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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/BloodSport https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap_293232.png]]]]

->'''Obi-Wan:''' This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct.\\
'''Luke:''' With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?\\
'''Obi-Wan:''' Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them.
-->-- ''Film/ANewHope''

In an attempt to show the supernatural affinity of a character with the skill he is training, [[{{Mentors}} The Mentor]] will [[BlindfoldedVision cover the pupil's eyes with a piece of cloth]], and say something like [[DontThinkFeel "Don't 'see' the enemy, 'feel' the enemy"]]. A really key part of this is that the student ''always'' complains (either first thing or after getting their ass handed to them), and it rarely comes up again.

In RealLife, this would only make sense if the skill itself involves an invisible element, or if the practitioner is expected to perform the skill under low- or no-visibility conditions (thick smoke, underground, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick eyes gouged out]], etc.). Soldiers in a TrainingMontage may field-strip their weapons, disarm bombs, or perform other precision tasks while blindfolded for this reason. {{Super Soldier}}s do it instead of (or while) smoking, usually during the briefing sequence or the calm before the climactic battle scene. The goal of blindfolded training in martial arts is not to teach someone to fight blind, but merely to speed up reaction time so as to not get caught by surprise, blind or not.

For the "super blind man", see DisabilitySuperpower or BlindWeaponmaster.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Syaoran went through this when he learned to use a sword in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle''. He has a "chi sensor." Thermal energy and LifeEnergy are often conflated in fiction. Also, Shaoran can't see with his left eye, so he compensated with the other senses when reacting to attacks from that side, while he just relied on his sight for the rest. Kurogane was trying to improve his reflexes on the right side of the body.
* During his chariot race battle with Joseph in Part Two of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Wamuu blinds himself to avoid being fooled by his vision. He then extends a horn-like antenna from his forehead that reads the wind currents, giving him a Daredevil-like radar sense.
* ''Anime/PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew'' has Lucario dodging swinging logs while blindfolded in order to practice its 'aura sense' ability, all taking place during a TrainingMontage {{Flashback}} with Sir Aaron.
* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'': The protagonist, Clare, fights by ignoring what she sees and concentrating on feeling where her opponents are going to attack next. But then, she's a HalfHumanHybrid SuperSoldier and that's her MO...
* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', the setting doesn’t bother explaining how Zenitsu can even tell his surroundings so precisely during his sleeping trance mode, with his eyes completely shut, because that should be rather obvious since Zenitsu is explicitly said to have SuperHearing as one of his abilities thus Zenitsu’s form of combat while in trance invokes the same image of the famed BlindWeaponmaster in Japanese tales, who can tell his surroundings with his hearing sometimes even better than those who can see.
* [[{{Ninja}} Kaede]] of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' does this to herself while fighting a dragon as part of her training in [[MagicWorld Mundus Magicus]].
* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Babidi tries to give Yakkon an advantage over Goku by teleporting them to the Planet of Darkness (Yakkon can see in the dark). Goku easily decks Yakkon and explains that trained warriors can read air currents generated by the opponent's movements (Goku also cheekily comments that Yakkon stinks).
** When fighting the Invisible Man in Baba's palace, Yamcha tries to find him using the noises his body makes. It works...up until Baba starts ''singing''.
* The Anime/SDGundamForce try using invisibility magic to sneak up on Kibaomaru, but not only has the warlord foreseen an ambush, his elite guards are good enough to sense the enemy's presence.
-->'''Bakuhamaru:''' We can't see them, but the atmospheric current has been disturbed...Lord Kibaomaru was right after all!
* ''Anime/SonicX'': When fighting a losing battle against a robot with camouflage capabilities, Sonic manages to best it by closing his eyes and relying only on his hearing sense.
* ''Manga/Brave10 S'': MasterSwordsman and PublicDomainCharacter Mikogami Tenzen (real name Ono Tadaaki) is such a skilled warrior he can move on the battlefield with his eyes closed and usually fights by blocking incoming enemy attacks, stealing their weapons and use them against them himself with great skill. He compliments Saizo when he forces him to open his eyes to follow his attack.
