Why is it that palming is a very good exercise. From my personally experience as soon as I cup the eyes and see the black, the calm effect is right away. So I come to thinking, that palming is in essence a trick to the mind, see black and muscle relax, its as the brain says "ok we have black, time to put muscles at rest". I am also thinking what if the mind were to replace "the black" with something other (ie..familiar everyday objects, snellen chart, or even our very own blur). Is it possible that the same results could be acheived as seeing black but without having to palm? Has anyone experimented with this idea?
I apologize in advance as english is not my native language.
Omni Wrote:Why is it that palming is a very good exercise.
Simply because most people, not all, will find it easier to relax with the eyes shut/covered, while blocking out the impressions of sight. It helps reduce the strain to see. If your mind is preoccupied with lots of other worries and concerns it's going to interfere with your ability relax in a mental way. And if you cannot relax mentally, it will be very difficult to relax physically. Longer isn't always better for everyone either. Some people do better with many shorter palming sessions, because they begin to get quickly distracted by other thoughts, or even by the things they imagine they see.
Omni Wrote:I am also thinking what if the mind were to replace "the black" with something other (ie..familiar everyday objects, snellen chart, or even our very own blur). Is it possible that the same results could be acheived as seeing black but without having to palm?
Any object that you can see and remember perfectly with be a great benefit to vision. It does not have to be a chart, or the color black. Remembering your own imperfect sight/blur will NOT benefit you.
Omni... i think you are on the right track. Palming is a method of bringing about relaxation of the eyes. It does this by reducing the visual input/stimuli. However, since Palming is a variation of "Focused Relaxation," I think that it is entirely plausible to develop other methods of visual relaxation while the eyes are open.
it seems to me that this is the underlying idea behind using the imagination.
When I palm, I try to imagine looking at a distant object in perfect vision and moving my eyes about the object from point to point to look at details (central fixation). This seems to work for me as my vision either returns more clear or it becomes easier to move my eyes from points that are closer together.
david01 Wrote:When I palm, I try to imagine looking at a distant object in perfect vision and moving my eyes about the object from point to point to look at details (central fixation). This seems to work for me as my vision either returns more clear or it becomes easier to move my eyes from points that are closer together.
That's an excellent point. People who have difficulty finding benefit from palming can be helped by practicing central fixation on something black - seeing part of a black object darker than the whole. It is also helpful to practice mental shifting from one black object to another, or one part of a black object to another. You really don't have to think about your eyes at all, or about moving them - just simply shift mentally - 'think' of different spots, and the eyes will follow your mental direction.
One the other hand, do not try to think of one spot, to the exclusion of the whole. That can reap strain as well. Just as we can't think of one thing only, we think of many things but one thing best - we can't see one thing only, we see one part of a thing best, the rest of it worse. We fall into that trap when we try to concentrate too hard/long on the one thing, blocking out the rest of whatever it might be we are looking at, or thinking of.
Did some more palming last nite and some new observations. What I'm finding for me personally is that it's the act of palming that is bringing me relaxation. Something about palming the eyes that sends my myopic brain to take a break and relax for a bit. Also same thing when I go to shower. In both activities its the same routine - start the act, muscle relax, 1-2 mins later lose the relaxation. I'm curious why Bates push the importance of reading the snellen chart everyday. What he really was doing was encouraging his students to see it has a relaxation tool? Sort of like, Hey let's relax for a bit and go read the snellen chart.
Omni Wrote:What I'm finding for me personally is that it's the act of palming that is bringing me relaxation. Something about palming the eyes that sends my myopic brain to take a break and relax for a bit. Also same thing when I go to shower. In both activities its the same routine - start the act, muscle relax, 1-2 mins later lose the relaxation.
You must be finding the right mindset when you are palming - that's a very good thing. However, when you start using your eyes again, you are probably not of the same mindset, losing what you gained because of the way you are using your eyes, or just the impressions of any again can cause people to lose it. Bates said that it was rare that anyone could palm perfectly and achieve perfect relaxation, at the beginning of treatment. And with a lesser degree of relaxation you would only retain a lesser amount, and retain it only temporarily.
Omni Wrote:I'm curious why Bates push the importance of reading the snellen chart everyday. What he really was doing was encouraging his students to see it has a relaxation tool? Sort of like, Hey let's relax for a bit and go read the snellen chart.
Exactly. The chart was to be memorized and used as a familiar object to look at each day. It also give the most granular feedback as to the level of your acuity. Other objects can be deceiving - we think we are looking at them with perfect clarity, but that might not actually be the case. The chart never deceives. And it's cheap, and convenient.
