Strong Eyes (Iengong) is a fundamental Kung Fu ‘Gong or ‘Kung’, alongside Muyugong (Withstanding Blows) Qigong (Breath Control) and the others. Eye-Training Arts or ‘Ienshu’ is part of this.
Eye-Arts in Kung Fu help, for example, the coordination and accuracy of blows and blocks with hands, feet and weapons. Ienshu before combat may reveal opponents’ preparedness, stamina, fitness, mobility, flexibility, ability and alertness levels and even forthcoming techniques. Ienshu can also be incorporated into techniques via feints and stratagems–‘Looking High and Kicking Low’, for example.
Top Priority Training
The Eyes correspond to the Dragon in ‘Wuxing’/5 Animals Kung Fu. Here the Dragon, too, has the highest rank and position plus links to’Spirit’, like the eyes. The foremost, most used and most vital organs of perception, and the one allowing us to plan ahead and predict, the eyes are thus the most valuable for Martial Artists to train.
Vital human features, ‘the windows of the soul,’ according to a popular maxim, for a martial artist not to train the eyes is folly! Why? Because you might encounter someone who does-if so then watch out! How fortunate to possess the invisible advantages which eye-training provides! This article sets out drills and practice routines to help you acquire these.
1. Know Your Environment
Keeping your head still,. look diagonally upwards to your right. From this point, move your gaze slowly left-wards counting all the features on the ceiling, continue down the wall on your left, count all the features on the floor beneath your feet and then do the same to the wall on your right.
Repeat this drill four times in all, ending your last repetition, as far left as possible (i.e. diagonally upwards on the left) in the opposite position to your point of departure. Repeat the drill from this new starting, point in the opposite direction.
Moving and stopping the eyes plus the discipline of counting helps improve the accuracy of peripheral vision in particular and the ability to note small changes in local circumstances, which you might otherwise miss. Counting tiles on house-roofs is a related exercise-an earlier (and more difficult) version was to constantly count and re-count your chickens (as they obviously move around a lot!
2. Eyes Closed!
Close your eyes and rotate them 30x clockwise and then repeat the exercise in the opposite direction. Tiring at first, sometimes, this exercise gets easier with practice. As the lids provide slight resistance this exercises the muscles involved in rotation and also cleans the eyes’ surface.
3. Corners of the Eyes
Make two fists with thumb knuckles protruding at the top (Detour Hook-Fist in Wu Shu) strike the two temples, near the eye sockets with these knuckles 72 times. With both palms massage from the eyes upwards to the ‘Bahui’ point on the crown eight times, simultaneously.
The repeated strikes ‘tenderise’ the location (over time) making it more amenable to subsequent massage and stimulate the underlying optic nerve. The palm movements (over time) smooth away wrinkles from the eye sockets allowing better peripheral vision still from this vital viewpoint. They also begin to turn up the bottom outside corners of your eyes, slightly increasing the amount of light they collect, markedly decreasing the amount of dust/grit they accumulate, similarly.
