Lemme stir the pot...

[allenjp]

Yeah, all that stuff is true, but during this test the pupil cannot see the soke, so they cannot pick up on visual clues like that. Also, he starts with the sword raised above his head, so they cannot detect him raising it to prepare for a strike.

However they do it, it's amazing...and beyond my current abilities.

 

[allenjp]

Noticing when people are checking you out or if they notice when you are checking them out is something definately to cultivate.

Why do you think I was interested enough to notice that?

 

[jks9199]

I know there are at least one or two members of MT who have participated in this test. I kind of hope they might post something about it... though it seems to defy description.

I did come across THIS page some time ago, when I was looking for info on this test...

 

[Archangel M]

Yeah, all that stuff is true, but during this test the pupil cannot see the soke, so they cannot pick up on visual clues like that. Also, he starts with the sword raised above his head, so they cannot detect him raising it to prepare for a strike.

However they do it, it's amazing...and beyond my current abilities.

True. But there could also be the skill of simply good estimation. You know there is someone behind you...you know what he is going to do...how long would I wait...NOW!!

If the test was a purely random attack at any time in any place and one could avoid it. That I would have a hard time explaining if it was consistently successful.

 

[Archangel M]

Found a discussion on the topic here.

Some interesting opinions. One I never thought of is either a conscious or subconscious reaction to the audience sitting in front of you. And another poster had a good point when he said.

And you apparently have to only get lucky once. It would be nice to see a careful experimental protocol with repeated trials to get good statistics.

Which has a point.

Interesting.

 

[Kreth]

True. But there could also be the skill of simply good estimation. You know there is someone behind you...you know what he is going to do...how long would I wait...NOW!!

Except I've seen people fail because they kept jumping too soon...

 

[antihero.zero]

This probably will not be a very popular belief here, but I believe there is a subconscious connection between human minds that allows humans to share emotions. I believe most humans have experienced this, but they usually dismiss these feelings as coincidence, or ignore them entirely. Unless you've personally experienced what I'm referring to, you'll probably dismiss this post as "mysticism" talk.

I started studying Taijutsu when I was 12-years-old, and early in my training I performed an exercise where I was sitting outside meditating (mentally picturing myself inside a heightened perception bubble, where I could 'feel' every blade of grass move) and my brother/instructor would sneak up to me and try to touch me on the shoulder. My goal was to raise my hand and point in the direction he was coming from right before he touched me.

After a couple years of this training, with regular meditiation, I eventually got so sensative that I could feel intention (feel the emotion of the person in question) through walls. One time I had a friend sneak into my yard at midnight, and I could feel his overwhelming desire to attempt to be quiet as he did it. I could feel him as he moved around my house, and I sort of followed him through the wall this way as he circled half the yard to make his way to the door to my room. Another time I was woken out of a sound sleep because I could feel someone standing outside the wall where I was sleeping (another friend who had come to wake me late at night).

Science cannot explain this phenomenon, and people who say that it is simply your mind picking up subtle conventional perception cues have probably not experienced the event deeply enough to dismiss this notion. Some animals hunt entirely by sensing tiny electrical impulses that build in the muscles of insects the moment before muscle contraction, and in this way they know when their pray is about to move. It is possible that humans can also sense electrical impulses in the brain, or magnetic polarity changes, or smell pheromones, etc. Regardless of how it happens, I am 100% certain that sensing another human's emotion is something a person can be trained to recognize. Even untrained people experience this, which is why when you're sneaking up behind someone it is important to remember to dampen your intention while doing it. You wouldn't want to be actively starring at their back and thinking, "I'm gonna get you..." If you did this, they would be very likely to inexplicably turn around and lock eye contact with you.

 

[Archangel M]

I used to do stuff like that with my buddies back in the big hair, ninjamania 80's days. The hand raising drill was in Hayses old books. Which I had all volumes of. I used to believe in things back then that I have a different perspective on now. Doesn't mean I'm right or anybody else here is wrong. Its just good conversation.

Different strokes for different folks.

There I go with the 80's references again.