The Second Top Ten Principles of Yachigusa Ryu Aiki Bugeu - #1 Clocking The Room
Since I first stated that the techniques taught at my school were based on principles, and that we focus more on understanding the principles that makes things work than the techniques themselves, people have e-mailed me asking me if I could explain these principles in more detail.
Last year I spent several months writing about the “Top Ten Principles of Yachigusa Ryu Aiki Bugei.” Now it is time to cover the next ten most important principles. Of course, one must keep in mind that while these principles are officially less important than first ten, in actuality they are just as important. The truth is that in many cases understanding and executing them properly is essential in order to make the “top ten” fully effective. In other words, they are just another piece of a very complex puzzle illustrating how sceintific martial techniques really are.
Unfortunately, trying to explain many of these principals in writing is very difficult, since many can’t be explained in words alone. However, I will try my best to describe these principles for the “blog” readers, using words, charts and pictures.
Keep in mind though, that in order to sometimes fully understand a principle you have to also understand other principles that relate to it. Most principles aren’t fully useable on their own, and have to be integrated with others.
The principle of “Clocking the Room” is an easy concept to understand, but very hard to apply in real life, especially under stressful conditions. While it’s a principle discussed in numerous martial art styles, few practitioners ever try to develop the skill to its full potential.
In the Budo arts the principle of “Clocking the Room,” is often referred to as Metsuke, (Seeing Eye / Mind’s Eye), or more specifically "Enzan-no-metsuke" (Gazing at a Distant Mountain), an expression referring to a specific method of looking at one’s entire surroundings instead of focusing on just one aspect of it.
Essentially, the principle of “Clocking the Room” teaches and instills a method of “relaxed vision,” where the practitioner learns to rely on their peripheral vision instead of their centralized vision. Of course, in order to understand this fully one must first understand how our eyes work.
Lets start off with the presupposition that over 85% of the information relayed to the brain comes via the eyes, 9% via the ears, and 4% via the other senses. Let's also presuppose that the eyes can be fooled, or tricked into believing things that aren’t really true.
Take for example the below picture. Which line is longer? Measure them and find out.
Okay that example was simple, but how about the below illustration? What do you see?
Do you see a fish on a plate, or the head of a woman?
Clearly, these examples are intended to fool you. However, visual miscues often happen due to natural physical reactions, especially when one is under stress. One of the most common forms of a visual miscue is called “Tunnel Vision.”
“Tunnel Vision,” is a term that basically refers to s a state where one’s visual field is severely constricted, or to be more precise, “Tunnel Vision” is a state where one suffers a loss of peripheral vision resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision.
For example, as a police officer I can’t tell you how many times I came across victims who could clearly describe the weapon they were threatened with, but couldn’t even start to describe the person wielding it. They focused so much on the wepom that was all they saw. In addition one would be surprised how often descriptions of these weapons are distorted. What often turns out to be a small pocket knife, is often perceived as a machete or a sword.
While "Tunnel Vision" can be caused by a variety of reasons (drugs, alcohol, glaucoma, etc), it is most often associated with extreme fear, distress, or intense physical fighting. Because of these common associations, learning a skill such as “Clocking the Room” is an absolute necessity to be an effective martial artist. Nothing is worse than reacting to a visual miscue, espicialy in a life or death situation.
At this point, and without trying to get two scientific, one has to understand how vision works, and the two components that make up the visual system.
Human eyes basically work in the same manner as a camera. The front parts of the eye (cornea, pupil, and lens) are clear and like a camera’s lenses allow light to enter to the back of the retina, which is like the film. When the focused light reaches the retina, a picture is taken and messages are sent to the brain through the optic nerve.
The retina has two parts, the peripheral retina and the macula. The macula is very small and located near the optic nerve. The macula is specialized for high acuity vision. This is often referred to as “Central Vision.”
The large area that surrounds the macula and makes up 95% of the retina is called the peripheral retina. The peripheral retina gives us vision to the side of the head, which is called “Peripheral Vision.”