When Bates tried to bring these techniques to the classrooms, he found that having students look at a familiar object each day helped prevent and reduce visual problems. He demonstrated that looking at unfamiliar objects invariably induced imperfect sight, temporarily. A great tool is was, and is indeed -
jiminos Wrote:Omni... i think you are on the right track. Palming is a method of bringing about relaxation of the eyes. It does this by reducing the visual input/stimuli.
Thanks Jim for the idea. Been working with dodging visual stimuli and it's been extremely beneficial so far especially for close up work. Feels very much like lessening the workload.
I really like the relaxed mindset theory, but kept running into straining, so on the back burner for now.
I just got done with a Palming session. I find that it helps to sometimes do it in a dark room. This, for me, lessons the strain to see light even more.
So when I was Palming I didn't try to do anything but be there. There's a lot of impatience I notice. I was working more on seeing my thoughts and noticing breath. All this sort of takes one to a state of heightened awareness. It's as if everything that goes on in your mind throughout the day is still there, you just have a little more awareness and control over it.
Does anyone have experience with very long. Palming sessions? Like, an hour or longer?
Also, sometimes it does become uncomfortable while Palming so I have to reset. My thinking here is.....what's the worst that could happen? I'm merely experimenting with my mind and vision. If I happen to give myself a little headache or slightly blurrier vision while trying something its not the end of the world, and at least ill know not to do whatever got me there, again.
jiminos Wrote:Omni... i think you are on the right track. Palming is a method of bringing about relaxation of the eyes. It does this by reducing the visual input/stimuli.
Thanks Jim for the idea. Been working with dodging visual stimuli and it's been extremely beneficial so far especially for close up work. Feels very much like lessening the workload.
Sorry guys, I was very quick to post this. I think the reason why I was having some results with this exercises was because I was going into it with a mindset of "no expectations" and not actually dodging visual stimuli as I think doing so is very unnatural.
Omni Wrote:Sorry guys, I was very quick to post this. I think the reason why I was having some results with this exercises was because I was going into it with a mindset of "no expectations" and not actually dodging visual stimuli as I think doing so is very unnatural.
That depends on what your understanding of the term 'dodging' is. It's just another term for shifting, not attempting to hold points of fixation, not trying to look too steadily at something... essentially not staring. That's how Bates basically presented it, and it's the only way that normal vision can be maintained, and maintained efficiently. It's a physiological necessity, to prevent adaptation. It doesn't mean to avoid seeing something; it means to SEE, then move on, shift, don't linger, whether you see something perfectly or imperfectly.
In his treatment of patients, Bates found many who would keep losing it as soon as they saw clarity. People immediately started testing their sight, grabbing onto things, staring at one point, area, or thing. That is what is most unnatural, and he had to devise ways to prevent it (or 'dodge') Some people find more benefit from shifting or dodging on smaller areas, while others may get more benefit from doing so over larger areas, until they have enough ability to do so effectively over smaller areas. By effective, I mean the ability to fixate, and still see one point best. Shifting, dodging, swinging, central fixation - are all closely interrelated. You can easily shift and still not see the next point better; you can fixate on a point, seeing it best, but if you don't quickly shift you will lose any benefit. Only you can gauge which shift or swing is most effective for you.
I guess what I'm saying is visual stimuli as in area of interest. Previously, before I started doing the dodging exercise, I'd basically make large shifts hoping my eye would catch something of interest and therefor light up those "brain centers". Now that I'm working with dodging, what I find is those area of interest are what the brains picks up naturally. I would say that 99% of the time I don't know what the area of interest is as I am very myopic, around 20/400. But certainly I feel the changes. Clear flashes, feeling eyes are expanding / stretches, being more present, tension release are some of those changes when my brain lights up coming on an area of interest.
I know that with palming, it's more a matter of quality rather than quantity, but whats the longest palming sessions you all have ever had? And what benefits did you see from those compared to more brief ones?
I remember at one point doing a palming session in which I became so utterly relaxed, more relaxed than I had felt in a long time, maybe years, and everything seemed to be somewhat effortless. This session was around 1.5 hours long if I had to guess.
In the past, I have had done palming for as long (or as short) as thirty minutes, but the most effective palming session I have had was somewhere in the neighborhood of one minute. I have had better results from taking the hands out of the equation completely (and just shutting the eyes), but I'm not exactly sure why that should be.
