Interesting experience

A week ago, during the Training, I broke my glasses (luckily it was the frame and not the lenses). As I couldn't use the anymore, I finished without.
The interesting thing was, due to the fact that all I could make out if my partner was a white spot (or half black and half white, depending on my partner), I wasn't able to focus on the arm of my uke when being attacked.
Usually I have to concentrate on having my perception open in a similar way.

From time to time, we do a few of our base practices with one person with eyes closed. It's an eye opener -- pun intended!

A while back I asked about what/how to teach a blind person, you may want to check that thread out as well.

Yann Golanski wrote: From time to time, we do a few of our base practices with one person with eyes closed. It's an eye opener -- pun intended!

We did that kind of practice some time back too. Actually it felt quite different to having eyes closed, maybe a little less artificial.

The glasses I wear for aikido have "non breakable" frames and high density plastic lenses, expensive in the short term but the present pair have lasted over 3 years. Have to wear them in order to see what is being demonstrated. I tend to "glow" a lot hence the glasses fog up - makes full speed randori very interesting especially yokomenuchi strikes.

There's a thought - randori with tori and ukes blindfolded could make quite a party piece

Regards

Delboy

They're easy to knock off too aren't they mate

Nice to see a face that I know posting here.

rgds

Bryan

Anyone found a way of keeping glasses from sliding off a sweaty face in the first place?

I gave up using my contacts (only worn for skiing and caveing) one night when they were bothering me; I have spent every single class since then (about 5 years) in a half-fuzzy state of "Well, I might as well enter to this side!".

I like it; keeps me fluid.

However, at bigger seminars or visiting dojos while on trips it can get in the way; I can't always make out what's going on if I am too far away or the technique is too different. Maybe laser surgery is the next step.

Ryan Alan wrote: Anyone found a way of keeping glasses from sliding off a sweaty face in the first place?

Mine stopped doing it but I don't know exactly why My glasses used to fly off my face whenever I took ukemi. I started using a soft Croakies strap to keep them on. I forgot it one day and my glasses didn't fly off. I haven't worn it since.

Bronson

I often close my eyes during techniques, (after making sure of clear space for safety).
It is very revealing. Helps to get the "feel" of what you are doing.
Lan

I too use "Croakies", just for peace of mind. I don't know how many times I've caught them mid-fall! I have better things to focus on and think about without worrying about my glasses flying off.
I also enjoy doing techniques with my eyes closed. It's fun, and, if I'm having a bit of trouble with a technique, closing my eyes helps my stay in my center and FEEL my body as well as uke's.

We were training one day when the electricity went out for several hours... afterwards we often recalled our "night-combat" training experience..
But it was fun, being attacked by white ghosts floating through the darkness...

Regards,

We do the closed eye randori sometimes. It goes slower and we usually limit it to grabs but it's a lot of fun

Bronson

Ryan

Found the elasticized band type, usually available from any opticians, more reliable and longer lasting than the adjustable sort, which leaves some hanging down like a pigtail which is handy for folks to grab

My glasses stay on about 99% of the time. Usually get displaced when someone is trying iriminage or when I do a really good shihonage.

If you do have to wear glasses than I strongly recommend you get the sports type of plastic lens as they don't shatter or crack. I'm thankful mine are - a couple of months ago I got a kick in the face when training - six stitches just above the left eye, glasses unmarked

Regards

Delboy

Perscription goggles were the solution - they don't fly off and if they get hit they don't break.
A sweatband really helps for the 'fogging'.

When I am having difficulty with a technique I will shut my eyes to close out the visual stimuli so that I can feel what I am doing. I think it helps a great deal. In class sometimes it is nice to shut off the lights and inhibit our senses a bit to gain a greater understanding of what we are doing.

I was away on hols last week and playing around at the beach with a power kite , as a relative beginner at this it soon became obvious that feeling the movement of the kite was very important, I found that relaxed unbendable arms were very good for this, allowing me to make quicker and smaller moves on my part to steer the kite, especially good in strong winds.

Why am I posting this here? One morning, whilst playing around, the sun actually came out (we haven't seen too much of it in the UK this summer ), and it was directly in my line of site, i.e. the kite was just below the ascending sun. This made it impossible to fly with eyes open (had left my sunglasses in the car). The only way to continue flying was to try with my eyes closed, I found that using the same principles from Aiki, i.e. feeling uke's movement helped me be somewhat successful at this, as I managed to keep it flying for a little over 5 minutes before crashing and was able to repeat this a couple of times .

hahaha i cant keep mine up for 5 minutes with my eyes open!