.... of having "corrective lenses required" on my driver's license.... it was removed this morning when i went in and told them i would like to renew my license since my vision had improved. i now have a license with no restrictions.
so perhaps you would like to tell us more about your overall being, what have improved in your life, what was your visual acuity before doing the bates method. Take care!
jiminos Wrote:... of having "corrective lenses required" on my driver's license... it was removed this morning when i went in and told them i would like to renew my license since my vision had improved. i now have a license with no restrictions. be well, jim
jumpin' jiminos that's impressive! Thanks for sharing. Questions: 1) When you first got lenses, were you surprised at how bad your distance eyesight was before? Did you realize you had never seen clearly into the distance, or did you remember clear distance eyesight that the magic lenses gave back to you? 2) Were you born in a then-modern hospital? 3) Did you grow up in the same town where you were born? 4) Which of your eyes is dominant - the better eye or the worse eye?
jiminos, big congratulations and thanks for posting. Every single person who achieves this milestone is more evidence to the skeptics that it's possible. Spread the word!
JMartinC4 Wrote:jumpin' jiminos that's impressive! Thanks for sharing. Questions: 1) When you first got lenses, were you surprised at how bad your distance eyesight was before? Did you realize you had never seen clearly into the distance, or did you remember clear distance eyesight that the magic lenses gave back to you? 2) Were you born in a then-modern hospital? 3) Did you grow up in the same town where you were born? 4) Which of your eyes is dominant - the better eye or the worse eye?
some answers: 1) my first prescription was fairly weak. I do remember being pleasantly surprised at being able to see things clearly in the distance. I guess that at the time I hadn't realized I wasn't seeing things in the distance. I remember growing up with excellent vision. I did not need glasses until I was about 13 or 14. 2) Being rather young at the time, I have no idea if the hospital in which I was born was modern. I didn't have a lot of say in the matter of hospital choice. 3) When I was a child, my family moved around a lot. I think I attended something like 14 different schools all over the west half of the United States 4) my better eye is the dominant eye. I am working on the weaker eye.
When I started thinking there was an alternative to corrective devices for vision (glasses, contacts, surgery, etc) my myopia was not really that bad, I suppose. (OD -2.5 OS -1.75 with astigmatism in both) This was shortly after my glasses broke a few months ago. I started going without glasses because I could not afford a new pair. I had read Bates' book many years ago and, upon remembering, acquired another copy of it and read it. It seemed to me that the key to recovering my vision lie in releasing the tension acquired from years of close-work. The "exercises" seemed aimed not so much at strengthening the muscles of the eyes, as at the relaxation that followed the exercises. There was some progress with them. The eye chart was mostly a blur when I started. Day by day, my vision improved to where I could make out the 20/40 line. It was blurry, but readable.
For me, the big breakthroughs came from three things... 1) i refused to wear glasses. 2) I read somewhere that looking at the distant horizon helped. Don't remember where I read that, but I started looking to the horizon. It helped. 3) Then I read about plus lens approaches. The arguments made sense to me. I acquired a pair of reading glasses (+1.25) and started using them for all near work. Within about a week and a half, the 20/40 line was clear, then the 20/30 line, then the 20/25 line... then the 20/20 line on occasion. It ain't Bates, but it worked for me.
Through all of this, I applied a Zen Buddhist/Taoist mind set. To whit, Taoism and Buddhism both teach that one cannot search for the "Truth." One can only accept it. I approached every day with the mind set that I cannot seek better or perfect vision, I can only accept that my eyes work as they should, and when I accept that, my vision will be what it is..... It is a challenge not to "seek" better vision... One wants to work at it constantly... always aware of every visual input. But, to the extent that I could, I merely accepted what my eyes presented me and attempted to put no effort into "seeing." Along with that were a lot of positive affirmations... "my vision is getting better every day," ... "I can see more clearly," ... "my eyes work exactly as they should." And so on....
Then yesterday on the drive to work, everything was clear. I kept expecting it would go away... it didn't. By afternoon, I decided that "today is as good a day as any to achieve my first vision goal... the removal of the corrective lens restriction from my driving license." So, I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I told the lady behind the counter what I wanted to do. She smiled and told me to look in the little machine on the counter and relate what I see. I did so. Then she smiled again, said, "Congratulations!" and ask me to step over to the camera for a picture for my new restriction free license.
That's really great, congratulations, Jim, and thanks a lot for the explanations.
Sounds as if you have found your own way to keep your mind and eyes relaxed and reach your goal in a very short time.
Maybe one major obstacle on our way back to good vision is when we try too hard and create too much pressure and stress (and disappointment).
The plus lenses are a good idea, I'll try that, when my sight is good enough; at the moment I just manage to do near work without glasses not holding it close to my nose.
What a great success story! It seems to me that your path to vision correction was clear and straightforward, so i have only 2 questions:
1) Why this day - of all days - did your vision remain clear do you think?
and
2) What a great response from the lady at the DMV! - I'm curious if she asked you how your vision had suddenly improved?
