This evening I was watching the film Blindness. There is a scene early on when two blind people get in a sort of tussle, a small fight. I thought immediately of Jiu Jitsu.

When I first started Jiu Jitsu there where some moments when I thought how successful one could be when rolling with their eyes closed. In fact, when I roll know, I often think about how much Jiu Jitsu relies on feeling. I contrasted this with my previous martial arts experience where “forms” (like Karate’s “katas”) were a primary form a learning. Obviously, these exercises, like other drills in most other martial arts, rely heavily on vision as you see what you do, and do it, in three dimensional space.

Jiu Jitsu – especially on the ground – is tremendously different. Feeling – more than any other martial art I can think of – has a tremendous role in what happens.

If you have rolled even once you probably understand this. You feel the person trying to manipulate your body and vice versa. Of course, vision has its importance in Jiu Jitsu, too.

Blind Rolling

The natural corollary of this is the idea of having drills or rolling sessions where both participants are blindfolded. It could be a fun experiment. Both participants would have an equal handicap – and both would have the opportunity to improve the “feeling” part of the game. Obviously, safety would need to be considered; having “ground rules” could make the experience safer.

Update (5/31/9): As this video from Jiu-jitsu 365 proves, perhaps “blind rolling” really does have its importance.

pic credit(s): http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewmcvickar/8021849/