* ''Manga/{{Gamaran}}'', Riko Murasame is such a genius swordsman that a quick glance is all he needs to anticipate his opponent's next attack and parry if perfectly even with his eyes closed. In ''Shura'' after he taught Iori his defensive methods, the latter is able to [[spoiler: defeat one of the Bakufu's elite HumanWeapon troops using hearing and istinct alone]], even with [[WhatTheHellHero Riko yelling at him for keeping his eyes closed during the entire battle.]]
* One of Yusuke's opponents during Genkai's tournament in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Kibano, is a man who fights while wearing a helmet that covers his eyes and ears. He's trained himself to use spiritual senses instead, and since the fight is in a pitch-black room, this gives him an edge over Yusuke. [[spoiler:Or it would have, if Yusuke hadn't snuck a lit cigarette into Kibano's belt at the start of the fight, giving him something to aim at.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Played with a little in the ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' side story ''The Fencing Lessons'', from ''1001 Nights of Snowfall''. Preparing for a potential war with the underground-dwelling Dwarves, the humans are shown training blindfolded to accustom themselves to fighting in the dark, as they would have to underground. Then we see the Dwarves doing the exact same thing, except that instead of wearing blindfolds they're training in a well-lit room (and complaining about it just as much).
* In ''ComicBook/MarshalLaw'', this is a huge part of Private Eye's origin: His MadScientist father bound a blindfolding mechanism to him and forced him to live without sight for months if not years, engendering in him an eerie affinity for the dark.
* ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} blindfolds ComicBook/{{Robin}} for training that involves riding train tops around Bludhaven and doing various balancing exercises to get a better grip of paying attention to his surroundings with senses other than his eyes. He also blindfolds himself, "[[ChallengeSeeker for fun]]".
* ''Manga/Brave10'' has MasterSwordsman and historical figure Mikogami Tenzen (or Ono Tadaaki). He's so skilled he can face a 4 vs 4 battle with his eyes closed, his sixth sense so sharp it allows him to snatch the weapons of his attackers from their hands and use them to wound them. He's genuinely surprised when Saizo performs well enough to force him to look at him.
* One time, Franchise/WonderWoman faced the gorgon Medusa in a duel to the death. Medusa had both a CompellingVoice and a DeadlyGaze. Diana decided to use one of Medusa's hair snakes to blind herself and then fought and killed the gorgon by relying on nothing but her other four senses. In a later issue after this, Diana displays her sharpened senses by taking on several members of the Justice League in a sparring match and winning while still blind.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'', Nova Shine's energy-sensing ability lets him detect magical energy all around him, and he demonstrates this during a sort of play-duel with Twilight where he blindfolds himself and is still able to deflect and dodge magical attacks without issue. However, when Twilight blinds him with a particularly powerful burst of energy, he is forced to yank the blindfold off and return to eye sight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ANewHope'', Obi Wan makes Luke wear a helmet with the blast shield down (and Luke complains about being unable to see) before saying "Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them." Luke proceeds to actually do really well against the training orb thing. ESP is so handy. [[ChekhovsSkill Later in the movie,]] he puts this to use by turning off his targeting computer before firing the proton torpedo. Ironically, this would subsequently become the most glaring case of ForgotAboutHisPowers in the entire [[Franchise/StarWars franchise]]! In later films, Jedi and Sith alike were regularly shown as being taken by surprise by things they could not see or hear.
* ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'', with Ricky's father training him in driving. [[EpicFail Since Ricky isn't a Jedi, it goes as well as can be expected]].
* In the Takeshi Kitano version of ''Franchise/{{Zatoichi}}'', [[spoiler:Zatoichi says near the end of the film that he's been pretending to be blind so as to train himself to fight with his other senses. The last few seconds of the film reveal that he actually is blind.]]
* The scene in the movie ''Film/BlindFury'' which the natives are training Rutger Hauer to fight blind is an all-time classic example of this trope.
* Subverted in ''Film/BigFish'', when young Edward Bloom (Ewan [=McGregor=]) is confronted by two Korean soldiers who demonstrate superior acrobatics and martial arts skills. He puts on a pair of anachronistically-small night-vision goggles and turns out the lights. When he turns them back on, he has successfully knocked the soldiers out.
* Patches O'Houlihan has Peter train blindfolded in ''Film/DodgeballATrueUnderdogStory''.
