Into the Dark – Jedi Night Walking for Peripheral Vision Training

This is a continuation of Vision, Eye Sight and Peak Human Performance

In case I missed any features of peripheral vision, like detecting motion, I reread the physiology texts. This time I took seriously the fact that peripheral vision is superior in low light situations.

That meant dark!…Of course

Here’s what the sky looks like from space, in case you’re looking for a good place to train.

When light levels are low enough the cones hardly function at all. Central and peripheral visions are separated by using a fixed visual point and giving the peripheral part of your vision something dynamic to do. By walking at night you can separate it even more. By walking at night while focusing on the rod tip you’ll have the opportunity to totally experience the mental states associated with peripheral vision.

Headgear (which will be available from the Warrior Mind Store soon) can be altered by painting the beads on the rod tip with luminescent paint.  I would suggest start taking vitamin A, which is necessary for the formation of visual purple, a substance which enables the eyes to adjust from bright light to darkness.

To test this I set out around sunset along some trails along the Deschutes River. Entering the peripheral state was more difficult than expected, partly because of some apprehension of walking around in a somewhat unfamiliar place in the dark. There were all sorts of “wildlife” that could have been encountered, i.e. rattlesnakes, and though I couldn’t really “see” the road, I got carried away and imagined the trail covered with them – this was before I became proficient at my mental strength training 🙂

I strained my peripheral hearing and vision for telltale signs. Long, dark shapes were everywhere; the air was filled with the sound of hollow clacking insects. I thought I’d probably “know” if I was about to step into something ugly, but the maintenance of faith in peripheral vision, so critical to the endeavor, was…challenging. The knowledge that adult males seldom die from snake bites was of some small comfort.

As an aid to quieting internal dialogue, I used a Sufi walking meditation technique with sub-vocally chanting of empowering phrases with a number of syllables that match the footsteps. I thought that this exercise would help to balance the two hemispheres of the brain, reinforcing the basic relaxing effect of deliberate reliance upon peripheral vision.

I started with a four-count on inhalation and exhalation, something like “I trust my – self,” which seemed to suit my pace and respiration. You can shift the numbers, counting three steps while inhaling, for example, and four while exhaling. As the light faded, so did my apprehension of snakes.

Waiting for full darkness, I stopped and looked ahead at the loom of the Cascade Mountains. Then I set out into the black…then it happened!

The most accurate description is that I entered the night. It became alive. Rabbits hopped by casually, nighthawks and bats flew past to check us out. My steps got lighter, walking approached the status of flight, and I felt like I’d fully entered the peripheral state, much more deeply than before. I smiled at the thought of what I was doing– walking effortlessly in the night under the stars, with no conscious knowledge of what was on the path in front of me, no consciousness of anything but the feeling of everything.

My suggestion…give Jedi Night Walking a shot, you’ll become one of the most consistently relaxing and exhilarating experiences you have ever had. You’ll find that the reports, ancient and modern, are true–employing peripheral vision and “second sight” facilitates a distinct change in perception while promoting a serene sense of well-being.

You’ll discover that anxiety in general, and fear of the dark in particular, are effectively eliminated, as if they were somehow related to the brain processes of central vision. You’ll lean to see by moving your attention around in the visual field and will find that with this kind of attention management you can ‘rearrange’ pain and discomfort by shifting your attention away from it and onto anything else in the whole field of sensory perception.

Not only will you be learning to travel freely in the dark; it will become apparent that this capability will connect you more directly to your unconsciousness mind, the part of your brain that seems devoted to your safety and general security. Far from being a storehouse of fear, you will find that the ‘other then conscious’ (or at least the aspect of it that is accessed through the state of peripheral awareness) to be a trustworthy protector. Not only will it lead you around rocks, away from cliffs and fallen tress, but also serves as a guide to some other ‘natural state’…to some most basic part of yourself. In the peripheral state you’ll feel comfortable, alert, relaxed, open, happy and very alive. Feelings of fear, anger, worry, doubt, and lust seem antithetical to the state, as if the neural wiring, whatever it is, for such strong emotions, is bypassed. Compassionate is one way to accurately describe the feeling of Jedi Night Walking.

As Daniel C. Dennett writes in Consciousness Explained, “Only a theory that explained conscious events in terms of unconscious events could explain consciousness at all.”

The more you Jedi Walk, the more you may come to question the supremacy of the consciousness mind. You may come to believe that, peripheral vision is making you more aware of what you are not conscious of.  Those particulars, which are contained in that huge, mysterious mass of neurons (like a computer), that is making decisions and judgments on its own. The brain doesn’t need the ‘me’ of conscious thought to operate–in fact; it often seems to operate much better without the intervention of the consciousness mind. It may become a bit sobering and sometimes an unsettling at times.

Any clear night is a good for Jedi Night Walking, especially for beginners, but strong starlight is especially favorable. Keep your eyes fixed on a particular star. This will trigger a hypnotic effect (Alpha brainwave), and for some beginners may stop walking when “their” star sinks below the skyline or rises above their head. For others, you may not notice the disappearance, because by the time that the star has passed out of your sight, you will have formed a subjective image of it which will remain fixed before you.

Some initiates in the secret lore also assert that, as a result of long years of practice, after he has travelled over a certain distance, the feet of the lung-gom-pa no longer touch the ground, and that he glides on the air with an extreme celerity.

I hope you have enjoyed this series on peripheral vision, Jedi Walking and Jedi Night Walking.   If you have, please let me know in the comments below.

Related articles

• Vision, Eye Sight and Peak Human Performance (warriormindcoach.com)
• Vision, Eye Sight and Peak Human Performance – Part III (warriormindcoach.com)
• Vision, Eye Sight and Peak Human Performance – Jedi Walking (warriormindcoach.com)
• Tactical Breathing for Inner Strength (warriormindcoach.com)
• Into the Dark – Jedi Night Walking for Peripheral Vision Training (warriormindcoach.com)