Exercises to expand the range of peripheral vision according to the Feldenkrais method. Methodical development "Side (peripheral) vision and its role in game tactics

Few people know what peripheral vision is. And only a few people use it daily. But with the help of peripheral vision, you can expand the boundaries of vision of the surrounding world. That area of the picture, which is located at the edges of the field of view, is the periphery. Responsible for the clarity of its image peripheral departments retinas of the eye. The main indicator of the productivity of such vision is the viewing angle of a person. It includes that part of the space that covers human vision while fixing the gaze on the object. The main function of peripheral vision is orientation in space.

Take a look at some object and note how much information you received in one second about all visible objects. Now imagine how many new things you will discover for yourself if you can see objects that are beyond the field of actual vision. We will talk about how such a useful ability can be developed further.

Benefits of Peripheral Vision

By developing your functional field of vision, you will be able to perceive information quickly and to a greater extent. The ability to see the periphery will be useful for photographers, drivers, and just those people who strive for everything new and interesting. Besides, in extreme situation peripheral vision can save your life, because the ability to see the danger in time will prevent severe consequences. With the help of this vision, you can more easily navigate in space.

How to develop peripheral vision?

It turns out that this is not so difficult to do. All that is required of you is to pay attention daily to simple and very effective eye gymnastics. Exercises for the development of peripheral vision are as follows:

Walking along the sidewalk and looking straight ahead, count the cracks in the asphalt. This exercise is important for cyclists and motorcyclists because it teaches you to gather information without taking your eyes off the road.
When looking at a crowd, focus on one point. Track people's movements without moving your eyes. This exercise is useful for those who often drive on busy streets, because it teaches you to see other road users without taking your eyes off the road.
Take a book, open it sharply and close it instantly. What have you read? How many pictures have you seen? This exercise helps you absorb information quickly, which is especially useful when driving out onto a busy street and checking the situation from behind using mirrors or looking over your shoulder.
Take a pencil in each hand and hold them at a distance of 30 cm in front of your eyes. Look into the distance, as if through these objects, without focusing your gaze directly on them. Move the pencils very slowly away from your eyes until you can see them in your peripheral vision. Repeat the exercise forward and to the sides at least 10 times, then move the pencil in the right hand upwards, and in the left downwards. Move the clerical item in the right hand diagonally up, in the left hand diagonally down, using peripheral vision. Change direction. Now right hand moves the pencil diagonally down, the left one diagonally up. Repeat each exercise 10 times. Finally, place the pencils at a distance of 30 cm directly in front of you and, looking at them, describe circles with your eyes. First move 10 times clockwise, then the same amount in the opposite direction.
There are special tables for the development of peripheral vision, otherwise called Schulte tables. Their main task is to make you focus not on the central point of the visual screen, as in a first-person game, but consciously, as if by moving the cursor over the entire field area. These tables come in varying complexity, starting with nine cells. The cells contain numbers from 1 to 9 in random order. Your task is to count all the numbers in order by looking at the red dot in the central cell. After you master simple exercises, go to the next table - with a complexity of 25 or more cells.

So, we found out that peripheral vision gives us the opportunity to receive and remember more information; improves reading speed; helps in stressful situations; allows you to better navigate in space. Therefore, it will not hurt anyone to develop such a unique ability.

Good luck and great results!

Each of us has two levels visual perception- direct and peripheral (lateral). Direct vision is characterized by the fact that it covers a small field on which the eye is focused, and at the same time allows you to distinguish even the smallest details. Everything else is left to peripheral vision - we see a lot of objects that are outside the focus area, but their outlines are blurred.

But before we talk about how to develop peripheral vision, let's find out why it is so important and why you need it at all.

Direct and peripheral vision are responsible for absolutely different areas activities of animals, including humans. Direct vision is required for vigorous activity- hunting or searching. Therefore, predators have their eyes on the front of the snout to focus on tracking and chasing prey. In humans, this arrangement of the eyes is associated with active intellectual, creative and creative activity.

But in herbivores and birds, the eyes are located on the sides - this is necessary for a larger viewing angle in order to notice the approaching predator in time. But you have to pay for everything, and for wide peripheral vision too. Animals whose eyes are located on the sides see objects in front of them much worse than we do.

The quality of a person's peripheral vision is not a constant value. It can get worse and better depending on how actively we use it. And, of course, it can be developed with the help of special exercises.

