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Why Peripheral Vision is Important in the Martial Arts - Part 1 of 3 - Direct Vision

Author: Peter Freedman
Date Posted: March 09, 2009

Many of my students ask me "Why is Peripheral Vision important?" This is definitely one of the most important questions a student can ask me.

From my own personal experience of years of training in many different forms of martial arts, I have come to notice that no matter how great a fighter you are or how fast you can deliver your techniques, it doesn't matter if you don't know when the attack is coming at you; or from where it is coming and from what direction.

There are many schools of thought on this subject and I can only answer from my own perspective.

But here is what I have noticed after being on the receiving end of many life and death encounters while growing up in the Boston. I used to hang out in the Chinatown district where I met my wife and was chased by different gangs while exploring the different neighborhoods back in the day. This area was known as the Combat Zone in Boston.

I have noticed that there are six basic types of vision. Actually there are more, but for now I will only explore three of the visions. My reasons are due to time constraints and most importantly I would need you to stand right in front of me to share the rest of this inner knowledge of sight. Otherwise I feel that you would think I am crazy and would not believe me if I wrote about it right now.

These other types of visions border on what we call in the martial arts 'the mystical side' of martial arts. In the science community, they may call this the metaphysical side of nature. Either way it wouldn't be good to talk about this through writings. I feel things like this should be experienced to help you believe that there is way more to this material world than what you may believe, think or was taught to think.

The three types of visions that I am going to talk about are Direct Vision, Peripheral Vision, and Your Mind's Eye.

The first type of vision is direct vision. Direct vision is what most people walk around during all their lives. This is a very sad thing to be stuck in only one mode of vision. Most people walk around and miss most of what life has to offer them. People being stuck in one mode of vision seems to be getting worse these days because of people staring at computers, television, and video games for most of the day.

Direct vision is the vision that we use to study something like a picture or when reading a book. However, direct vision is not good for self protection or self defense. Now don't get me wrong, it has its place in the martial arts.

Like when a Sensei/Guro/Sifu teaches a new move or new technique, you watch it with your direct vision and take in all the information of new movement. Your eyes are soaking in everything like a sponge. Every posture, every hand and foot movement, and your brain can lock it away in to your memory and it can be practiced later on.

Here is something interesting that I have stumbled upon by performing my own experiments over the years. When most of the test subjects used their direct vision, their feet would freeze on them. Now remember, this is most of the test subjects and not all of them. When the attacker would go after them with real intentions to really do them bodily harm, most of the test subjects feet would became stuck or frozen to the ground and they were always too late to apply their martial art technique or self defense move. This was a major problem that needed to be solved quickly.

Please continue to Part 2 of this series to learn about Peripheral Vision.

About The Author

Sensei Peter Freedman is the Founder of the Freedman Method Ketsugo Jujutsu System and Guro Director of the Boston Arnis Club. Sensei Freedman is also a trained reiki master and healer with over 43 years of martial arts experience, Sensei Freedman intends to teach, practice, and study Jujutsu for the rest of his life. He can be reached at (603)-529-3564 or at http://www.FreedmansMethod.com

Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of General Interest articles.

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