I think all of us here would love to hear from you in the future, so don't be a stranger! Best wishes to you!
jiminos Wrote:1) my first prescription was fairly weak. I do remember being pleasantly surprised at being able to see things clearly in the distance. I guess that at the time I hadn't realized I wasn't seeing things in the distance. I remember growing up with excellent vision. I did not need glasses until I was about 13 or 14. 2) Being rather young at the time, I have no idea if the hospital in which I was born was modern. I didn't have a lot of say in the matter of hospital choice. 3) When I was a child, my family moved around a lot. I think I attended something like 14 different schools all over the west half of the United States 4) my better eye is the dominant eye. I am working on the weaker eye.
When I started thinking there was an alternative to corrective devices for vision (glasses, contacts, surgery, etc) my myopia was not really that bad, I suppose. (OD -2.5 OS -1.75 with astigmatism in both) This was shortly after my glasses broke a few months ago. I started going without glasses because I could not afford a new pair. I had read Bates' book many years ago and, upon remembering, acquired another copy of it and read it. It seemed to me that the key to recovering my vision lie in releasing the tension acquired from years of close-work. The "exercises" seemed aimed not so much at strengthening the muscles of the eyes, as at the relaxation that followed the exercises. There was some progress with them. The eye chart was mostly a blur when I started. Day by day, my vision improved to where I could make out the 20/40 line. It was blurry, but readable.
For me, the big breakthroughs came from three things... 1) i refused to wear glasses. 2) I read somewhere that looking at the distant horizon helped. Don't remember where I read that, but I started looking to the horizon. It helped. 3) Then I read about plus lens approaches. The arguments made sense to me. I acquired a pair of reading glasses (+1.25) and started using them for all near work. Within about a week and a half, the 20/40 line was clear, then the 20/30 line, then the 20/25 line... then the 20/20 line on occasion. It ain't Bates, but it worked for me....
Then yesterday on the drive to work, everything was clear. I kept expecting it would go away... it didn't. By afternoon, I decided that "today is as good a day as any to achieve my first vision goal... the removal of the corrective lens restriction from my driving license." So, I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I told the lady behind the counter what I wanted to do. She smiled and told me to look in the little machine on the counter and relate what I see. I did so. Then she smiled again, said, "Congratulations!" and ask me to step over to the camera for a picture for my new restriction free license. have a nice day, all. be well, jim
Thanks for the good answers and description of your experience. I think 'looking at the distant horizon' is similar to what I've described as trying to raise my initial orienting line of sight by about 10 degrees or 2 inches above where my eyes ordinarily want to point themselves. I think the abnormally low line of sight is a sign of stunted visual development - as we grew in our preteens and teens our visual line of sight should have developed and 'grown' with our physical development - but did not for unknown reasons, remaining stunted. Correcting that is probably a necessity for bringing the visual development back to normal. Are 'plus lenses' just the generic 'reading glasses' sold in drugstores?
jiminos Wrote:I acquired a pair of reading glasses (+1.25) and started using them for all near work. Within about a week and a half, the 20/40 line was clear, then the 20/30 line, then the 20/25 line... then the 20/20 line on occasion.
jim
I've got one question:
Does 'near work' concern mainly reading and writing?
I tried to do this with a pair of reading glasses - with the result that I had to approach my laptop much closer to my eyes to be able to see the writing clear enough.
I wonder, whether this can really improve my vision.
Or is it better to use them for other near work, which you can do at the same distance as before?
standard plus lenses (reading glasses from the store).
near work = sitting at a computer, reading, close up detail work....
there are a few websites that offer detailed descriptions of how some have used plus lenses to help improve their vision. i found them, read (past tense) them, i applied what i could....
i made every attempt to avoid getting wrapped up in the details, theory and science.... (i don't need to know why a rose smells good, i just need to know that it does.)
i checked out the website.... in fifteen words or less, that sight kinda bothers me. the bulk of the information is good. very good. however, if the point of natural vision improvement is improvement, then all of the venting and fomenting about conspiracies and intentional vision degradation by vision care professionals is not necessary and somewhat bothersome. i would venture to guess that the vast majority of vision care professionals are not part of some grand conspiracy. they do as they have been taught.
more importantly, though..... natural vision improvement is possible. many of us here have proven it for ourselves. if we know the methods to achieve our means (better vision), then does it really matter if there is a conspiracy? i would contend that it does not. what does matter is that our vision can be improved. further, our own improvements are the evidence we can present to others who express an interest in being rid of glasses. is there a conspiracy.... beats me. do i care? not really.... my vision has improved. that is enough for me.
Sightseer Wrote:jiminos, that's great your vision improved! I hope I will be able to get that portion of my license taken off as well.
I have a question:
When your vision was at its weakest, What did you do when you needed to drive?
frankly... i wore my glasses. my goal was, and continues to be, the improvement of my vision. along this path that is the journey of vision improvement, i have various goals. some are subjective and some are objective. the first objectively measurable goal was my drivers license. in this state, vision of 20/40 or better is required in order to not have a "corrective lenses required" restriction.
during the time that i was learning to see (learning not to attempt to force my eyes).... when i needed to drive, i wore glasses. in fact, i wore them right up until the morning that i drove to the licensing office to take the test. two reasons, safety and it is the law....
- I'm curious if she asked you how your vision had suddenly improved? 