But why is the development of peripheral vision necessary? Firstly, thanks to it, a person can simultaneously cover and analyze a larger number of objects. By expanding the boundaries of vision, you can quickly navigate the situation. At the same time as peripheral vision, we also develop thinking, because we make the brain operate large quantity information.

The development of peripheral vision can even save lives, because thanks to it we notice the danger earlier and can make a decision in time. This is very important for those who drive vehicles, go in for extreme sports, live in a fast pace. In general, peripheral vision is an extremely useful tool, and they need to be able to use it at a sufficient level to be useful.

Peripheral vision training

There are many exercises for training peripheral vision, here are just the most interesting ones. Some can be done right on the street on the way to work or in transport, for others you need a calm home environment that allows you to focus. The nice thing is that almost all of these exercises do not require a large number time and effort.

Remember that you don’t need to be too zealous with these exercises - give them 15 minutes a day (except for the mask exercise, 1-2 sessions per week are enough for it). At first, your eyes will hurt a little, and maybe your head - do not be afraid. There are many muscles in our visual system, including those for focusing the gaze. When we start exercising in the gym, our body first responds with pain, and we call it krepatura. It’s the same here - we load the lazy muscles, make them work, so it appears slight pain. Carefully monitor your condition: slight discomfort- this is normal. If you feel pain in the eyes, tearfulness appears, it is difficult to move eyeballs It means you overdid it. Let your eyes rest for a few days.

These warnings are not written here to scare you - there is nothing dangerous in training the eye muscles. Similar exercises a change in focus is prescribed for myopia, therefore, by developing peripheral vision, you can at the same time “pull up” it overall quality. But in a few days you will begin to notice how much wider the picture of the world around you has become, and in a month your eyes will turn into a widescreen screen on which you will see much more than you saw before.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Peripheral (peripheral) vision is very important for motorcyclists and can be developed through the simple exercises described below.

Peripheral vision called the area of the picture that we see through our eyes, and which is located at the edges of the field of view. As a rule, visibility in this area is less clear the farther it is from the central point of focus of the eye. And this is not a natural function of the eyes! We create and consolidate our functional point of view on our own, throughout our lives, and it is important not so much to constantly see everything that our eyes give us, but the ability to control this function of theirs.

Few people know that it is in this way that our consciousness delimits the sphere of priorities for itself. Take a look at some area and note how much information you got per second about all the objects that you saw. Now imagine what the load on the subconscious and consciousness will be if all objects located in the field of actual vision are read in general. Thus, peripheral vision also plays the role of a protective mechanism.

Do the following exercises to assess your peripheral vision and do them more often to improve it.

1. Walk down the sidewalk looking straight ahead and count the cracks in the pavement. This exercise is important for all motorcyclists because it teaches you to collect information (count cracks) without taking your eyes off
roads.

2. Looking at the crowd, focus on one point. Track people's movements without moving your eyes. This exercise is useful for those who often drive on busy streets because it teaches them to see other road users without taking their eyes off the road.

3. Try to watch a movie while looking into the corner of the TV screen. This will teach you how to ride better in a group. You will be able to focus on the road in front of the lead bike by tracking its position
peripheral vision.

4. Take a book, open it sharply and close it instantly. What have you read? How many pictures have you seen? This exercise helps you learn how to quickly assimilate information that
especially useful when driving out onto a busy street and checking the situation from behind using mirrors or looking over your shoulder. You must learn to see as much as possible minimum time. Of course, if you turn around and slowly look at everything, you will see more, but do you have such an opportunity in dense traffic?

Do these four exercises more often and your peripheral vision will improve, and with it your driving skills will improve.

Benefits of Peripheral Vision:

Consider what you will gain by developing your functional field of vision. First of all, you will have the ability to perceive information faster and in greater volume. In addition, the ability to see the periphery can very often be useful to you in life in order to carefully observe something or someone of interest to you. And this is not to mention the fact that in an extreme situation it can save your life, because the ability to see the danger in time is a guarantee that you can successfully avoid it. You will discover these and many other advantages for yourself by developing and improving one of the most important data you have from the birth of the senses - the eyes.

Tibetan monks have been using certain exercises for centuries to improve eyesight and strengthen eye muscles. They developed a special table that develops all the eye muscles and makes the eyes move in many directions. According to Tibetan monks, after several months of practicing this table, you will no longer need glasses or contact lenses.