** Peter wins the tiebreaker in the tournament final against White while blindfolded as well.
* In ''Film/DeadMan'' Nobody pilfers William Blake's glasses while under the influence of [[MushroomSamba peyote]]: "Perhaps you will see better without them", he says. "This weapon will replace your tongue. You will learn to speak through it; and your poetry will be written in blood." Sure enough, [[spoiler:the mortally wounded]] Blake becomes a [[PossessionImpliesMastery deadly accurate]] [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]].
* Happened in the Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme film ''Film/{{Bloodsport}}''. This time, though, Van Damme's character also was forced to utilize it, [[spoiler:when his final opponent tossed some kind of powder in his eyes.]]
* Yoshitsune, the {{bishounen}} Ginji boss in in ''Film/SukiyakiWesternDjango'', has a sequence where he does this with a subordinate and BladeCatch, getting the guy killed after a RousingSpeech to the assembled gang and doing a super-dramatic demo himself. It is beautifully theatrical, and also completely unfair--''he'' could catch the sword with his eyes closed, but he'd had extensive training. The guy who got his head split open never had a chance even if he'd been allowed to look.
** This scene is one of those that cements the fact that Yoshitsune is evil, and ridiculously awesome.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Batman tries to get an advantage over Bane by killing the lights. Bane laughs and says that he's been in a dark prison his whole life, easily locates Batman, and beats the crap out of him.
* In ''[[Film/ThreeNinjas Three Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain]]'', after Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum overconfidently pass an obstacle course, Grandpa makes them run through it again in the dark. They fail. Later, the bad guys destroy the lights and don NightVisionGoggles. This time, the three are able to concentrate and defeat them in the dark.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': Marianne does this to herself for training. She has her miniature {{Fairy Companion}}s attack her while she's blindfolded and she does a very good job at blocking them.
* ''Film/TheBodyguard''. Creator/KevinCostner's character is in the woods at night with a professional killer. At one point, he closes his eyes and fires on the sounds of movement the killer is making. The shots strike close enough to drive him off, but they still miss. This is an actual blind-firing technique, based on the fact that your head instinctively turns towards a sound when you can't see.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'', book six. Loor and Alder force Bobby to fight blindfolded as part of his training.
* ''Literature/{{Memory}}'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold has a variant. Miles Vorkosigan reminisces about an informal stunt-flying competition he used to have with his cousin Ivan, in a mountain canyon. He won (and convinced Ivan never to do anything like that with him again) by teaching himself to fly the course with his eyes closed.
* This was part of Inigo's TrainingFromHell in the book version of ''Literature/ThePrincessBride''. It actually comes in useful as Inigo uses the training [=MacPherson=] gave him to kill a darkened roomful of bats using only his sword. [=MacPherson=] did make a point of giving a reason for the training (what if your opponent blinds you with acid?), but then he ''is'' described as [[SadistTeacher "having a special feel for adversity"]].
* An exercise in the David Morrell novel ''The Fraternity Of The Stone'' has the assassin being trained via a dark room exercise -- the lesson is to not blunder around looking for the enemy but remain perfectly still and wait for him to make a noise. Unfortunately later in the novel he's lured into a dark room by someone who had the exact same training that he did. So who moves first?
* The ninja assassin in ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' gets blinded at one point. His mistress points out he already knows how to fight in pitch darkness.
* As part of her training with Syrio, Arya Stark of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' wears a blindfold at one point.
** Later on, she is temporarily blinded as part of her training at the House of White and Black. She overcomes this by relying on her other senses, but not in the way her trainers (probably) expected: she learns how to use her latent warg abilities to see through the eyes of a nearby cat.
* In ''Literature/{{Updraft}}'', as part of her training, Kirit is required to move around blindfolded. This is to encourage her to use other senses, which are necessary if she is to learn to fly at night.
* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': [[SupernaturalMartialArts Sacred artists]] of Jade or better have a "spiritual sense" that can detect other sacred artists. It can be used as a focused scan to determine someone's exact advancement level, but it also passively [[SpiderSense warns of incoming attacks]]. In ''Uncrowned'', Eithan starts training Yerin's spiritual sense by having her fight blindfolded, without her eyes to distract her. Eventually, right before an extremely important fight, he suggests she do it again. When she goes out on the stage blindfolded, the Sage who sponsored her in the tournament facepalms. [[spoiler:She's more forgiving when it ''works'']].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
** During training, Giles has Buffy throw a basketball at him blindfolded. She misses him and he starts to lecture her, but the ball [[ExactlyWhatIAimedAt makes several bounces and hits him]].
