Okay, just a little background info for you guys. Iâm new here (just registered today), but Iâve been checking these forums out for a few weeks now. I must say that I really found a lot of the threads useful. I remember Googling stuff like âhow to palm properlyâ and stuff like that to no avail. Then, I stumbled onto this website by looking only for âdiscussionsâ and was very happy with what I found here.
Anyway, Iâd like to ask a few questions. I hope you guys can help me out here
When youâre palming, should your hands touch your face in any way? It seems to me that some people say not to do it if possible, while others imply that itâs better to avoid touching the face. I know that itâs bad to put any pressure on the eyelid/eyeball area, but what about the area around the eye?
Is it normal to feel a bit less than relaxed when youâve just finished palming? Sometimes, I get a bit of an uncomfortable sensation when I take my hands off. It seems that after a minute or two though, I feel a bit more relaxed.
When should you stop palming? Occasionally, I find that I might get distracted (either by thoughts or outside distractions) or strained. Either way, the âblack fieldâ usually turns a bit more of a dull yellow and is sometimes accompanied by occasional kaleidoscopic flashes of small white circles, which I assume means that Iâm not relaxed. When this occurs, is it usually best to stop palming or should I keep going and see if it goes away?
Is it necessary to put the eyes on the head? If I could find a nice dark place and close my eyes, would it make any difference if I had my hands on my head or not?
I find that splashing a bit of water on my face (around eye area and not with eyes open) helps relax me a bit. Is this a good idea or a bad habit?
Itâs better not to wear glasses or contacts if you can help it, I know, but is it always better? I have fairly terrible vision and use glasses to do work (reading, writing, etc.). If I were to go without my glasses, I would have to get my head to within 4 inches of the desk, which puts my back in a very awkward position. Is it better then to use glasses in this case or go without?
Palming vs Sleep. Letâs say that I can choose between 9 hours of sleep at night (10-7) or 8 hours of sleep and 1 hour of palming (10-6 sleeping, 6-7 palming). Which would be the better bet.
Finally, how long should it be expected to take to attain noticeable improvement? My vision is pretty bad: -6.50 and -5.50 (about) and I have astigmatism in both eyes (which to my knowledge, means that itâs actually worse than those numbers). I understand that lots of hard work needs to be put in every day to get improvement, but I need to have a way of checking to see if Iâm really improving or not so I know whether Iâm doing the exercises right or not. And this âclear flashâ stuff: is it possible to improve your vision and never have a clear flash?
Okay, a lot of questions right there. Sorry if I overwhelmed anyone. Thanks in advance for any help I get.
I'm feeling good a lot of new actual people have started joining the site again. Thank you.
While palming, there are only two things that you should take care of :-
* You can touch the face to your comfort - the more comfortable you are, the more relaxation you can gain
* Instead of trying to not get distracted, let your mind wander to any thought & let your nerves relax all the way.
If you do not gain satisfactory amount of relaxation, that is simply because you haven't palmed that well possibly because it is not in your habit to relax to such degree therefore your mind tends to continue favor the strain.
REGARDING Palming vs. Sleep - Strictly speaking, both of them are extremely necessary. If you don't sleep, you'll die painfully.
If you don't palm, you'll live painfully.
Regarding Clear Flashes : They are the signs of improvement, if you don't have them then how do you expect to improve - a permanent clear flash is what you are seeking, aren't you?
When palming don't try to imagine black and don't try to see any improvement. What appears,appears. The idea is only get all body relaxed when you open your eyes after palming.
If I could find a nice dark place and close my eyes, would it make any difference if I had my hands on my head or not?
For most of the palming questions I suggest you to read the palming stuff in Bates book and try it out. Palming in a dark room is often helpful.
Try different amounts of time. 1 minute. 5 minutes. Then do 10 minutes. Then do 20 minutes. THen do an hour. decide based on how you feel, and what is reasonable for you. Think pleasant thoughts. Or imagine a relaxation of each muscle in your body. Or imagine the room you're in turning black. Do what comes easily. If you have to try to imagine black it is a strain. If you have to strain to remember something pleasant it's not going to help.
The touch of the hands is important. Your fingers become more sensitized to the feeling of the skin and muscles of your face. Often you will be able to feel with your hand that your face muscles are clenching and be able to relax that tension. Just don't push on your face, and don't touch the eyes.
Pikachu Wrote:Itâs better not to wear glasses or contacts if you can help it, I know, but is it always better? I have fairly terrible vision and use glasses to do work (reading, writing, etc.). If I were to go without my glasses, I would have to get my head to within 4 inches of the desk, which puts my back in a very awkward position. Is it better then to use glasses in this case or go without?
This is another question that you have to try to find out. Some people do best with no glasses. Others do best when they wear a pair of weaker glasses.
Pikachu Wrote:Finally, how long should it be expected to take to attain noticeable improvement?
Read some of the case studies written up in Dr. Bates magazines. Some people improve considerably on their first visit, others take years. If you are teaching yourself, expect to take a bit longer. First comes temporary improvement. If you keep practicing it becomes permanent.
Pikachu Wrote:I understand that lots of hard work needs to be put in every day to get improvement, but I need to have a way of checking to see if Iâm really improving or not so I know whether Iâm doing the exercises right or not.
Get rid of this thought " lots of hard work needs to be put in every day" and replace it with "comittment to practicing relaxation every day". Eyesight doesn't improve with hard work. It improves when you learn to stop straining, and let go. I suggest that you read Dr. Bates's book, Perfect Sight without glasses, found on this website and central-fixation.com. He describes the use of the Snellen chart for knowing whether you do the exercizes right or not. If you practicine something and you can read some letters more clearly, then you did it right. If they are worse you know you did it wrong. Keep in mind that from day to day the vision fluctuates a lot, so use the Snellen chart to practice, but not as a test. This means, if one day you practice on the 70 line letters, but the next day they are blurry, don't worry, just step closer or practice on larger letters that day. Over time you will get used to what is normal, and overall you will notice that you can read smaller lines from further away.