Tibetan eye medicine is based on natural methods of correcting vision and treating eye diseases. It includes:

Technique for improving peripheral (lateral) vision

Tibetan eye chart

Exercises for working with the Tibetan eye chart

Technique for the development of peripheral (lateral) vision

How important is peripheral vision? Each of us uses peripheral vision when driving a car, walking, playing sports, at work and at home. In fact, if a person does not use peripheral vision, it can be said that his vision is "tunnel vision". Staring at objects only in front leads to the fact that the eyes lose the ability to see clearly in the periphery (lateral vision).

How well do you see around? Before learning to read, children have very clear and sharp peripheral (lateral) vision. “Normally, the eye sees one object best, but its vision is not limited to that object.” The development of peripheral vision allows you to have "eyes in the back of your head."

During the exercises for the development of peripheral vision, look only straight ahead, following with peripheral vision what is happening on the sides.

Exercises for the development of peripheral vision:

Take a pencil in each hand and hold them at a distance of 30 cm in front of your eyes.

Look into the distance as if through pencils, without focusing your eyes directly on them. Try to use your peripheral vision to see the pencils.

Move the pencils very slowly away from your eyes until you can see them in your peripheral vision. Repeat the exercise "forward - to the sides" at least 10 times.

Move the pencil in your right hand up and in your left hand down, following the pencils with your peripheral vision. Repeat 10 times.

Move the pencil in your right hand diagonally up, in your left hand diagonally down, use your peripheral (peripheral) vision. Repeat 10 times.

Change direction. Now the right hand moves the pencil diagonally down, the left hand diagonally up. 10 times.

Hold the pencils at a distance of 30 cm straight in front of you and, looking at them, describe circles with a diameter of 5 - 7.5 cm with your eyes. First move 10 times clockwise, then 10 times counterclockwise.

Tibetan table for the eyes

Exercises for working with the Tibetan eye chart

Print out the chart and post it on the wall at the level of your nose. When performing exercises, you should be at a distance of 10-15 cm from the table. These exercises should be done without glasses or contact lenses. Perform each movement for 30 seconds in a sitting position with a straight back. Do not move your head, all movements should be made only with your eyes.

Palming. Fold your hands in the form of a bowl, cross them and cover your eyes with them so that no light enters the eyes. Sit like this for about a minute. This will help your eyes relax.

commit circular motions eyes clockwise outside the area marked on the table with dots.

Repeat the same counterclockwise.

Move your eyes back and forth between the points located at 2 and 8 o'clock.

Repeat the previous exercise with the points at 4 and 10 o'clock.

Blink quickly and end the palming therapy.

You can repeat the exercises without restriction or as much as you want. It is only important to avoid excessive eye strain. After starting therapy, reduce the time you wear glasses or contact lenses to a minimum. Over time, you will be able to get rid of them altogether.

If you've walked city streets, you've almost certainly experienced the "step change" that the body seems to do almost automatically when it approaches a curb.

The author of a new book on vision training describes an exercise based on the Feldenkrais method that can not only expand the range of your peripheral vision, but in a strange way also expand other sensations.

The body moves in response to visual cues

Consider the way in which we test the use of the eyes by "reading the test card": If you can read the table (that is, from a certain distance you can recognize the familiar outlines of the letters on the lines), then your eyes are fine.

If not, see your doctor for glasses. Of course, an orthodox ophthalmologist will conduct a more comprehensive examination, but for the most part it will test your ability to read.

The eyes are probably the most important and at the same time the least understood of the human sensory organs.

Is it all about vision?

New evidence has now been found that reading (that is, recognizing previously remembered images) is only a small part of what the eyes do, and, from the position good use body and mind, it is less important than other eye functions.

What else do the eyes do?

For many of our actions, the eyes are the initiator of movement. While catching or hitting a ball, walking through a room full of furniture, driving a car or plane, skiing or practicing martial arts, the body moves in response to visual cues.

In fact, this function is so important, and I believe that the provision of body movements is the main function. visual system. There is significant evidence that reading and other uses of the eyes are organized by different subsystems within the visual system. AT rare cases damage, it is possible for one subsystem to operate even if the other subsystem is destroyed.

Dr. Karl Pribram (Karl Pribram), a neuropsychologist at Stanford University, describes cases of what he calls "specific blindness" when a person with damage to the central nervous system, cannot "see" the object (that is, cannot name it), but can point to it.

He called it instrumental awareness as opposed to the kind of verbal awareness that allows us to read.

Consider two interesting uses of the eyes that most of us have experienced but few have realized:

If you've walked city streets, you've almost certainly experienced the "step change" that the body seems to do almost automatically when it approaches a curb. Somehow, at a distance of 10 paces from the curb, the eyes judge if the feet can be positioned correctly to step onto the curb, and if not, the feet move a fast half step to reach the correct position.

We all do it without thinking, but if you pay attention Special attention, you can see how you do it. Also, if you've ever ridden a horse on rough terrain, you must have felt the horse make this "change of stride" as it approaches an obstacle.

As another example, think of walking around a room full of furniture. Barely a glance, our eyes catch the arrangement of the furniture, and then we walk without bumping into anything.This use of the eyes is very different from what we do when we read.

This other use of the eyes is very important for wellness of man and the good use of the body and mind in general, but is practically not realized in our society.

Reading is considered so important - and indeed, written information is the basis of our culture - that the auxiliary use of the eyes is, in fact, ignored.

If the vision is not very good (that is, we cannot read the test card), we wear glasses to be able to read better, but this seriously impairs our auxiliary vision.

As we will see later, learning to read without knowing this dual function of the eyes can lead to the shutdown of this dual function of peripheral vision and a subsequent decrease in the ability to move in response to visual cues.

Most of our ability to move, plus our ability to respond to other sensory cues, suffers as a result.

If we have trouble hitting a tennis ball, or we keep bumping into furniture, what should we do?

Glasses that allow us to read actually make objects closer than they are and interfere with auxiliary vision, thoughthe enormous human capacity for learning and adapting allows us to cope with this more or less well.

Here is a simple yet surprisingly effective exercise based on the Feldenkrais Method Awareness Through Movement lessons and the Bates Method eye exercises that will help improve the assistive use of the eyes.

First, remove your glasses or contact lenses.

Next, determine the dominant eye. Keep right thumb at arm's length and look through it at some object at least 3 meters away from you. Then close and open one eye, then the other. When you open and close your dominant eye: The thumb seems to jump to one side, outward from the line towards the target. When you open and close the other eye, the thumb appears to be standing still.

Most right-handed people also have a right dominant eye, meaning it is used for aiming a rifle or for a telescope. Also, most lefties have a dominant left eye. If your dominant hand and eye are on opposite sides body, you are called cross-dominant.

To begin the exercise, lie on your back with your knees bent and both feet flat on the floor if comfortable. Close your eyes and cover each of them with the palm of your respective hand from the light. Experiment with the position of the brushes. If you place your little fingers towards your nose, and the first knuckle of that finger (where the finger meets the palm of your hand) rests on the back of your nose, and let your fingertips cross slightly on your forehead, you will find that the hands are arranged on the face as if these parts of the body were specifically designed for this.

Take a few minutes to note what you see with each eye - or rather, what you don't see, because no light enters the eyes. In particular, compare the left and right visual fields. Do they extend sideways an equal distance? What about up and down? Are both visual fields equally black?

Now stand looking at the wall three meters away from you and close your non-dominant eye (you can cover it with a bandage). Start turning your whole body to the left and right with a slight twisting motion. As you turn, imagine that there is something on the left that you want to see, then on the right, then on the left, and so on. Turn the eyes to the side and let the body follow the eyes so that the eyes lead the whole movement. Continue and, paying attention to the field of view, scan the body. Start with your feet, noting how the pressure shifts left and right as you turn; then mark the ankles, calves, knees, hips, spine, chest, shoulders, head and eyes. Does shifting your attention change movement? 3-4 minutes for this scan.

Now shift all your weight onto right foot and keep turning left and right, letting your eyes guide you. Scan the body again, from feet to head, noting what you see. After a few minutes, shift the weight to left leg and repeat the whole process.

Continue turning left and right, now shifting your weight by left foot when turning left, and on the right foot when turning right. Then, after a few minutes, reverse the weight bias so that the weight is on the right foot when turning left, and on the left foot when turning right. Remember to note what you see as you turn and let your eyes guide you. Stop and rest for a minute.

Now find an object directly in front of you at eye level, at a distance of 3 meters. The colored button is perfect. Continue turning left and right as before, but now fix your eye on the object so that it remains stationary. This requirement will limit the ability of the head and body to turn.