Although central and peripheral vision are both components of the visual system, peripheral vision is a subconscious function, independent of central vision, whose primary responsibility is to orient an individual to one’s environment. That is to say, one could utilize central vision by reading, (a conscious action) while simultaneously obtaining sufficient cues with their peripheral vision to walk (a subconscious function).
Obviously, there is no argument that central vision is better suited for detailed vision. However, peripheral vision is better for detecting motion and is relatively strong in low light or the dark, when the lack of color cues and lighting make cone cells (receptors found in the macula) less useful. This feature of peripheral vision makes understanding and utilizing peripheral vision in combat a lot more important for reacting and avoiding attacks.
Central vision is the work of the macula, which is a small area in the center of the retina that contains a high density of color-sensitive receptors known as cones. These cones are nerves cells that are sensitive to light, fine detail, and color. They are primarily responsible for object recognition, reading, watching TV, driving, and other activities where vision is of primary importance, (surgery for example).
In other words, central vision is sort of like seeing the world in high definition. However, because of its limited field a lot of surrounding information goes unnoticed.
In addition, the neural pathways associated with using central vision are associated with the arousal of the Sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight, and stress), which is in contrast to peripheral vision that is linked with the Parasympatheic nervous system (relaxation and calmness).
The most important difference between central vision and peripheral vision is that peripheral vision emphasizes movement rather than form. Objects are less focused.
For example, as we walk, objects in our direction of motion seem to expand slowly from the center of view, while objects beside us (those in the peripheral field) pass us quickly. This rapid movement is difficult for a precise visual system to track accurately, and in order to make sense of the information gathered in the peripheral field, comparisons are made based on differences in movement.
These comparisons are then merged forming a conceptual picture of the world around us, based on clear concepts and memories of what we would see if we choose to look directly in that direction. In other words, a lot of peripheral vision is not truly visual but actually more conceptual.
The result of combining all of this with the information processed by central vision is that the mind creates a unified visual experience. Thus we have the ability to see the world all around us.
Clearly, using peripheral vision for the martial artists has benefits, since martial arts practitioners are taught to react to movement. One can’t block a punch or evade a kick if they don’t see it coming--or if they see it coming to late.
In addition, if one were to use only central vision to fight their opponent, they would not have the ability to see other potential threats since all their attention is fixed at one point. This is why topics about awareness of one’s surroundings are so often discussed in self-defense.
Another point, which is often not mentioned or discussed, is that using peripheral vision allows the martial arts practitioner to move their head less. That might not sound very important but it is. While many Karate practitioners are taught that the head always leads the body when doing kata, moving the head in a real fight can be hazardous.
First of all, many people aim for the head when striking. Just watch a real fight--like many of those posted on Youtube.com or any professional mixed martial arts match. If the head moves, that movement can be tracked.
This is especially true when applying evasion techniques or soft, “no-touch,” blocks.
Example:
This technique is one method taught to evade a midline attack or downward cut to the head. It is basically nothing more than a cross-step to the side. However, the lower torso does all the motion, and the head and shoulders remain fixed. By only moving the lower torso the evasion is almost impossible to perceive. Further more, since the upper torso remains fixed, there is no stimulus for reactive tracking from the aggressor.
The second reason why not moving the head is important is because things can remain in sharper focus if your head and eyes do not move. A lot of the flitching one witnesses in a martial arts class is not attributable to fear; it is simply a result of the eyes trying to maintain and/or focus on a fast moving object.
An example that illustrates this best, and that most of us have witnessed first hand, is when a fly buzzes around our head. As the fly approaches our face we pull our head back and away. Clearly, a fly is no threat, but the initial movement is often picked up peripherally and the head adjusts to focus on what the incoming object is. Since the fly is moving forward towards the face, the head moves back and away in direct relation to the speed of the incoming object in order to initially focus on the object and then to maintain focus. Basically, we flinch to focus.
The last reason why moving the head can be hazardous is because when one moves their head they also tend to move their body. That may not sound like much of an issue, but small movements of the torso can certainly change the effectiveness of a technique, especially a technique that relies on proper body alignment to be optimal.