** However, when Buffy has to do an exercise for the Watcher's Council, involving a blindfolded Buffy protecting a training dummy from an axe-wielding Watcher, [[NotHelpingYourCase she ends up breaking the Watcher's ribs and axing the dummy herself]].
** In "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", Buffy is unable to land a punch on Marcie the invisible girl until she shuts her eyes and just listens.
** In a subversion, Buffy really sucks at fighting blind and doesn't get much better at it. It's especially ironic since her primary targets are nocturnal.
* An EnforcedTrope in ''Series/{{Knightmare}}'', a British fantasy-adventure GameShow for kids. The main adventurer was given a helmet which restricted their view, and had to be guided by their team-mates watching on a screen. Ostensibly this was because their environment was full of deceiving illusions: MetaphoricallyTrue, given the backgrounds and effects were ChromaKey based and all they'd have seen otherwise would be a blue or green backdrop.
* Subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E14LowerDecks Lower Decks]]" when the blind fighting session is actually training for a test unrelated to sight or combat: After receiving an insulting and abusive dressing-down from Cap. Picard, a young ensign is challenged to a blind-fighting test by her martial arts mentor, Worf. He's nearly twice her size, un-blindfolded, and a master hand-to-hand combatant. After several humiliating takedowns without her landing a blow on him, she rips off the blindfold and tells Worf she thinks the test is a totally unfair and inaccurate measure of her skill. That's when he admits that it was actually a SecretTestOfCharacter (with a name he made up to sound cool in Klingon) and suggests that the next time someone treats her so unfairly, perhaps she won't take as much punishment before speaking up. This helps her realize she needs to stand up to Picard, who is also giving her a SecretTestOfCharacter to see if she can handle a potentially harrowing and stressful secret mission.
* Bra'tac does exactly this to Teal'c in a flashback in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S5E2Threshold Threshold]]".
* Done to Cedric in the tourney episode of Series/CovingtonCross. Perfectly justified, as his opponent later manages to blind him by throwing sand in his eyes.
* In ''Series/SpartacusGodsOfTheArena'', Gannicus is forced to fight a gladiator match blindfolded. He isn't hindered that much, especially because his opponent stank and made a lot of noise whenever he moved.
* In ''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'', Troy practices blindfolded when the team is being beaten up by a MonsterOfTheWeek with SuperSpeed. Of course, being air-powered makes him and Emma the ones best at detecting his movements via air pressure, though the rest of the team does go through the same practice routine eventually.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Bobby Singer does the 'closing eyes and firing on sound alone' technique in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS07E09HowToWinFriendsAndInfluenceMonsters How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters]]". One hopes the MonsterOfTheWeek had actually killed the deputy it had snatched moments before, or this could have involved some FriendlyFire!
* ''Series/Titans2018'': In Season 2, Dick Grayson has the Titans training to fight while blindfolded, so they can continue to fight [[CrazyPrepared if they are ever blinded or unable to see.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* It might be implied that Dark Elves in the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' ''Forgotten Realms'' universe learn this way, to take advantage of their innate darkness powers. Certainly Drizzt has demonstrated the ability to fight in complete darkness. They have the canonical power to see in even the complete absence of light, so to them there is no such thing as ''total'' darkness, but it's explicitly stated that they can't see through ''magical'' darkness. Since every dark elf can summon said darkness, blind-fighting is incredibly helpful.
