10-10-2003 12:29 AM

I find improvement without my glasses as well (mild astigmatism), but I prefer to keep them on.

That's because outside class I need them all the time, so I'd prefer to be as realistic as possible with the most minute detail. :)

*Phil


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:05 AM.

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.