Stop Chasing Perfection: ReThinking Mental Imagery
Martial arts students and instructors have been using meditation and mental imagery for centuries. We believe this practice improves skills - but are we using it as powerfully as we could?
We’ve all heard about studies where basketball players were split into three groups: one that practiced free-throws, one that imagined practicing free-throws, and one that did nothing. Nobody was surprised that doing nothing yielded nothing. But we all marveled at how imaginary practice was generally as effective as actual physical practice
What We Got Wrong About Visualization
But we took away a mistaken understanding. We assumed the biggest value was making the “technique” better by way of visualization.
But for us in martial arts, perfection is an illusion. The sports world has already started to redefine “skill” not as the ability to reproduce a movement well. It’s about adjusting fluidly to changing environments and opponents, moment by moment.
What About Ecological Dynamics if There’s No Coupled Perception-Action ?
If you know our work at Open Budo, you know we’ve been trying to push the traditional martial arts world into an embrace of Ecological Dynamics - we believe direct perception is the way motor learning happens.
Per the article of reference in this writing, Mental Imagery is “a cognitive simulation process by which we can represent perceptual information in our minds in the absence of appropriate sensory input” (Guillot et al., 2021, p. 4).
And without sensory input, how do we imagine a student’s action could remain coupled to that lack of perception?
One would imagine we’d fall back on using Information Processing style “coaching loop” instruction as a default. The goal would arguably be to provide examples of “ideal” technical skills for students to replicate. That’s the most common model of skill instruction, and is prevalent in all martial arts instruction we’ve examined.
But we believe that no matter how much “perfect” modeling you do as an instructor, it doesn’t transfer to your students without their experience. And yes, we recognize the role “mirror neurons” play, and that their perception of your modeling IS an instantiation of that direct perception.
But what about in mental imagery, or visualization? Should students visualize themselves doing perfect techniques? Should them imagine performing kata just like their instructor?
Absolutely Not
We’re saying mental imagery is most valuable when students take advantage of the limitless context-changes they can make in their minds. By mentally imagining wildly different conditions, students can bridge the skills gap faster than ever before.
But what about linking reality to their actions? There very well may be coupling of perception and action, even in mental imagery.
Proof is in the Pupils
You’re no doubt familiar with the fact that the pupils of our eyes react to the stimulus of bright light. It’s such a fundamental truth that emergency medicine providers check that reaction to determine a base level of mental function.
Research has shown that when people looked at photos of the sun, their pupils constricted! No actual sun or change in brightness - no perception of real stimulus. They had a coupled re-action to their mentally perceived (one might say, “imaginary”) brightness of the sun.
Now, how does that apply to teaching martial arts?
Perfection in the Vacuum
I know - you can close your eyes right now, and imagine what a “perfect” version of a basic technique looks like.
Students in the Takamatsu-Den lineages no doubt are familiar with some fundamental patterns involving angled evasion of an incoming attack, swatting away that attack from a safe distance, and delivering a counter strike at a “perfect” angle that off-balances their opponent.
Let’s use that example.
The “perfect” version in your head is shockingly unlikely to be “representative” of almost any use of that movement pattern.
Instead, break the movement down into its core, invariant parts: evade, swat, counterstrike. Add constraints. For example:
Incoming attack: A right-hand punch to your face.
Your evasion: Step diagonally back with your right foot.
Your response: Swat the punch with your left hand and counterstrike with a chop to the neck.
Even this setup seems definitive and ready to be “perfected” —until you add context.
Context Changes Everything
But now introduce an endless variety of context changes:
Make that opponent taller, shorter, stronger.
Is the ground level or angled? Thick with grass? Slippery? Rocky? Are there obstacles?
Are there other people nearby? Friends of yours? Theirs?
Is it sunny and dry, or rainy and slick, or have you tracked snow into a slick-tiled lobby?
When you counter-strike, is their other arm up? Down? Grabbing at something?
Each new variable redefines what “perfect” execution of that “basic” movement would be. By visualizing the furthest edges of possibilities, students quickly gain insight unavailable any other way.
You can’t change the weather for them during class, but you can remind them to consider that option, along with so many others.
Now that we know our eyes adjust to mere photos of the sun. Imagine what adjustments you can make with an endless and far more vivid set of changes to the entirety of circumstance that can ONLY be made in your imagination.
Tradition and Innovation Come Together
This is the opportunity to elevate your martial arts teaching. Combine traditional wisdom with cutting-edge research. Teach the timeless lessons, but empower your students to visualize limitless scenarios.
In doing so, you help them master all three stages of Shu-Ha-Ri:
Shu (Preserve): Ingrain invariant movement patterns in their minds and bodies.
Ha (Break): Analyze the components and explore what matters most.
Ri (Release): Free their imagination to train beyond the constraints of any Dojo.
By allowing students to visualize techniques in diverse contexts, you bridge ancient traditions with modern science.
Want to Learn More?
This work is the opinion of Open Budo, and is inspired by the following paper:
“Creating Adaptable Skills: A Nonlinear Pedagogy Approach to Mental Imagery”
by Riki Lindsay, Jia Yi Chow, Paul Larkin & Mark Spittle.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2022.2155741
Take your martial arts training into the 21st century.
Share this with your community and let’s start a conversation about making tradition adaptable.