Martial Attitude Training and my MSc in Applied Sport Psychology research are happening! And they are introduced and complemented by a new series of short podcasts exploring how touch, exercise, and confidence are perceived in the visually impaired and blind community. In this first episode, I sit down with Takashi, a professional viola player who has been blind since birth. Together, we discuss his unique relationship with space, posture, and touch. Takashi shares how he navigates his environment using sound and human touch, his journey to mastering posture as a musician, and the role exercise and dance have played in building his confidence and enhancing his performance. This conversation provides incredible insights into the daily realities and adaptive strategies of living with visual impairment. Whether you’re visually impaired, know someone who is, or are simply curious about the transformative power of touch and exercise, this episode offers something meaningful for everyone. Let’s dive into the conversation with Takashi.
Martial Attitude Training and my MSc in Applied Sport Psychology research are happening! And they are introduced and complemented by a new series of short podcasts exploring how touch, exercise, and confidence are perceived in the visually impaired and blind community. The first guest is Takashi, a professional viola player based in London. He explains to us how there is a good and bad way to touch and be touched.
Would you like to participate too? Please keep reading, then.
I am very grateful and happy to share that our funding application through National Lottery was successful! We will soon deliver a series of workshops to visually impaired/blind people, possibly in February-March 2024.
As MSc in Applied Sport Psychology student at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, my research will be a great opportunity to combine valuable research contributing to the scarce literature on the topic, and the application on the field of a significant and impactful work empowering the visual impaired community. It would be then possible to measure pre/post intervention for perceived psychological/physical well-being and confidence on top of important demographic aspects such as age and level of visual impairment, across participants. Also, interviews will be taken, and videos recorded.
Imagine if you were visually impaired or blind. How is sight loss affecting your movements, posture, and your attitude towards a healthy lifestyle and other people? Is it possible to develop a training method enhanced by a solid sport psychological approach specifically tailored for visually impaired and blind people?
My experience as a Sport & Remedial Massage Therapist led me to observe that visually impaired and blind people, usually suffering of overall poor posture, need specific support when addressing any kind of exercise and manual therapy as they lack full proprioception and are often live a sedentary life, aggravated by different degrees of anxiety, and depression.
Combining some of the close-up techniques and tactile teaching methods derived from Kung Fu Wing Chun, that I train and teach, I have found that visually impaired and blind people can also increase their confidence and self-efficacy in controlling their immediate surroundings when in a new environment or in contact with strangers.
A notable client registered as blind that I have been working with for over two years is Peter Sands, Chairman of the London Sports Club for the Blind, provided the following reference: “The training has personally helped me to feel confident in crowded situations, be aware of my posture alignments and overall has improved my balance.” Pre-pandemic, Peter and I have also recorded a presentation of the work done together, which you can watch clicking HERE
Building onto these observations, I created Martial Attitude C.I.C., I qualified as Gym Instructor, and I undertook biomechanics for all three years during my undergraduate at Roehampton University to gain the psychological/biomechanical foundations and to learn about the different methodological approaches that could be integrated in Martial Attitude training for visually impaired and blind people.