Torso movement can also affect balance, which can be used against you offensively.
If these reasons are not enough to instill the benefits of using peripheral vision, maybe the fact that learning to rely on peripheral vision helps one relax during a stressful situation will. Clearly, a more relaxed demeanor allows a person to better actualize and respond to specific actions in a productive manner.
In addition, a relaxed demeanor, an almost lackadaisical gaze at one’s opponent, can have clear psychological advantages. Outwardly displaying a presence of indifference, even boredom at the events taking place, can either make one’s opponent become over confident or extremely weary. In either case, the attacker either does too much or to little, creating an advantageous situation for the defender.
To learn to access and optimize peripheral vision takes a lot of practice. One should start by looking a point directly in front of you, and without moving your head, or eyes, relax and let your vision spread out as wide as it can to both sides.
A drill we employ at the school to work on peripheral vision takes three students. One student stands in the middle and the other two stand approximately an arms length away on each side.
Once the center student relaxes his gaze he is asked if he can see the two other students. If the answer is yes, both of the other students take one step to the rear. If the student in the center still has some awareness of their location, the process is repeated until both students disappear completely.
Of course in order to do this drill properly, the center student cannot search (look for) the other two. The center student must maintain his head position as well as his relaxed state. The center student must always look forward, though focused on no particular object.
The advanced form of this drill starts off in the same manner. However, once the students on each side disappear from view things change. These students then take one more step to the rear at a 45-degree angle. After that they either throw an object at the student in the center or advance towards them in order to attack him.
The object here is to teach the person in the center to pick up the threatening movement peripherally and react properly to it. It sounds easy, but its not. Often the body wants to move in the wrong direction or hesitates while trying to completely process what it going on.
Over time, and with proper practice, one can increase their ability to pick things up peripherally. Sometimes the results can be dramatic. Of course along with learning how to pick things up visually comes a new heightened sense of awareness, precise coordinated body movement, and an increase in reaction time (less hesitation).
Last year I spent several months writing about the “Top Ten Principles of Yachigusa Ryu Aiki Bugei.” Now it is time to cover the next ten most important principles. Of course, one must keep in mind that while these principles are officially less important than first ten, in actuality they are just as important. The truth is that in many cases understanding and executing them properly is essential in order to make the “top ten” fully effective. In other words, they are just another piece of a very complex puzzle illustrating how sceintific martial techniques really are.
Unfortunately, trying to explain many of these principals in writing is very difficult, since many can’t be explained in words alone. However, I will try my best to describe these principles for the “blog” readers, using words, charts and pictures.
Keep in mind though, that in order to sometimes fully understand a principle you have to also understand other principles that relate to it. Most principles aren’t fully useable on their own, and have to be integrated with others.
Clocking The Room
The principle of “Clocking the Room” is an easy concept to understand, but very hard to apply in real life, especially under stressful conditions. While it’s a principle discussed in numerous martial art styles, few practitioners ever try to develop the skill to its full potential.
In the Budo arts the principle of “Clocking the Room,” is often referred to as Metsuke, (Seeing Eye / Mind’s Eye), or more specifically "Enzan-no-metsuke" (Gazing at a Distant Mountain), an expression referring to a specific method of looking at one’s entire surroundings instead of focusing on just one aspect of it.
Essentially, the principle of “Clocking the Room” teaches and instills a method of “relaxed vision,” where the practitioner learns to rely on their peripheral vision instead of their centralized vision. Of course, in order to understand this fully one must first understand how our eyes work.
Lets start off with the presupposition that over 85% of the information relayed to the brain comes via the eyes, 9% via the ears, and 4% via the other senses. Let's also presuppose that the eyes can be fooled, or tricked into believing things that aren’t really true.
Take for example the below picture. Which line is longer? Measure them and find out.
Okay that example was simple, but how about the below illustration? What do you see?
Do you see a fish on a plate, or the head of a woman?
