Science And The Martial Arts:
Deadpan Eyes
By Christopher Caile
If you have ever faced an opponent who seemed to look past you, eyes
fixed, unfocused and slightly narrowed, the experience can be unnerving.
Now it turns out that this “look” has a tactical advantage
too.
I have always taught my students that when facing an opponent you should
never focus (fix your gaze, attention or thoughts) on any specific attack
once it is launched. This leaves you more vulnerable to a secondary attack
because you then have to shift attention and focus (or worse, your thoughts)
to what comes next, and this takes time. Instead I have taught students
to focus on the entire opponent, and if an attack comes to keep a general
focus (dealing with the attack in peripheral vision and reacting spontaneously)
so that you are alert to what might come next (Zen state of mind). This
way you are able to pick up secondary attacks sooner, sometimes even
before their initiation, since your focus (awareness) is general and
always alert. (1)
Recent research has added a new twist. It has been found that when you
keep your eyes still, not blinking or moving (as suggested above), the
perception of time itself slows. Thus, when you keep your gaze steady
and unfocused (on an opponent and any potential attack), not only are
you able to pick up secondary movement more quickly, but also these movements
will seem to come slower (less condensed in time).
A recent study by Concetta Morrone, John Ross and David Burr reported
in Nature Neuroscience found that subjective time is compressed around
the onset of the normal rapid, jerky eye movements people perform thousands
of times daily. These movements are performed automatically to align
subjects of interest (something focused upon) with the center of the
eye which can perceive in higher definition (high acuity fovea such as
are used in reading or other detailed perceptual activities).
In this study participants compared the time between two sets of two
horizontal bars flashed before their eyes, the first set just before
and the second set just after a saccade (jerky eye movement). Study participants
reported that the time interval between the flashed sets of the two horizontal
bars seemed to be equal, when in fact the second flash time was one half
of the former. Thus the subjective time was doubled near the saccade
onset (the actual gap was 100ms versus 50ms).
This has important potential implications for martial artists. If you
allow your eyes to dart around in their natural fast jerky movements
trying to focus on an attack (such as the arm or fist of an attacking
limb) only to refocus again on a secondary attack, the second attack
will seem to come faster. But, if instead you control your eyes to keep
an unmoving, non-blinking unfocused overview of an opponent, your perception
of time and any attack will slow.
This research finding reminded me of the famous essays of the Japanese
Zen monk, Takuan Soho, to a master swordsman written three and one half
centuries ago. Takuan’s discourses, while not discussing physical
aspects of keeping the eyes fixed and unfocused, do discuss a parallel
mental state. Relating Zen to the psychology of conflict, Takuan stresses
the importance of keeping the mind stabilized (fixed without thought)
during conflict. Takuan cautions the swordsman that if your mind becomes
occupied with an opponent’s attack (such as a downward sword strike)
and if the defender thinks of meeting that attack, his mind will stop.
This will undo the defender and he will be cut down since the mind was
stopped (was filled, something which stops the natural flow of spontaneous
reaction). (2)
It is in Zen meditation (practice of the mental aspects) that both the
fixed, unfocused gaze and the clear mind are practiced. In sitting, most
often the student fixes his or her gaze in front, unfocused while keeping
(at least trying to keep) the mind clear of thoughts, ideas or images
through intent focus on total awareness and perception. This research
study may explain yet another reason why Zen meditation can help in self-defense
situations.
About the Author:
Christopher Caile is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of FightingArts.com.
He has been a student of the martial arts for over 43 years. He first
started in judo. Then he added karate as a student of Phil Koeppel in
1959. Caile introduced karate to Finland in 1960 and then hitch-hiked
eastward. In Japan (1961) he studied under Mas Oyama and later in the
US became a Kyokushinkai Branch Chief. In 1976 he followed Kaicho Tadashi
Nakamura when he formed Seido karate and is now a 6th degree black belt
in that organization's honbu dojo. Other experience includes aikido,
diato-ryu aikijujutsu, kenjutsu, kobudo, Shinto Muso-ryu jodo, kobudo,
boxing and several Chinese fighting arts including Praying mantis, Pak
Mei (White Eyebrow) and shuai chiao. He is also a student of Zen. A long-term
student of one branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qigong, he is
a personal disciple of the qi gong master and teacher of acupuncture
Dr. Zaiwen Shen (M.D., Ph.D.) and is Vice-President of the DS International
Chi Medicine Association. He holds an M.A. in International Relations
from American University in Washington D.C. and has traveled extensively
through South and Southeast Asia. He frequently returns to Japan and
Okinawa to continue his studies in the martial arts, their history and
tradition. In his professional life he has been a businessman, newspaper
journalist, inventor and entrepreneur.
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