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Question about Clear Flashes - Printable Version
Eyesight Improvement Forum
Question about Clear Flashes - Printable Version

+- Eyesight Improvement Forum (https://www.iblindness.org/forum)
+-- Forum: General Discussion (https://www.iblindness.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Bates Method (https://www.iblindness.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Thread: Question about Clear Flashes (/showthread.php?tid=1361)



Question about Clear Flashes - grudsom - 11-24-2009

I started practicing bates methods about 3 weeks ago. Late last week i printed out some snellen cards and started going over them from about 2 feet away (I'm -6ishD and -3ish astigmatism in both eyes) when i got to the 2nd to last line, i really couldn't make anything out and moved up to about 16inches away, which i still couldn't read but i decided to just relax and stay there, i was centralizing and shifting my eyes, w/o me trying to do anything whatsoever my eyes started feeling strange, and almost instantaneously they focused, not perfectly, but i could easily read the small letters, they sharpened up and i blinked, they went back to where i couldn't read but within another 2 seconds i felt the same strange feeling and again suddenly the letters came into focus (i'm shifting and centralizing this whole time)

Last night, just for curiosity's sake to see if i could reproduce what happened, i went for a go at the snellen chart again, this time i went to the the very last line on the chart, and was about 16 inches away again. I couldn't read any letters if my life depended on it, so i kept shifting and centralizing, and after about 5 minutes my eyes had that strange feeling again and in came a flash, this time the flashes were, kind of like real flashes, they would come in and out every few seconds almost as if they were in a rhythm, blinking seemed to not matter this time, but it was really strange because as the letters would come into focus, everything in my peripheral vision would darken, and the letters would be extremely dark and sharp at the peak of the flash, yet still had minor blurs above and below each letter. As the flash would go out of focus, everything was back to normal as I've known it since i was 6 years old. This time i kept shifting and centralizing to try and keep the flashes going for as long as they would, after about 45 sec. they stopped coming in and out at such short rhythm's. and stopped coming altogether maybe another 45 sec later.

After this, i noticed the center of my eyes felt really tight for about 5 minutes, it was a similar feeling to trying to read something too close to your eyes, even in the sense where at first it's blurry and then becomes clear, but this felt way more extreme than that. It's really hard for me to explain all this, but i had a slight worry, i want to say that what i was feeling was strain, but at the same time i wanna say it was a relief. It's so hard to describe it. I want to say during the flashing period, it was the equivalent of a Roller Coaster ride specifically when the Roller Coaster is going downward off a big drop. I don't know if it was a form of a happy type of anxious excitement of being so surprised the flash came or what. And i don't know if i was straining or not straining.

So i ask any of you here, does anything I'm doing seem abnormal? Is this what your flashes are like? Should i stop reading the snellen chart that close and go to 10 feet like some of Bates examples?


Re: Question about Clear Flashes - Alexndre - 11-24-2009

Hi!
It sounds like a true clear flash! Wow!
If you pratice enough everyday and your wear your glasses only when needed and you continue to play with your chart as much as you can, you will progress soon. I don't mean that you will see 20/20 instantly but it's really a good start.

When you have a clear flash, you become temporarily aware of the strain you were putting on your visual system, so this is normal.

You will see that you will have more and more clear flashes! Smile
Have a nice day of improvements!
-Alexandre


Re: Question about Clear Flashes - liquidlight - 11-27-2009

grudsom,

I get that same weird feeling during many of my flashes (but not all). You are right, it does almost feel like a different kind of strain/tightness sometimes, both during and after. And to an extent, it may be -- you may be releasing the worst muscles and inadvertently tightening others. It is OK, just keep trying to release/relax when these flashes come. Don't "try" to hang on to it, don't try to make it go away or get better, only relax.

If I had to offer a theory on this weird feeling like "tightness", it would be this: If your arm bicep had been contracted (make a muscle) for a year and you finally released it by stretching your arm out, it might feel very weird and tight as you stretch your arm.

Thats about the best I can figure. But you are not alone in having the weird feelings during flashes. If you want to know some other things you might expect to have happen during a flash, things which happen to me during my flashes, please see my post here:
http://www.iblindness.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1559#p9956

Try to remember what you were doing in the day and minutes before a flash occurs, and you may be able to get it to happen more often. Also please don't become discouraged if they stop happening for a while or even for weeks. That is normal and they will return. Don't force it.

[edit:]
grudsom Wrote:After this, i noticed the center of my eyes felt really tight for about 5 minutes, it was a similar feeling to trying to read something too close to your eyes, even in the sense where at first it's blurry and then becomes clear, but this felt way more extreme than that. It's really hard for me to explain all this, but i had a slight worry, i want to say that what i was feeling was strain, but at the same time i wanna say it was a relief. It's so hard to describe it.

If this happened *after* the flash stopped, you probably felt yourself slipping back into accomodation. Accomodating is supposed to happen when looking close, but for many nearsights it happens when looking far, and makes the situation worse. