Invisibility
"You might see me, but can you perceive me?"

The art of invisibility has always been a popular topic, especially in the media. But who are these masters of the "very hard to see?" Warriors in the woods, Ninja's in black or even the special forces - black, green and aquamarine? I guess it is safe to say that in today's world, we have many students of the art. 

This popularity was brought on by books, magazines and the ever growing Ninja films - not to mention the fact that it often serves as a realistic tool. Of course other forms of media and entertainment attention does its share to bring awareness to this art. For example, the villain in the "Blair Witch Project," David Copperfield, Rambo, all the good presidential candidates, and perhaps even OJ Simpson. All of which either were masters of stealth, invisibility, survival, hiding, and/or verbal claims such as, "I wasn't there."

Let me start by saying, there are no deep dark secrets about the art of invisibility, (unless of course we really are talking about the above media sources) even though it may create an awe of mysticism in the eye of your adversary.  Invisibility is the art of employing a simple technique (or techniques) and skills utilized in the most effective manner to make one hard to perceive or hear.

None of what you learn here will teach you to just disappear.  If an instructor boasts about his skills to turn invisible - simply bring him back down to earth by asking them for a visual demonstration. The problem with most schools on eclectic warrior arts is that they make claims that can never be proven. This and all articles on Total Warrior Internet Magazine are based on realistic approaches towards training. We will not (and I hope you don't either) concern ourselves with black magic or concepts based on ancient history and story telling.

If you truly want to master the art of invisibility, I would suggest you throw away your ninja books and text guides to wearing black. Instead, turn to the real masters of the art - illusionists and magicians. These masters of perception will offer far more in the art of disappearance, than any real ninja could muster up. 

Please note, we are talking about the art of illusion and the way a person perceives reality. I highly doubt a magician will be able to teach you the physical side of invisibility: such as footwork, climbing, moving quietly etc.

So, until you manage to track down David Copperfield - here are a few tips to improve skills in the physical realm.

To be invisible, you must not be seen or heard in a way that would distinguish you as YOU.

Remember that famous forest with that famous tree that falls with no one to hear?  You know, the one that ends with this question: If there is no one there to hear, does it make a sound? Once and for all "yes," the tree does make a sound. Why , because if you were there - you would hear it and you would say, "wow that was loud." Regardless of your presence or your perception of reality, the tree will always make the sound. The real question is simply confusing how we define the word "sound" and associating that to our hearing. When in fact the falling of the tree creates a noise as a fact regardless of the way we perceive definitions. This is another concept of invisibility. Both the theory and the tree remain elusive and thus invisible. 

Okay, let me take you out of the woods before we all get lost. The concept of invisibility means that you can make sounds and even cross within your opponents visual sight, but you must not be perceived.

So, you can be within your enemies eye sight, in fact he may even see you.  However, because you have blended into the surroundings, you are not perceived. Another example is "Where's Waldo?" You may be looking for Waldo, who is well within your sight, but unless you perceive him, he remains invisible.

Invisibility is the art of blending in, becoming an insignificant part of our environment and disappearing within it.   Hey, this reminds me of high school.  

So, in order for us to remain invisible - we have to master the art masking any and all indicators. An indicator is something that would basically say, "hey, it's me and I'm hiding behind this rock."

We mask indicators by developing our skills in one area - Camouflage

Camouflage
Obviously you want to remain quite when traversing through the woods or a dark alley. The key to concealment is learning and practicing a few techniques.  Camouflage is usually seen as green patterned clothing for use in a forest. Camouflage (whether artificial or natural) is actually any and all skills you use to remain unseen. This includes - sight, sound, smell and sense.

Sight
The human eye sees movement first. So, this is your number one priority, in order to stay out of sight, you need to know what you can do and what your opponent is trying to do. This goes for all your invisibility training. Here are the basics:

Don't be a jerk
You need to lean to move with patience and fluidity. Jerky movements are easy to see. Also, don't go disturbing the peace in a natural environment. A flock of birds taking off is a sign that something is in the area.

Better to make a loud sound than to quietly come into view. If you are heard - it does not mean that you will be perceived. Even if it is obvious that you are there. However, if you are seen - not only is it obvious that you are there, but your exact position is now revealed.

What is that? Is that a big black head?
Your visual goal is to remove the distinct shape of the human form. You will also need to pay attention to shape and lighting. Think of what might create a silhouette and know when you should hide, crawl, walk, stealth or run. What kind of uniform or outfit do you have on? Do you stand out or blend in? Are you carrying a big sword or a what looks like a tree branch? 

Form - an opinion
Depending on your situation, jogging clothes often make a much better outfit for urban invisibility. Why? Well, what if you happened to be revealed? A jogging suit is much more believable than the embarrassment of having your tabi out in plain sight. For photographs and Ninja films the uniform portrayed looks great, but it is more effective to look like a fallen tree branch than a model for Ninja magazine.

Colors for concealment
In order to be invisible, it is crucial that you wear clothing or material that blends in with your surrounding environment.  Colors should have the same intensity, brightness and contrast in order to remain consistent.

Night: Dark blue, black, gray or other dark color
Country: Green and browns
City: Gray sometimes blue

Just because it is night, does not mean a black uniform from head to toe will make you invisible. That outfit will make you stick out and be easy to spot when moving. Unless you remain deep in the shadows, a dark black outfit is not realistic.  Remember, black isn't a very natural color - the sky is dark blue not black and trees, leaves and grass are usually made up of greens or browns. Also, a black uniform is limited to night work while a green and brown uniform can adapt when the sun comes out. 

Remember, the goal is to remove the distinct shape of the human form. Color choices can help to do this.

Movement
Always move from shadow to shadow, rock to rock, obstacle to obstacle. Other strategies and body control are used in combination with your movements. The more you look like part of the surroundings and the less you look like a human hiding behind a bush, the more likely you will remain invisible. 

You will usually use your environment in one of two ways: either to hide behind or blend beside.  If the area you are hiding behind does not fully conceal your figure or form, then it is important that you shape your body to look like that of your cover. For example: laying down in a field, crouching amongst rocks and extending your arms and legs along tree limbs and branches.

Night vision
It can take a person up to thirty minutes for their eyes to adapt to the darkness so that they can see. Anyone without this timed night sight, will have greatly reduced vision when looking out into a darkened area. A flash of light is all that is necessary to ruin a persons night vision for another twenty to thirty minutes. What's the tip?  Don't lose your night vision and if you can, keep your opponent from developing his. This will allow the shadow warrior to observe his enemy yet still remain invisible and camouflaged in the night. 

Note: when watching for things in low light, you will have a better chance of seeing them if your eyes remain unfocussed. You can do this by looking in a circular motion around the object, for example a circular or figure eight pattern.

Most of this is about awareness - your next step will be to develop skills to improve your ability to stay quiet and unseen.

Sound
Another major ingredient to the art of staying invisible is your ability to move quietly through various terrain. Following are some practical techniques for stealth, it is up to you to actually make them work. After time and training, you will begin to develop your own style of stealth. Some will be slight variations of what you learned here and some will be completely new and unique to your individual style. 

These techniques alone will not make you move through the night as quiet as the wind. This information is only a principle to aid in your practice and is of little use by itself. You must practice until you become very good at moving silently, in turn - staying quiet.

In order to move in silence, we must pay attention (but not focus on) what it is that makes noise in the first place. The next step would be to reduce these "here I am's" as much as possible.  In training, you can practice on various terrain's to get a feel of the different techniques you can use.

Making choices
Okay, you come to a point where you must choose one of two paths. One path is open and laid with sand while the other is narrow and laid with trees. Which path would you take? The sand path will be quieter to move across unlike the tree path which has leaves and branches strewn about. However, the tree path offers cover and camouflage and as we learned earlier, it is better to be heard than to be seen.  These type of questions only help to explain the variety of choices you will have to deal with. If you prepare - you can handle the situation appropriately.

Basic guide to STEALTH

S - stepping
T - touch
E - exhale
A - attention
L - listen
T - tolerance
H - harmony

Stepping
This is your most important skill to staying quiet. You depend on your foot work. Practice won't make it perfect, but it will sure make a difference. Before completing a step, keep your weight on the ground leg until the other leg is in position. This requires balance and harmony to master.

Touch
Stepping is only half the battle. Use your hands and feet to feel for obstacles and for clearing the way. Thick soled shoes make it difficult to feel and manage over a noisy terrain. Either where light shoes or go barefoot. The more you can feel your surroundings, the better you chances are of moving through them quietly.

Exhale
Don't hold your breath when you move. Breath as you step, twist, turn or lower. This will keep you and your muscles relaxed and assist in your ability to adapt with your movements.

Attention
Pay attention to your surroundings and not just the ground below. Keep a circular vision at all times - focus when you step, but keep your attention on your environment. This includes all your senses and not just visual.

Listen
Stay alert to the sounds you are making and pay attention to the way these sounds correlate with your surroundings. Stop completely if you make a sound, listen for any reactions or any signs of being discovered.  Keep a constant ear for any changes in the environment. 

Tolerance
Patience is your key to staying quiet. If you are not patient, your movements will be jerky and mistakes will occur. How long can you tolerate standing still? How long can you tolerate remaining absolutely quiet? How long can you tolerate holding your leg frozen in the air prior to stepping? 

Harmony
Stay focused, keep the knees bent and move with all the muscles and joints flowing naturally. Move like a cat - balanced, patient and fluid.

Techniques for stealth
Below are the eight different techniques we teach at TRMS to develop your footwork skills. These skills must be taught to you by an instructor. Spend time with each one separately, then as your skill improves, combine the techniques, so that you are simulating practical use of each.

1. Normal stealthy step
2. Cross step stealth
3. Cat stealthy step
4. Sweeping cat step
5. Stealth crawling
6. The dropping squat
7. The cross crouch
8. The fall back 

Practice
The only way to develop your skills is to actually practice. Since sneaking around other people may cause some trouble - I suggest you find some other means to practicing your footwork. Here are just a few ideas - expand on these and come up with a few of your own. 

1. Here kitty kitty
Try sneaking up to a sleeping cat and touching it before it discovers what you are doing.  Please note, that this only works on cats that are active and healthy. Also, stuffed animals won't work and by "cat" I mean a house cat - not a mountain lion.

2. Snap, Crackle, Pop
Another fun thing to sneak up on is a mini-cassette recorder. You need one that has voice activation. Create a distance between yourself and the recorder to sneak up on. Then, play it back to see if you could hear yourself getting closer. Pay attention to all the natural sounds in the environment. Try this in different terrains.

3. Don't turn around
Games are a great way to improve you silent footwork. We play a lot of these at camp, the only requirement is having at least one more person to play with. Here is one that we use a lot. Have your partner stand about 50-100 feet away. Your job is to sneak up to him/her and touch them on the back or shoulder without them knowing you are there. Your partner is trying to listen and has one chance to turn around, but only if you are within touching distance. You win if you touch him/her first and they win if they touch you first.

4. Boo!
This next one requires that you know your partner or the other person very well. If you haven't guessed it yet - this exercise requires that you sneak up and scare someone. I used to do this to my family and friends all the time and I was lucky enough that they had a sense of humor. Some people are not very nice and will get very mad if you scare them. So, make sure you know who you are scaring. I have a few interesting stories that came about from the "boo" tactic - for example, my brother once did this (by accident) to a police officer on duty. Although he scared the beegeebers out of the officer - he almost got in a lot of trouble.

The rest you will have to come up with on your own - either that, or join us at a training camp. 

A note on Terrain
Dry areas are the loudest and unless you plan to carry a bucket of water with you, try to either avoid dry areas or practice moving through them. Snapping twigs are probably number one cause to losing your concealment.

Smell
You never want to hear, "I smelled you a mile away." Along with clothing, you should also conceal any and all other things that might give you away. This includes your smell. Although this may sound obvious it doesn't always smell that way. Cologne and perfumes are easy to smell, so is Mcdonalds. The closer you are to your environment in all aspects, the more likely you are to remain camouflaged within it. Use natural oils from your surroundings to help mask your scent. Heck, take a mud bath.

Other Factors
Remaining invisible is not just a few concepts thrown together to give you an idea about stepping on twigs. You need an overall development. This requires expanding your thoughts and thinking laterally. Many things could have an affect your ability to stay concealed. Here are a few examples:

Are the people you are hiding from are expecting company.
Are you in a group - in which case if one member snaps - you all snap. 
Unexpected weather or terrain.
The concealment you had last night - is gone.
A dog is barking at what smells like a big mac and fries.
There is a nearby accident and you are the only one to help.
Did you go to the bathroom before you left the house.

These are just a few - but, if you think about them, you could prepare and or develop a better understanding for the art of invisibility. Don't expect any article to offer you the secrets to mastering the martial arts. No matter how much you know, you still need to develop that knowledge into action. If you want to be good at kicking - kick. This is the same for vanishing into thin air.  

That's it for now, until next time - "hocus pocus, I'm out of focus."

Sensei Tew
 
RTMS Head Instructor