TCMA training method - train your eyes

[johnwang]

In TCMA people train their eyes by watching the wave on the lake when the wind blow. If you can notice a little water wave on the lake surface then you will have good eyes in combat and you can see your opponent's movement in detail. I don't know how many people train this way today. Many true traditional training method has been lost in the past 100 years and I believe this is one of the many.

[I am...]

I use a couple of methods handed down for training the eyes. One of the ones I have developed appreciation for is simple "the eyes follow the hands" when training. I have not tried what you are describing however, have you John?

[johnwang]

I won't suggest anything that I have not train myself. "eyes follow the hands" is one of the TCMA training method. Even that, many people still ignore it sometime. I have seen people did their form that his hands move in front of him but his eyes just look at some infinite point as a zombie has no soul.

[I am...]

Thank you for the reply. Do you find that you get results with watching the waves?

Eyes follow the hands is more difficult to do than it sounds, it is a great exercise.

[johnwang]

It makes your mind clear and sharp. Besides combat value, it may also improve the eye sight in great deal. In our daily life we have focus our eyes in short distance (such as sit in front of a computer) too long. Readjust your eye sight in far distance can make you feel "the world is so wide and the sky is so open" and it's silly to be bothered by small things (such as someone may make an unfriendly command to you on the internet).

[edededed]

There are many methods in TCMA for training the eyes, but I think that they are often not taught openly... I didn't know about the watching the waves method, though...

[affa]

high paced video games have been shown to increase visual acuity as well. nerd fu!

[Daniel]

Good point, John.

Yeah, there are several different ones that I have been taught. Not the wave-one, though, not as a technique. I´ll add that.

There are many of these. An important one to keep for health is to keep your focal adjustment working. It stiffens with age. If you practice it you will mitigate that. Several of the techniques are also very practically useful in modern day combat or fighting.

And I think you are sadly right about lost practices. Just the amount of practices I have heard about that aren´t around anymore forces you to look at the previous generations of CMA and IMA in a different light. Picture the sheer knowledge that they might have had and that went into their styles and their power and we have lost now.


D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[I am...]

A couple more:

Sitting in the forest without moving, relax and become aware of different animals around you, without necessarily turning to directly look at any of them. Allow the senses to work as a whole until you know exactly where each thing you notice is.

Seated, follow the breathing/what you hear/watch a candle flame, etc. (pick one sense and concentrate on it), and let any other thoughts run their course without feeding them any attention. Among other things this can help in sharpening the perceptions.

[roger hao]

This is discussed in detail in the book -
Better Eyesight Without Glasses by Dr. Bates

There are many eye exercises in the book - after reading this book I threw away my glasses and never wore them again.
Eye glasses are bad for you - so are computers. Dr Bates says , same as John, focus on your finger held up in front of you then without
shifting the eyes or moving change your focus to a distant object. The sensation of this is amazing as you can feel the eyes zooming
just like telephoto lens. If you do this while meditating or doing Tai Chi as in Hand Separation and can get the circulation to the eyes
as you look at the yang hand and then to the distance you will get better results.

[Darthwing Teorist]

high paced video games have been shown to increase visual acuity as well. nerd fu!

I'm on a good path then! Woohoo!


We did some eye training classes in Systema.

[affa]

Sitting in the forest without moving, relax and become aware of different animals around you, without necessarily turning to directly look at any of them.

i think actually tracking the trajectories of those fast little song-birds probably works the other end of that spectrum. going back and forth between one and the other...

[jafc]

i have actually played with a bit of this. I will stare out the office window & give a brief focus to anything that moves within my visual field. birds, bugs,cars,people,trees,leaves. It sort of helps pay attention to visual cues. I make it harder by including reflections in the glass made by people moving behind me in the room. focus on the reflection - i figured pivot to focus on them would freak them out.

JC

[Fubo]

One method I was taught in a few different MA was to focus on one point while letting the peripheral vision acknowledge other things around. We train this in Zhan Zhuang. I believe it's similar to driving where focus on the car in front, but acknowledge the other things/sounds/movement around.

[Brady]

Eye training is one of those rare gems that makes CMA so wonderful. Its pretty interesting how similar (and perhaps more advanced) it is to vestibular/ocular rehab I've learned.
I don't do enough of it, but notice that I have a definitive "shift" to the right with my eyes, so when I'm just playing around I always try to engage the left side of my vision.