Floaters are small moving specks, squiggles, or shapes which drift across one’s vision. It’s like looking through glass which has a few tiny creatures sliding around inside it and is not perfectly clear. These can be minor and almost unnoticeable, or very annoying, partially obscuring the view.
Behind the cornea and the small front chamber of aqueous fluid and the lens, you’ll find the main part of the eyeball. This is a large chamber filled with gel-like vitreous fluid. In back of this is the retina, the sensitive brain-like tissue which receives the light signals, then sends them to the mind to interpret what we see. Any clumping in the vitreous fluid or speck of debris there will cast a shadow on the retina, which will be perceived as a floater. Sometimes just knowing that what looks like a real object in front of the eyes is merely a shadow helps people take it less seriously. No one is really afraid of a shadow puppet monster!
Cells in the entire body are born, live, and eventually die to be replaced by new cells, constantly. Keeping all the fluids flowing in the body, the blood and sweat and lymph, with good healthy food and clean water and exercise, will bring in nutrients and release waste. So keeping your entire body healthy is a big part of healing floaters. Perhaps they’re a sign telling you that your natural body cleansing mechanisms are becoming sluggish.
Bates practices, especially movement like the Long Swing, can help. I’m picturing a swamp, where the water is mostly stagnant, as opposed to a fresh lake, with clean new water coming in all the time. Even a clean swimming pool needs a well-working filtration system!
In the years I’ve been studying energy medicine with Deborah King, and in the work I’ve done with other teachers, I’ve become a big believer in visualization. Several years ago I became aware I had a large amoeba-like floater in my right eye. (I was probably wearing -6 glasses then.) I used to imagine a chip of ice melting on a hot sidewalk, trying to nudge the floater to soften and break up. I’ve also visualized every blink being like windshield wipers washing my eyes of any obstructions to my vision. I don’t know if this is why, but that large floater is pretty much gone now, only a few specks remaining. Sometimes I don’t see any specks there at all. Big progress!
Again related to energy medicine, when someone has floaters, part of the cause may be “Why do I want to obscure my vision — what don’t I want to see?”. Last year I did some work with a vision student who had a big floater, which she described as “like looking through my eyeglasses that had a big smudge on them”. The eye doctor gave her a clean bill of health. She did a little work on her “blind spots” and reported the floater all gone!
Finally, as with all vision improvement work, an attitude of releasing the strain and welcoming clearer sight seems to get you further than a war-like angry or fearful attitude of attack, killing the enemy (blur or limited sight in this case). See your vision getting clearer as you easily shift your gaze and blink, the floaters floating into view, then floating away, maybe soon to leave for good. Breathe deeply and feel the oxygen filling your healthy body, including your healthy eyes. Maybe most importantly, enjoy what you see, and be grateful for it.
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I wore strong glasses, then contact lenses, from age 5 into my 40s. While making many mistakes, eventually l learned how to improve the way I use my eyes and to see in a more relaxed, healthy manner. It is my pleasure to coach others to do the same. Visit me at https://NancyLNeff.com.
Hi Nancy,
Just wanted to leave a quick testimonial about getting away from glasses. I wore glasses for myopia as a teenager for a brief time (maybe a month or two). I was very angry and disappointed I had to wear the things, I searched for hours online after I got them for ways to improve vision naturally. I came across Esther Joy Van Der Werf (VisionsofJoy.org), your blog/website and few other Bates Method sites. After a few months of disciplinary action and learning to use my eyes without any effort (believe me it was journey), I was seeing for a good part of the day with 20/15. Just want to say thank you for putting this stuff out there, the contentedness and enjoyment it brings is nearly boundless!!
I’m still working on getting rid of my floaters, for the most part I usually don’t see them. Sunning and not squinting were the biggest agents in targeting my floaters, basics I know but so vitally important! I have/had quite a few due to a number of violent blows to the head I have sustained over the years. The ability to look up into a intense, sapphire blue sky and not have any annoying specks drift across your field of vision is an extremely satisfying one!!
To anybody reading this who has visual problems – it works!!! I may take a little time and discipline, but you will not regret it once you experience your vision clearing up. I would highly recommend this to anyone and everyone, esp those who can ill afford to wear glasses like pilots, service members, firefighters etc. I can personally attest that my marksmanship improved dramatically, and I could pick up objects much further away. One day I discerned a vulture flying around about 800-900 feet about 3-4 miles away on a bright sunny day. I literally believe that the human eye/mind is capable of superhuman feats of visual detection if trained to be used without effort/strain
Anyway, many thousand thanks to you and David
I am so happy for you! Stories like yours are why I continue to do this work, and write about it. Thank you so much for your comment. About floaters, after I wrote this article I remember hearing from another vision teacher, possibly Greg Marsh but I’m not sure about this, that looking directly at a floater can send your visual energy there and help break it up. I have no floaters to experiment on myself, but it’s worth trying. Take care and continue enjoying all you see! 🙂
and what about macral degeneration? Is there something I don’t want to see?
Hi Mana. I don’t know you or your habits or environment, so you can answer this question better than I can. 🙂 The macula is the center of the eye where the clearest seeing happens. When it starts to degenerate, it may have been strained from over-use, looking too much up close (like at the computer or reading a book), and not enough looking around at the periphery and surroundings. Energetically, I’d wonder about looking too much at close details and not enough at the big picture. Some part of you may already know what led to this.
Hi,
What do you mean he worked on his blind spots?
What did he do?
This was a woman in an energy healing class with me. She didn’t give me specifics, and is the one who used the term blind spots to report back to me. I’m assuming she used the tools of journaling about what bothered her, or other energy-releasing tools, to let her unwanted feelings go. The body can hold onto resentment or grief for a long time, and it can finally manifest in a physical problem if not looked at.