* Some RPG games and RPG video games have a skill called "Blindfighting" which, once learned, allows the person to fight while blind or in darkness. They do receive a penalty, but less than that of characters without the skill.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* [[TheMentor Kreia]] lives by this trope in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'': She's technically blind, but only because she stopped using her eyes. She gives [[PlayerCharacter The]] [[TheExile Exile]] several lessons emphasizing other senses.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea|HourOfDarkness}}'', Mid-Boss tells this to Laharl word for word when Maderas is attempting to take advantage of his weakness to [[spoiler:sexy bodies and optimistic phrases]]. It's part of a grand speech about how to activate his inner energy, UseTheForce, and all these other things... [[LoveFreak Flonne]] tells him after he may have set the bar too high, so Mid-Boss simply says "Then just plug your ears and close your eyes." Even though Laharl promptly does this, this somehow doesn't seem to keep him from hearing all the relevant plot details in the ensuing conversation between Etna and Maderas, or fighting at full capacity.
* In ''VideoGame/ShuyanSaga'', some of the training Shuyan gets from Master Shan involves being blindfolded. From the player's point of view, this means that the screen is mostly black, but ghostly outlines of attackers appear when they're about to strike.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' a pair of Smoke Knights try to cover their eyes when they know they're being attacked by a Night Master since relying on them will hinder them in the fight. Unfortunately they are also being ambushed by spark hounds so when they stop blindfolding themselves to deal with the hounds, the Night Master stabs them through the chest with poisoned blades from behind.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** [[CuteBruiser Toph]] a blind earthbender and the best in history, trains [[TheChosenOne Aang]] this way, the point of which was to get him to rely on vibrations through the ground to "see" what was around him, which, as Toph has repeatedly demonstrated, is damn useful, if not crucial, in earthbending. So useful that [[spoiler:it saved him from a sneak attack by Fire Lord Ozai in the finale.]]
** Master Piandao teaches Sokka a variation of this by showing him a beautiful landscape with a waterfall for about three seconds and then telling him to paint it without peeking. The goal of this was to be able to gather as much information as possible, as ''quickly'' as possible.[[note]]Sokka forgets the waterfall but added a rainbow.[[/note]] He demonstrates this later when Sokka throws sand in his face by not only disarming him, but sheathing his sword when his servant throws the scabbard through the air. ''Then'' he wipes off the sand.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' has a mysterious bowling-pin-shaped imaginary mentor give--along with various [[IceCreamKoan Ice-Cream Koans]]--this advice, but for ''[[BowlingEpisode bowling]]''. [[CaptainObvious You need sight in order to know where the bowling pins are.]] [[spoiler: Subverted, as none of his training or advice proves useful and he cannot bowl at all. He was just created by a human who could.]]
* Also done in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', who learned this from the Shaolin (after complaining that "No one can fight like this") and actually ''had to use it to accomplish something''. That almost ''never'' happens anywhere else.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Robin went to China to train with a great martial arts master. One of the trials along the road was to defeat a giant snake in battle. When Robin protested that he had an unfair advantage since the snake was blind, the snake blew out the only candle in the cave to even the score. Unlike some examples, this proved useful later when an opponent nicked Robin's smokebombs and used them on him.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' involved the titular sponge being coached by a new boating teacher (the undersea equivalent of Driver's Ed) that insisted on this trope when practicing. Subverted when [=SpongeBob=] is completely unable to pass the test unless he ''is'' prevented from seeing.
* Inverted on ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', in which Huey attempts to train Granddad to fight the blind Colonel Stinkmeaner by having him spar with a blindfolded Tom [=DuBois=]. Naturally, Tom can't do a damn thing when Granddad starts beating up on him, and he points out that this isn't a very effective way to train. [[spoiler:It also foreshadows how Stinkmeaner didn't have {{Disability Superpower}}s, he was just lucky.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', when facing Mysterio's summons, some of which were illusory and some of which were robots or whatnot, Spidey made himself a web-blindfold so that he would only react to the real threats. It worked. Justified, as by blindfolding himself it made his spider-sense more acute, letting him see every danger in the area.
* In the second ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' cartoon Splinter taught them to fight blindfolded. It later proved useful when fighting invisible Foot Ninja.
* Done in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', against an eyesight distorting enemy.
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' a team of assassins injects sleeping Count Dooku with a poison that greatly affects his vision. Being trained as both Jedi and a Sith, he declares "I do not need my eyes to see" and dispatches the trio of assassins with relative ease.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'', Otto decides he and his friends can improve their game by practicing playing street hockey blindfolded. They actually do well for about a minute, then they all crash and decide it was a stupid idea.
* Subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''. In a flashback, Bruce Wayne is ordered to blindfold himself by his sensei to learn how to fight blind. The other students beat the shit out of Bruce, and the sensei mocks him for falling for it.
* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', the penguins train to fight blindfolded and "listen to your gut". All of them pass except for Kowalski, who trusts his brain over his gut. He eventually learns how when fighting an invisible enemy in the reptile habitat (actually chameleons who abducted the others because they wanted guests for their party).
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'', Grog beats Sylas Briarwood in "Whispers at the Ziggurat" by closing his eyes so he doesn't fall for Sylas' bewitchment and swinging his axe around wildly.
-->'''Grog:''' [[ConfusionFu If I can't see where I'm swinging, then neither will you!]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The ''andabatae'' in AncientRome were [[GladiatorGames gladiators]] who were made to fight in full-faced helmets that had no eye holes and left them completely blind. Most sources suggest that these weren't super-skilled warriors, but condemned criminals who were made to fight that way for sadistic humour and so that they had no chance of surviving a combat.
* During their Jujitsu training in Japan, the hosts of the HistoryChannel reality show ''Human Weapon'' were taught a samurai trick that lets them dodge an unseen (and unknown) attack from behind and counter in one, fluid stroke.
** This is also used in modern Taijutsu: One way of proving that you're worthy of the next belt is sitting down blindfolded and being able to avoid, block or counter your master's next attack.
* Blindfolded training is sometimes done in grappling systems like wrestling, sambo, judo and brazilian jiujitsu. Because the two fighters are already in physical contact, the aim is to get them to focus more on their senses of touch and balance to tell what an opponent is doing rather than just sight.
** Particularly justified in that sweat in the eyes is very common in grappling and blood in the eyes isn't rare in MMA.
* One of the most common form of "your eyes [in fact, your whole body] can deceive you,": being trained to fly by instruments in poor visibility conditions, where a pilot not only can't use visual references outside the cockpit, but also must ignore his own sense of balance. It is possible for a plane to be doing a roll while ''feeling'' like it is flying level (which type of roll? [[DoABarrelRoll A Barrel Roll, of course.]])
** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] under visual flight rules, when your eyes are the only one of your senses that ''aren't'' deceiving you, as they're the only one that can tell that you're flying a plane, and what the aforementioned plane's attitude is, when the rest of your body thinks you're sitting still in a chair on the ground.
* From a more metaphysical point of view, this statement sums up Plato's (and other rationalist's) stance on epistemology: The senses are not only unreliable in obtaining knowledge, they only convey a limited image of the world. Greater understanding and higher knowledge must be achieved through reason alone. See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_cave Allegory of the Cave]] and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy_of_the_divided_line Analogy of the Divided Line]]. See also René Descartes' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes%27_meditations Meditations on First Philosophy]], which seek to build a construct of absolute knowledge through extreme skepticism of all sensory information, i.e. assuming the possibility that all we believe to know about the world is false.
** Relatedly, this is why modern science relies so heavily on double blind experiments and independent reproduction of results. It's just so easy to see things that support your ideas whether they're there or not.
* Any performance that involves rapidly manipulating objects, such as juggling items or twirling a baton, flag, rifle, sword, staff, nunchucks, etc., lends itself to this. Tracking the object mentally and by feel is much more effective than watching it with the eyes. And less likely to result in [[WhatTheFuAreYouDoing embarrassing and/or painful mishaps]]. Besides, pulling off complicated maneuvers while keeping one's eyes straight ahead just makes it look all the more badass. A more mundane example would be touch-typing on a keyboard while looking at a monitor.
* Several movies are billed as "May cause motion-sickness" or some such warning. This is usually the ones using either long tracking shots, where the camera is the point-of-view of someone on a roller-coaster, or similar; or, the camera is hand-held for most of the movie (ex. ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}''), where the motion of the screen causes the viewer discomfort. The theater seat isn't actually moving (usually), but the eyes of the movie-goer make him/her believe that motion is taking place.
** Similarly this happens with VR games where the player physically doesn't move, but the world around them continues to move. This is best experienced in racing games where taking a turn results in your mind having a moment of trying to make your body counter the supposed centrifugal force but your body going "there's nothing going on."
[[/folder]]
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