Clearly, these examples are intended to fool you. However, visual miscues often happen due to natural physical reactions, especially when one is under stress. One of the most common forms of a visual miscue is called “Tunnel Vision.”
“Tunnel Vision,” is a term that basically refers to s a state where one’s visual field is severely constricted, or to be more precise, “Tunnel Vision” is a state where one suffers a loss of peripheral vision resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision.
For example, as a police officer I can’t tell you how many times I came across victims who could clearly describe the weapon they were threatened with, but couldn’t even start to describe the person wielding it. They focused so much on the wepom that was all they saw. In addition one would be surprised how often descriptions of these weapons are distorted. What often turns out to be a small pocket knife, is often perceived as a machete or a sword.
While "Tunnel Vision" can be caused by a variety of reasons (drugs, alcohol, glaucoma, etc), it is most often associated with extreme fear, distress, or intense physical fighting. Because of these common associations, learning a skill such as “Clocking the Room” is an absolute necessity to be an effective martial artist. Nothing is worse than reacting to a visual miscue, espicialy in a life or death situation.
At this point, and without trying to get two scientific, one has to understand how vision works, and the two components that make up the visual system.
Human eyes basically work in the same manner as a camera. The front parts of the eye (cornea, pupil, and lens) are clear and like a camera’s lenses allow light to enter to the back of the retina, which is like the film. When the focused light reaches the retina, a picture is taken and messages are sent to the brain through the optic nerve.
The retina has two parts, the peripheral retina and the macula. The macula is very small and located near the optic nerve. The macula is specialized for high acuity vision. This is often referred to as “Central Vision.”
The large area that surrounds the macula and makes up 95% of the retina is called the peripheral retina. The peripheral retina gives us vision to the side of the head, which is called “Peripheral Vision.”
Although central and peripheral vision are both components of the visual system, peripheral vision is a subconscious function, independent of central vision, whose primary responsibility is to orient an individual to one’s environment. That is to say, one could utilize central vision by reading, (a conscious action) while simultaneously obtaining sufficient cues with their peripheral vision to walk (a subconscious function).
Obviously, there is no argument that central vision is better suited for detailed vision. However, peripheral vision is better for detecting motion and is relatively strong in low light or the dark, when the lack of color cues and lighting make cone cells (receptors found in the macula) less useful. This feature of peripheral vision makes understanding and utilizing peripheral vision in combat a lot more important for reacting and avoiding attacks.
Central Vision
Central vision (Foveal vision) is the normal mode of vision during daylight conditions and can basically be described as straight-ahead vision, about 0 – 15 degrees from center.Central vision is the work of the macula, which is a small area in the center of the retina that contains a high density of color-sensitive receptors known as cones. These cones are nerves cells that are sensitive to light, fine detail, and color. They are primarily responsible for object recognition, reading, watching TV, driving, and other activities where vision is of primary importance, (surgery for example).
In other words, central vision is sort of like seeing the world in high definition. However, because of its limited field a lot of surrounding information goes unnoticed.
In addition, the neural pathways associated with using central vision are associated with the arousal of the Sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight, and stress), which is in contrast to peripheral vision that is linked with the Parasympatheic nervous system (relaxation and calmness).
Peripheral Vision
Peripheral vision is the part of vision that occurs outside the center of our gaze. It accounts for 80% of the information that helps guide us through space. This region contains a mixture of cones and rods and does not provide as high a resolution as does the fovea.The most important difference between central vision and peripheral vision is that peripheral vision emphasizes movement rather than form. Objects are less focused.
For example, as we walk, objects in our direction of motion seem to expand slowly from the center of view, while objects beside us (those in the peripheral field) pass us quickly. This rapid movement is difficult for a precise visual system to track accurately, and in order to make sense of the information gathered in the peripheral field, comparisons are made based on differences in movement.
These comparisons are then merged forming a conceptual picture of the world around us, based on clear concepts and memories of what we would see if we choose to look directly in that direction. In other words, a lot of peripheral vision is not truly visual but actually more conceptual.
