by Stefan Verstappen

Case Study   (continued)

Background

Alice was thirty-five years old, divorced, and living alone with her sighted ten year old daughter. She had lost her vision as a complication from childhood diabetes. Her physical condition was poor and she was approximately forty pounds overweight. Her vision was completely absent ans she was unable to distinguish even light from darkness.

Her activities where severely limited. Alice was spending most of the time in the house alone until her daughter returned from school. She owned a golden labrador seeing-eye dog and with his help she was able to find her way to her neighbors house, but never ventured further than the end of the block. Alice had a collapsible white cane that she was uncomfortable with and seldom used.

Concerning other senses Alice found her hearing to be more acute than when she was sighted, but that she was unable to use this to any advantage. No other senses were thought to have become more sensitive or improved. Alice had no training in any practical methods of dealing with her blindness. She was offered a course in reading Braille that she declined the offer. She had received no instruction on physical fitness, sensory enhancement training, or the use of the cane. I was skeptical that I could teach her self defense. She had three strokes against her: she was blind, she was out of shape, and she was a woman (unfortunate but true, fewer women have the toughness needed to master a martial art). I told her my doubts, but, if she was willing to act as a guinea pig, I would experiment with what I knew.

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Results of tests on memory show that a clandestine mental operative sees and remembers when the conscious mind does not. Called covert awareness, it helps out when other senses fail, it also reinforces existing mental functions especially the way humans make decisions known as gut feeling - the hunch.

Stanislav Grov, The Holotropic Mind

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Physical Training

The first step was to improve her overall physical condition. We began with a stretching routine, a cardio routine, and a variable resistance (weight-training routine), all of which she was able to perform safely on her own without any special equipment or assistance. In addition to improving her physical condition this training would also improve her kinesthetic awareness, giving her the sense of being in her body. In the martial arts it is essential to be aware of your physical movement without using vision, relying instead on proprioception, the overall senses transmitted by the body's muscle groups. This proprioception is improved through physical exercises that stretch and work each muscle group individually.

While learning the physical routines I also began teaching Alice balancing drills. Initially Alice was unable to balance herself on one foot even with the assistance of a cane. I learned that her lack of balance contributed to occasional bouts of vertigo and it was this fear of vertigo that had prevented her from being more active. Alice was more likely to experience vertigo when she was out in open spaces without a solid vertical surface, such as walls or furniture, that she could use as a reference.

The psychiatrist whom many regard as one of the most brilliant thinkers in psychology today takes readers on a captivating expedition into the wonders of the human mind.