Aikido Off the Mat by Kathy Park

Author:Kathy Park
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781623172312
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2018-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

Soft Eyes in the World

Off the mat, practicing soft eyes gives us much-needed relief from the fixated, narrow, and intense focus which every page of writing and every digital screen demands of us in a world dominated by cone vision, right hands, and left brains. Given that many of us spend too much time seeing with hard eyes, it’s no wonder we suffer from eye strain, tight necks, and tension headaches. No wonder so many of us get addicted to the endless tunnel vision of cyberspace at the expense of relating to the human being right next to us.

Merriam-Webster defines tunnel vision as the “constriction of the visual field resulting in loss of peripheral vision” and as an “extreme narrowness of viewpoint.” Like a blinkered race horse, tunnel vision cuts us off from the peripheral edges and breadth of the visual environment. In the same way, “tunnel hearing” cuts us off from important audio cues. In fact, tunnel vision is connected to tunnel hearing and the constriction of all the senses because it turns out that when one sense narrows they all do, especially if we are under severe stress. And when we give in to that stress and become panicked, our frozen senses prevent us from taking everything into consideration. This may account for the phenomenon of spectator paralysis.

Any soldier, fireman, or search-and-rescue volunteer will tell you that if you panic or get tunnel vision or suffer from spectator paralysis in a dangerous situation, you’re no good to anyone, much less the person you’re trying to protect or rescue. Not only do you have to keep your wits about you and manage your fear, you have to stay aware of the entire situation to get the job done. If you extend your awareness in 360 degrees, a strange kind of clarity and sense of purpose will come over you.

Quick story: A few years ago on a summer day outside of Pagosa Springs at a roadside stop called Treasure Falls, Henry noticed an elderly woman sitting on the ground next to a trail. As soon as he said something, I saw her too, but no one else seemed to. There was something about her that didn’t look right. When we climbed down the bank to where she lay with her legs outstretched, we could see she was clearly afraid and going into shock because she had badly sprained her ankle, which was already swollen and blue. Henry climbed back up to the parking lot, where he commandeered someone’s cell phone (we didn’t have one at the time) to call 911. Meanwhile, I stayed with the woman, covered her with her jacket, and tried to get her to calm down. I directed the older of her two grandsons to give me his hoodie to make a pillow for his grandma and then go up the trail to the top of Treasure Falls in search of the rest of their party. Meanwhile, I told the other grandson to take off his socks, wet them in the stream, and bring them back to keep her ankle cold.

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