Here's the most important thing to remember: it really is this simple! Don't try to make it more complicated. Write down the simple, easy things that help you as you discover them, and then, keep practicing them every day. Don't fall into the trap of continually searching for something else to help your eyes when you already know. Commitment is the most important ingredient for success.
best wishes,
sorrisi
@ 2xtreme2fit & sorrisiblue: Thanks to you both for your replies. I've made palming, shifting, and breathing part of my day for a month or so now. I pretty much get in whatever I can whenever I have the time; five minutes here, ten minutes there, etc. add up quickly! Curiously though, it seems that during the last couple of days or so, I've been able to become more relaxed. Is it normal to go through a period where it seems like you can't relax at all only to suddenly have a stretch of time where you can easily relax? Or perhaps I've actually started to do something right for once?
Oh, and I just had one more question: I think it'd be very nice if I could palm while lying down, since that's when most of my body is most comfortable (most notably my back). However, I find it hard to keep my arms suspended in the air like that and usually get tired after about 5-10 minutes. Using a cushion (like a thick blanket) still puts a bit of pressure on the elbows (which I don't like). How do you guys do it?
I only palm lying on my back when I can ignore the stress in my arms through visualization. The first time I remember or notice the discomfort of my arms, I quit. But palming while sitting is a lot more effective in my opinion, at least for relaxation.
Also, I did laugh at the thought of Pikachu practicing the Bates Method
I'm sure sorrisiblue would have the better answer to palm correctly. I would still say that if you feel tired palming after a while, do take a break.
Do something else, use your imagination to your advantage.
Imagine what you saw just now point-by-point (to evoke central fixation) & open your eyes then see point-by-point & I'm sure you will clear your vision.
Try to find out the smallest part of an object you can imagine/see & keep your eyes moving to similar small but different points - edge of a table, nail on the wall etc.
One of the things you can do is intensify the color of objects in your imagination.
@2xtreme2fit: What do you mean by "intensify the color of objects"?
And interesting note: I found out recently that my eye level when I'm looking at things is a bit off. It seems that I fix my eyes at a point above what I'm looking at and then look down with my eyes. Is there any way I can fix this? Perhaps shifting is a good idea?
Pikachu Wrote:@Summon-Pretty-Peace: And interesting note: I found out recently that my eye level when I'm looking at things is a bit off. It seems that I fix my eyes at a point above what I'm looking at and then look down with my eyes. Is there any way I can fix this? Perhaps shifting is a good idea?
Cross your eyes so that you see two images. Now tilt your head left and right, and shift your nose/face left and right, until the two images are matched up as closely as possible (think about getting an eye exam at the optometrist and how s/he twists the lenses to adjust for astigmatism). When the two images are matched up then your eyes/head/visual system are probably aligned correctly together. Hold that position and uncross your eyes. Practice that technique. I use the Snellen chart because it is a rectangle and easy to see when the two images' edges are aligned.
Pikachu Wrote:And interesting note: I found out recently that my eye level when I'm looking at things is a bit off. It seems that I fix my eyes at a point above what I'm looking at and then look down with my eyes. Is there any way I can fix this? Perhaps shifting is a good idea?
This sounds like there is a difference in your mental/aural orientation versus your visual orientation. I.e., you are mentally pointed/pointing yourself in a direction which is slightly off from where your are visually pointed/pointing yourself. (E.g., If you search the forum posts, there are people who discussed looking into people's mouths instead of their eyes when talking with them.) One way to counter this tendency is to purposely look at background and peripheral images/details around the foreground images/details where your eyes seem to be pointed.
Pikachu Wrote:I think it'd be very nice if I could palm while lying down, since that's when most of my body is most comfortable (most notably my back). However, I find it hard to keep my arms suspended in the air like that and usually get tired after about 5-10 minutes. Using a cushion (like a thick blanket) still puts a bit of pressure on the elbows (which I don't like). How do you guys do it?
This took me a while to get right. In the meantime, experiment with different set-ups each time, and stop when you get tired. Here's how I experimented:
One thing that helped was to take the first 5 minutes of the palming to imagine my hands and arms getting very relaxed. I would start with my fingers, making sure they aren't clenching my face. Then check my palm and wrist, is it loose and relaxed? After that feels ok usually my arms start to relax and then they might fall off the pillow I use to support them. So then I readjust the pillows so they support my arms in their _relaxed position_, not their tense position. Then I check my hands again, then I feel my forarms, are they relaxed, my upper arms, and finally my shoulders. Scanning in this way takes about 5 minutes and usually as my arms relax I adjust the pillow a couple of times so that my arms are relaxed against it, yet so that the pillow isn't pushing my hands hard onto my face. I use a feather pillow, which can fluff up and contour pretty easily.
Once I learned how to support my arms in a relaxed position I was able to palm for hours like this and be very comfortable, and very relaxed.
When the arms and hands are tense, they hold themselves rigidly, even though you have a support, which is why they get tired. It's important to teach them to relax into the support, and if your hands fall off your face when you 'let go' of your arms, then you need to adjust the support!
Pikachu Wrote:What do you mean by "intensify the color of objects"?
While I am imagining any object (take a dull black nail for instance), I imagine the dull blackness turning into extreme shades of black - combined with palming, this method has worked wonders for me many times. I experienced several clear flashes doing this correctly.
