Hi Dale. I remarked on another of your replies about this, so I’ll say it again. I’m glad you’ve found an optometrist you trust to help you with your prescriptions, and please do not discount the wisdom from your own visual system. If your eyes are getting tired, you do not need different glasses, to me, you need a rest! I’d encourage you not to think that prescription glasses are your cross to bear for the rest of your life. I believe vision can improve at any stage, as can whole-body alignment and flexibility and ease.

Thanks Gwen! I appreciate your reading this, and especially that you commented. I sure wish I’d known this information decades ago, as I too thought astigmatism made me a special case (in addition to my very high myopia), so it would be difficult if not impossible to correct my vision. Not a healing optimistic attitude! 🙂

Hi Dale! Not to take away from the traditional eye doctor education, but sometimes we have to learn enough ourselves to be able to progress, despite medical expertise. Headaches and eye strain are your visual system telling you loudly that a certain correction isn’t right for you. Your eyes will see the best they can by adapting to whatever prescription you put in front of them, even if it’s not optimal. I know some eye doctors think they’re helping by reducing astigmatism correction (CYL) then compensating by increasing the myopia prescription (SPH), and to me this is not good. I’d rather see the CYL lowered or eliminated as I said in the article, to let the body and eyes come back into better alignment, then the SPH lowered. A recent client of mine with a high SPH and just a little CYL got a new pair of glasses with no CYL at all, and said her head felt less torqued which made perfect sense to me. Do what you can without glasses, and keep your awareness tuned up. Notice, notice, notice! Thanks for commenting.

Hi Shawke,
I have been working with a behavioral optometrist to try to reduce my adult onset myopia.
At my first apoinment he found that my myopia prescription was correct at -2.25 for each eye, but that I had developed about -1.25 astigmatism in each eye, which of course gave me somewhat blurred vision at both far,and near.
Since the goal is to get me into weaker glasses, I was concerned that he recommended that instead of wearing a -1.25 cylinder correction for each eye, he will give me an extra -.75 myopic correction which makes it -3.00. He referred to this practice as a spherical equivalent. I have been wearing this for a few months now, and doing eye exercises both with, and without glasses.
At my last meeting with him a week ago,his findings are, that my myopia has improved by -.50 in each eye,but the astigmatism remains the same. His plan is for me to always wear the current glasses for near work, which I do a lot of, but to continue the exercises, and only wear the glasses for driving, or if my eyes feel fatigued. I concur with this, because with out glasses close work is very blurred,and my eyes feel strained.
At my next appointment he hopes to reduce the total prescription, but mentioned that I most likely will need to wear glasses for near work, and that the spherical equivalent seems to benefit me, although the astigmatism remains, at least for now.
When I first got the glasses with the extra myopic correction it was like seeing in high definition, but distant objects seemed very small.
I hope that this information may enlighten you.

Shawke, there are tips in this article. Reduce or eliminate the CYL portion of your prescription under an eye doctor’s guidance, do eye circles or the Tibetan wheel gently and notice which angles are more challenging, do relaxing practices, go without your glasses and enjoy exploring everything you see. Pay attention to your body alignment too. Good luck! 🙂

888, I agree some people have big problems. High anxiety or anger/frustration or depression can’t always be helped with simple vision practices like resting the eyes when they’ve been overworked. If your vision problems started from not wanting to see some aspect of your life, energy work or journaling or relaxation practices like massage or even talking with a counselor may be necessary, to support the vision work. I’ve found a lot of benefit from meditation and EFT (tapping) myself.

not just wanting to see… the action of closing the eyes. which is repressed but affects the vision

some people have tons of problems.. then your simple techniques are just not enough. jjust scratching the iceberg..

Bhakti, human sight and the brain is like magic to me. 🙂 And when we change our habits, our body and brain and energy respond beautifully. Just give it a try, experimenting with no agenda. You might surprise yourself.

Let’s hope you’re right. I can always use the reminder. 🙂 The concepts I write about are often exactly what I need to hear again myself.

Too right! Thank you, Nancy. And I would wish the same to you, but the things you say and do pretty clearly indicate that you’ve already got the concept firmly in hand/mind/heart/whereever(!). =D

One of my favorite teachers is often saying “Abundance is a vibration, not a dollar amount in your bank account.” 🙂 An abundance of clear sight, and other good things, to you, Tom.

Thanks for futher insights. I agree, and am glad to see you quote Plato. I think of and apply that concept often, and as you may agree, daring to examine your self, your motives, your life can provide real clarity, and can steer important decisions in altruistic directions…that sometimes are not so helpful in terms of financial solvency. Ask me how I know… =]

But yes, in The Grand Scheme of Things honest self awareness is priceless.

This is another area of awareness, to me. When I work out as I start getting tired at the end of a set, I can feel myself wanting to twist so the stronger leg or shoulder or whatever is favored. I tell myself things like “stand equally on both feet” constantly to keep balanced. I use vertical markers to check my alignment, not obsessively, just noticing so I can correct if I see I’m off. “The unexamined life isn’t worth living” (Plato). Be all you can be!

This is the third article you suggested I read per our discussion of your “Periferal Awareness” article (updated 5/5/18). See my post in that “Peripheral Awareness” discussion explaining why it’s taken me until now to come here and read this.

A fascinating perspective. I’ve mentioned to you before that I had no vision problems until a devastating failed attempt at law school, after which I needed prescription reading glasses – and each time I saw another optician the Astigmatism prescription would be different: Sometimes it was the right eye only. Other times the Left eye. Sometimes both eyes were affected, and other times neither eye was affected. Very confusing, but now I see the possibility for skeletal and perhaps psychological cause and effect.

I have a minor spinal scoliosis and notice that my neck has a slight “bow” noticeable on the left side when I face myself in a mirrow. Also, my left shoulder/scapula mechanism has been slightly “out of place” all my adult life. Now I’m wondering if structural/skeletal/posture issues might be a factor.

I very much appreciate you suggesting this article and the other two – and I appreciate ALL the times you’ve reached out to help me improve my situation via these discussions.

Tom