Sleepy Eye, Wide Eye and Looking Down are 3 different types of vision methods that are taught in Clear’s Silat that can be used as part of your fighting arsenal.

Learn Sleepy Eye & Wide Eye.

Sleepy Eye

Sleepy eye is an old Shaolin method used to conserve energy and relax the body.

It has the benefit of making you move faster and also when you relax the eyes you can see more around you including the floor, ceiling (if inside) and more to the left and right.

Your view is a bit unfocused but you actually perceive motion faster and objects that are close such as an incoming fist do not look nearly as large allowing you a much better ability to move without getting overly fixated on the close object.

Sleepy eye is also a great way to survey your surroundings while you appear not to be looking at anyone or thing around you.

To practice sleepy eye let your eyelids droop about half way. If you have astigmatism then you may have to hold your eyes slightly differently and I have taught folks where the vision that they normally have is sleepy eye due to the astigmatism they have. Corrective lens glasses correct this and to do sleepy eye when wearing glasses you will still normally do it the way that I have described here.

Wide Eye

Wide eye is a method of looking whereby you open your eyes as much as you can. For most people this will elevate and ramp up your fighting mood while typically causing you to defocus a bit even though once again you can see much more of what is around you.

Wide eye typically will put you in a fight or flight mindset.

Wide eye will also tend to make you hyper respond to any incoming stimulus. It can be easier to do wide eye if you tilt your head forward and look through your eyebrows.

Looking Down

If you look down at the floor at about a 90 degree angle ( \ ) with your eyes open you will notice that your ability to see what is around you is improved while you look like you are looking at the floor.

This is great to use for multiple attackers or if you think there might be multiple attackers so that you can see where everyone is at relative to you and your position. You will be able to get 180 degree view around you simply be taking one step forward. If you start with your left arm / side in front of you and then you step so that your right arm side is in front of you then you get the complete view.

A simple benefit is knowing when someone is close enough that they can reach you and being able to respond while they still think that you do not realize how close they are.

Sleepy Eye, Wide Eye and Looking Down are 3 of our beginning visual training methods. As you continue through our Clear’s Silat program you will learn other visual methods for use in self defense.

Good training to you.
Until next time.

Learn the explosive and devastating art of Kun Tao.

Many hundreds of books could be written and filled regarding Silat styles, Kun Tao styles and the interaction of these two extensive arts commonly referred to as Kun Tao Silat. Silat styles generally are indigenous to the islands although they have flavors in them from all over the far east including from India. Kun Tao styles are of Chinese origin and the literal translation of Kun Tao from Cantonese to English is Fist Way.

In the Indonesian archipelago you can find art forms that are purely Silat and there are art forms that are purely Kun Tao. More often than not there is some degree of mixture between the two arts. Sometimes this is acknowledged by the practitioners and sometimes it is not. When the mixture is evident (usually when the mix has more than 25% from each art) then the mixture is generally acknowledged because it is somewhat obvious to other martial artists of either style. As a result these styles are more and more often becoming known as a Kun Tao Silat style. Clear’s Silat is a Kun Tao Silat style and is officially recognized as such by other senior practitioners of the arts.

Many years ago, in order to help new students gain an understanding of the Kun Tao expression of compression and explosiveness along with the overwhelming attacking movement of the art I chose to place 8 basic movements that are found in most Kun Tao styles in Phase I of our program. These movements are also found and used very effectively in Silat and particularly in our Silat but in Silat the energetic expression of these movements is noticeably different than in most other arts. Please understand. An elbow is an elbow but there are many different ways and timings of when and how to use an elbow. My teacher and mentor Uncle Bill (Willem de Thouars) tends to say “different flavors”. Part of the idea being that they are all still flavors even though different.

The movements in our Basic 8 move set include body compression and release with extreme forward machine gun type attacking with whole body weight to over run into and through the opponents position. Included are 2 primary punches, 2 elbows, 2 knees and 2 kicks. I will detail these in the next post.

keep up the Good Training.

Clear’s Silat & Street Kung Fu is Kun Tao Silat. Kun Tao Silat is a mixture of Silat and Kun Tao. This mixture goes back quite a few generations and is a blend that came has come about starting with the Chinese trade with the spice islands of Indonesia and Malaysia in the 1200′s.

Although pure Pentjak Silat and pure Kun Tao styles can be found in the islands the majority of martial art styles that can be found in Indonesia and Malaysia today are a combination of Kun Tao and Silat. Part of the reason for this is that the primary purpose for martial arts study in the islands is survival. This tends to mean that if something works then use it and if it works particularly well then claim it as your own.

The mixture of Kun Tao and Silat in styles range from close to 50/50 % to as much as 95/5 %. It just depends on which region or area you are in and what styles are available and what kind of techniques and skills you will need against nearby enemies. Techniques can also depend on who married who and what family arts are / were available.

The mixture of Kun Tao and Silat allows for a wide range of techniques and awfully sudden changes in expression that can be very explosive while being very deceptive. Kun Tao Silat is directed towards the practitioner being able to defend themselves against multiple attackers, armed with weapons, attacking by surprise. The art is a mixture of powerful, explosive and fluid bone breaking and pressure point striking designed to help one extricate themselves from a situation as rapidly as possible. In the art every part of the body that can possibly be used is considered and used as a weapon.

Implements including bladed weapons and improvised weapons are also studied along with tactics and awareness techniques.