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How to empower the perception

Our goal is not so much to become able to fight in the darkness but to learn to do not base our fighting capability on the sight, to listen to the other senses and mental faculties like:

Spatial intelligence – With wich, we can create a mental map of the environment and of all the elements that it includes (read The most important skill in combat)
Touch – At a basic level, to instantaneously react to unwanted contacts and at an advanced one to understand the direction / intensity of air’s movements
Hearing – In terms of self-defense to listen, separate, give meaning and direction to the smallest sounds / noises
Smell – This is the most difficult to develop but even it has an application; in the context of an opened fighting scenario (read Self defense, martial clash and war clash), everything (people, weapons, animals, etc.) emits an odor, we must learn to distinguish its cause and origin

A note by Master Kongling – To train each sense individually and then in combination will get an amazing result in terms of combative performances.

How to train the perception in the dark

Here are some exercises to be performed in the total absence of light; they are related to the 4 perceptive channels we have cited before:

Spatial intelligence – In a space that we know very well, let’s train as we usually do (read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///) but in dim light, illuminating the environment gradually with fewer and fewer candles (in any case we must keep a bottle of water in reach and keep a safe distance from the candle, read also Dojo (guan): rules, respect and etiquette)
Touch – We have to stand in front of a moving target (of average size, read Basic tools: the Hanging Speedball) to push it in all directions with the back or the palm of our hand; gradually we can go faster but always touching / controlling him; we have to follow the target’s flow harmoniously changing the hand position at our favor but never grabbing or losing the contact with it
Hearing – Let’s hang, in a darkened room, moving targets in a way that when they are moving they emit the same, constant noise (eg. touching chains, pendants, small bells, etc.); let’s try to hit them focusing on what we ear and not trying to memorize their timing and motion; let’s start with clear and high noises to increase then the difficulty gradually
Smell – Let’s spray on multiple hanging targets an (increasingly scarce) amount of different scents (food, perfumes, etc.) and let’s select to hit only one of them; at the beginning, this is very hard, with the time we can increase the complexity making the target moving

Final notes

A few conclusive tips:

Each of these exercises can be performed also (with due caution) with training weapons
These exercises bring results only after a lot of practice, we talk at least of 50 sessions staggered over a year (for each)
To learn to truly fight in the total absence of light sources you have to acquire all the basic skills of 6 Dragons Kung Fu and train at least for 5 years
If you have one or more training partners, the execution of these practices is easier (read 5 effective ways to find a training partner)
At an advanced level, the moving targets can be replaced by gradually less cooperative partners
It is important to stress that it is not a good idea to decide to always train in the dark (every session), this will decrease the quality of our sight
After having trained your perceptive channels individually you can go back to combining them in normal exercises

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – Before passing to this training you can forge your skills with this course

In-depth articles

Night vision – A starting point to develop / improve our sight in the dark
Avert dangers: the concept of constant attention – How to always be ready to prevent the danger

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Wha is “the sense that you rely on the most” (movie quote)?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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