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With focused (tunnel) vision, you can see sharp details of a small area. Your view is narrower. Your attention flows to the point.
Focused vision is good when you need to focus on one thing (e.g. one arm, one ball or one body). The problem arises when you try, with a focused vision, to keep track of more than one object, e.g. three limbs, eight balls or a crowd of people.
With peripheral vision, everything is a bit blurred, but your view is much broader. As a result, your attention expands – you can work with more perceptions/impulses.
Peripheral vision is much more suitable for multitasking. You have much better spatial awareness in the expanded vision mode.
Focused vision is practical when you need to focus on one arm, one ball, or one body. The problem arises when you try to keep track of more than one object with a focused vision, for example, more limbs, eight balls or a crowd of people.
Peripheral vision is essential during a fight, juggling or similar activity, where you have to cope with more moving objects. It is much more suitable for multitasking. You also have much better spatial awareness.
I recommend using peripheral vision while driving a car or bike. Especially when I drive to the junction, I first look to the right-left side, then switch to peripheral vision to see every object in front of me from both sides.
Peripheral vision is an excellent tool in collective games such as football or basketball. You have a bigger picture to read the game, and your reactions are quicker.
Same for the fight. In focus vision, your eyes telegraph your aim and give the opponent a warning where you want to attack.
It is often helpful to not connect with a potential aggressor with focus vision in self-defence – it could be a trap and pretext to attack you. However, it’s still important to keep an eye on him with peripheral vision.
Vision is also a gate to the mind; therefore, it is good to be aware of your vision.
Your vision is worth developing and consciously controlling!
We have many exercises for it, I out here just a few very basic:
First, move your fingers of both arms along the range of your peripheral vision (by training, you can a.bit stretch it).
Put one finger around 30 cm in front of you and focus on the finger. Then switch to peripheral vision. Keep switching for a minute between peripheral and focus vision a minute or more.
Take a friend and observe his eyes when he is switching between visions.
It follows that perhaps vision is a helpful tool to switch between kinds of awareness.
Focused vision naturally leads to focused awareness.
Peripheral vision leads to expanded awareness.
Today we are living more in focused awareness mode, with focus vision. But, unfortunately, it closes us, stresses us, makes us feel lonely and causes many others our problems.
To balance overused focused vision is crucial to train peripheral vision and apply it much more to real life. Therefore please be careful with a focus meditation, e.g. to the light of a candle, because it can close and condense you even more.
Understanding Stress – Part 5: Tunnel Vision