The Eyes

[SakranMM]

During sparring practice, I often find myself looking at the person's upper chest area rather than their eyes. It's not due to a lack of confidence or anything; being short in stature, it's just that my eyes usually end up right at chest level when I look straight ahead at larger opponents.

Any comments/suggestions on where to focus when sparring?

[The BB of C]

Looking in the eyes is good because the eyes tend to do the same thing you're doing and pick their target before they attack. Also by keeping eye contact - it is pretty easy to guess where all the other areas of the body are. But it takes a long while to learn how to do this effectively in combat or in sparring and I only know a couple of people personally that actually can. How long have you been into martial arts?

[bushido_man96]

I tend to look at the upper chest area, and allow my peripheral vision to take in everything.

I don't look at the eyes, because I think then you tend to narrow your focus. I also think that its easier to get faked out by shifting eye movements or head fakes.

[tallgeese]

Yeah, it sounds like the area you're looking at is about optimal. Maybe a bit lower, but wherever you can get a feel for his movements with your peripheral vision.

If you look central, you can pick up the movements of the rest of his body, specifically his elbows and knees, which will tell the movements of his hands and feet with a non-centralized vision. This peripheral vision is quicker to perceive and react to movement than hard focusing. Thus, your response time is better.

Stay away from the eyes in my opinion. bushido man is right, it will narrow your vision and almost force you into tunnel vision. It's hard enough to battle this while in the thick of it, no use making it harder.

There's also a psychological component to staying off the eyes. It keeps the fight at a professional level. In other words, you tend to think of the attacker as a set of targets rather than a person you're tearing up. This makes it easier to deploy your arsenal during combat.

Just my thoughts on the matter. It always a debated issue and one that's important enough to bring up again from time to time.

[sensei8]

After all, the eyes are the window of ones soul. In that, the eyes reveal everything, imho. Everything as far as what my opponents body is doing. I was taught, and I teach my students this as well, to look at their opponents eyes and with that, the actions of my opponents are easy to follow with my peripheral vision. But, DON'T JUST STARE!

In basketball, players are taught to watch the stomach because foot action and intended direction are picked up right before or as it begins.

Therefore, if I'm watching my opponents eyes, I pick up on my opponents intentions and I can intercept them before the threat becomes a fact.

Ok, that's my half a penny worth!

[white owl]

I tend to look at the shoulder/chest area. When I look at the eyes I kind of loose the focus.

[Adam_XKT]

Shoulders/chest for me.

One of my instructors tried to instill in us the use of gaze over the summer. I tried it a few times in practice then but haven't been able to try it out for awhile, so it's definitely something that I'll need to work on.

[joesteph]

During sparring practice, I often find myself looking at the person's upper chest area rather than their eyes. It's not due to a lack of confidence or anything; being short in stature, it's just that my eyes usually end up right at chest level when I look straight ahead at larger opponents.

Everyone's got their own theory about the eyes. I say you choose to look where you see best, and if you see best through the eyes, even if the guy's a foot taller, then that's what you do. But if you find that looking straight at another particular part of the body gives you the best dead-on and peripheral vision, just say "Uh-huh, yeah, okay" to those who tell you you've got to look at the eyes and go on doing what's right for you.

I've been taught to look to the eyes as the telegraphers, that there's an "eye war" going on, etc. If this is what the person telling me believes, that's okay for them, but I don't believe it, so it's not okay for me.

I want to look where I can see all the weapons, and unless ninja stars are going to be shot out of my adversary's eyes, I'm looking lower. I like to look across the chest area between the shoulders, with a scan down and up, sort of like a "T," to see what's incoming--and what's open. In JKD (and I'm sure other arts do this), the body is just divided into quarters; there's no "look at the eyes and then beam out like the sun in the sky over your opponent's body."

There's nothing wrong with trying suggestions, but only you have the right to think and decide for you.

[rogue2257]

There is indeed merit to looking at the eyes while in combat, because sometimes the eyes will give away intent to strike at a particular area.

Myself, on the other hand, I've always found it best to look at the person's chest, or their center of mass and let my peripheral vision catch any extra action. If I'm looking at the eyes I won't necessarily be able to see what the feet are doing, but if the gaze is at the opponent's center I can see just about anything they're doing.

EDIT: I should clarify, just because I look primarily at a person's center doesn't mean that I never look to the eyes. I tend to move my gaze around the person's body fluidly, so I don't stare. I look at the eyes as much as I look at someone's feet, for instance; just not as much as I do the center.

[sensei8]

I tend to move my gaze around the person's body fluidly, so I don't stare.

That's very important and smart!