鉄砲道 — teppoudo

As described in Eye Alignment and Eye Focus, vision is a complicated process.

There are a number of muscles involved in creating a clear focussed image that the brain processes.

The muscles can be groups into essentially two sets:

• Muscles that control Eye Focus (Lens Focus)
• Muscles that control Eye Alignment

Increasing the speed with which your muscles can acquire and focus on objects is often measured on the clock in sports like IPSC. As covered in the fundamentals, you can only shoot accurately as fast as you can see.

The following exercises were extracted from posts made by Travis Tomasie on the Brian Enos forum:

Objective: Increasing the speed of your focal shift, strengthening of the stereopsis and fusion faculties, and improving your ability to shoot irons with both eyes open (binocular vision).

Materials needed: A piece of string approximately 6 feet in length. 4 beads (or something similar), two white and two red. [Note: A suggestion made by Pat Harrison seems to work better. Pat suggests the use of 5 beads, 3 red and 2 white. The rest of the post is based on the modification suggested by Pat.]

Construction: Attach one end of the string to a solid object (I use a wall, but make certain it’s a plain background), at a height level with your nose. Thread the 5 beads onto the string, starting with a red bead first. Alternate the colors (white, red, white, red) and place them 12 inches apart. The gap between the wall and the first bead (should be a red bead) is 12 inches.

Things to ponder before attempting this exercise: We possess a visual field of view that totals approximately 155 degrees (windage). Out of this 155 degree sweep there exists a 120 degree overlap. Objects that fall within this overlap are seen by both eyes. Because the two eyes are not located in the same place on our head, what each eye sees in the aforementioned overlap, is slightly different (parallax). This is illustrated by the formation of the “X” in this drill. Allow me to clarify what I mean by an “X”: there should appear to be two of the first red bead, two of the second bead within the first dual-bead image and two of the fourth bead. The third bead, or focal-point, is the center of the “X”.

Execution: While holding the loose end of the string to the tip of your nose (there should be 12 inches between the first red bead and your nose….string should be taut), focus (with both eyes open) on the third bead from your nose. Hold this focus until the beads form an “X”. Once you can see the “X”, shift your focus to the closest bead to your nose (first red). When the first bead comes into focus, shift back to the second red bead, and allow the “X” to form again. Continue this sequence and attempt to reduce the time it takes to form the “X”.

Additional note from Travis: In regards to frequency and duration; I’ve found good results with as little as a one minute, twice a day (LOL, I sound like an infomercial!). I like to intertwine my dry-fire practice with my eye exercises. You may have noticed that it’s difficult to sustain the activity, without suffering some minor eye-strain. It’s at this point, that I’ll switch back to target and sight acquisitions with my gun. What’s cool is how much quicker you can retract your focal point to the front-sight, then back to the target, after the muscles in your eyes have been thoroughly warmed up. In a match, that’s measured on the clock!