The result of combining all of this with the information processed by central vision is that the mind creates a unified visual experience. Thus we have the ability to see the world all around us.
Clearly, using peripheral vision for the martial artists has benefits, since martial arts practitioners are taught to react to movement. One can’t block a punch or evade a kick if they don’t see it coming--or if they see it coming to late.
In addition, if one were to use only central vision to fight their opponent, they would not have the ability to see other potential threats since all their attention is fixed at one point. This is why topics about awareness of one’s surroundings are so often discussed in self-defense.
Another point, which is often not mentioned or discussed, is that using peripheral vision allows the martial arts practitioner to move their head less. That might not sound very important but it is. While many Karate practitioners are taught that the head always leads the body when doing kata, moving the head in a real fight can be hazardous.
First of all, many people aim for the head when striking. Just watch a real fight--like many of those posted on Youtube.com or any professional mixed martial arts match. If the head moves, that movement can be tracked.
This is especially true when applying evasion techniques or soft, “no-touch,” blocks.
Example:
This technique is one method taught to evade a midline attack or downward cut to the head. It is basically nothing more than a cross-step to the side. However, the lower torso does all the motion, and the head and shoulders remain fixed. By only moving the lower torso the evasion is almost impossible to perceive. Further more, since the upper torso remains fixed, there is no stimulus for reactive tracking from the aggressor.
The second reason why not moving the head is important is because things can remain in sharper focus if your head and eyes do not move. A lot of the flitching one witnesses in a martial arts class is not attributable to fear; it is simply a result of the eyes trying to maintain and/or focus on a fast moving object.
An example that illustrates this best, and that most of us have witnessed first hand, is when a fly buzzes around our head. As the fly approaches our face we pull our head back and away. Clearly, a fly is no threat, but the initial movement is often picked up peripherally and the head adjusts to focus on what the incoming object is. Since the fly is moving forward towards the face, the head moves back and away in direct relation to the speed of the incoming object in order to initially focus on the object and then to maintain focus. Basically, we flinch to focus.
The last reason why moving the head can be hazardous is because when one moves their head they also tend to move their body. That may not sound like much of an issue, but small movements of the torso can certainly change the effectiveness of a technique, especially a technique that relies on proper body alignment to be optimal.
Torso movement can also affect balance, which can be used against you offensively.
If these reasons are not enough to instill the benefits of using peripheral vision, maybe the fact that learning to rely on peripheral vision helps one relax during a stressful situation will. Clearly, a more relaxed demeanor allows a person to better actualize and respond to specific actions in a productive manner.
In addition, a relaxed demeanor, an almost lackadaisical gaze at one’s opponent, can have clear psychological advantages. Outwardly displaying a presence of indifference, even boredom at the events taking place, can either make one’s opponent become over confident or extremely weary. In either case, the attacker either does too much or to little, creating an advantageous situation for the defender.
To learn to access and optimize peripheral vision takes a lot of practice. One should start by looking a point directly in front of you, and without moving your head, or eyes, relax and let your vision spread out as wide as it can to both sides.
A drill we employ at the school to work on peripheral vision takes three students. One student stands in the middle and the other two stand approximately an arms length away on each side.
Once the center student relaxes his gaze he is asked if he can see the two other students. If the answer is yes, both of the other students take one step to the rear. If the student in the center still has some awareness of their location, the process is repeated until both students disappear completely.
The advanced form of this drill starts off in the same manner. However, once the students on each side disappear from view things change. These students then take one more step to the rear at a 45-degree angle. After that they either throw an object at the student in the center or advance towards them in order to attack him.
The object here is to teach the person in the center to pick up the threatening movement peripherally and react properly to it. It sounds easy, but its not. Often the body wants to move in the wrong direction or hesitates while trying to completely process what it going on.
Over time, and with proper practice, one can increase their ability to pick things up peripherally. Sometimes the results can be dramatic. Of course along with learning how to pick things up visually comes a new heightened sense of awareness, precise coordinated body movement, and an increase in reaction time (less hesitation).
Labels: Essays, Principles, Technical
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