Notice how the eye stays in place and the head turns around it - just the opposite of how the head and eyes normally move. Keep turning left and right, and as you turn, start selecting objects from the edge, left and right, top and bottom, of the field of view.The eye remains fixed on the target as you do so. You should find that after a few minutes, you can see quite a few objects without details.  Continue turning, marking the entire field of view and scanning the body from the feet to the head. You may find it difficult to pay attention to body sensations and visuals at the same time at first, but if you persevere without exertion, it can become easy. What else can you see as you turn around? How about your nose?

Continue this movement and shift the weight to the right foot, as before, for a few minutes, and then to the left foot. Then shift the weight to the right, swinging to the right, and to the left, swinging to the left. Finally, shift the weight to the right by swinging to the left, and to the left by swinging to the right, all the while keeping the eye fixed on the target and scanning the body with your attention.

Notice how this particular movement allows you to move your eye muscles and the rest of your body while maintaining a constant visual image. This allows you to check and improve the use of peripheral vision while moving. You may find that this is very different from the static check you might do when someone shakes a glowing or colored object to one side while you stand still and look straight ahead.

Now relax your eyes and swing left and right at the most in a simple way like at the beginning. Note how the angle of rotation of the body has increased. Can you feel a change in your body that allows you to turn further without increasing effort? Stop again and rest.

Resume turning left and right, but now fix both head and eye on the target. The head and eye remain motionless, while the body turns left and right underneath them. Again pay attention to the entire field of view, marking objects from the edge, and slowly scan the body. After a few minutes, shift the weight to the right foot, then to the left foot, and then to the left and to the right in the two ways you have learned.

If you pay close attention to yourself, you will be able to discover an interesting connection between awareness of the peripheral visual field and something that is going on in your mind. What happens when you forget about the peripheral visual field, and then when you remember and pay attention to it again? Can you note the change in hearing as you do this?

Relax your head and eyes and let everything turn left and right as before. Note how the angle of rotation has increased even further.

Lie on your back, close your eyes and cover them with your palms. Compare left and right visual fields and note big difference in covered vision, the eye you kept open with the eye you closed. Which eye feels better? Open your eyes and look around. What do you see? Now stand up, close your dominant eye and do the whole exercise again from the beginning. Try to do everything so that the whole exercise takes about 45-60 minutes in time.

When you're done, stand up and look around. Pay attention not only to what you see, but also to the sensations in the eyes themselves, and to the muscles of the face around the eyes. Look in the mirror. What does your face look like?

If you wear glasses or lenses, put them on, compare the sensations around the eyes. How does it feel now?

Think about how Small child learning to read.

His parents, or teachers, told him that there was something he should learn to do, and his natural curiosity was probably piqued.

Adults spend many hours reading books, magazines and newspapers; they come with strange stories - and spend many hours talking among themselves about what they have read. How wonderful it must be to be able to read!

With a book in hand, the child begins to try to associate unfamiliar letter images with certain sounds. It is not so easy, and he concentrates, focusing all his attention on the letters, brushing aside all disturbing peripheral visual sensations, sounds...

Concentrating like this is a very important skill, but it is possible to get stuck when all attention is focused on one point and forget that attention can be expanded.

One of the mechanisms for narrowing attention is turning off peripheral vision, and this may be associated with turning off sounds and also sensations from the body.

So, if you pay attention to the exercise above, you will be able to notice that your hearing "opens up" when you become aware of your peripheral vision.

When you begin to experience this improved use of the eyes, you can try it in different situations- when you sign a check, go for a walk, to the movies or to a noisy restaurant. The effect can be amazing.

Over time, if you are actively involved in sports, you will begin to notice that you can bring improved use of the eyes there as well.

Many people come to associate the idea of concentrating or "trying to concentrate" with this narrowing of visual attention: on the playing field and when "trying to concentrate on the game" they block out most visual cues - and in particular the peripheral visual field, which is part of vision, seems to be the most related to the game.

The more they try, the more they limit their sensations, and the worse their game becomes. It's a disappointing situation, to say the least.

However, once you become clear about the feel of this process and how it affects your life, it's pretty easy to start reversing it little by little.

Reward in improved vision, ease of movement and general well-being is definitely worth it. published . If you have any questions on this topic, ask them to specialists and readers of our project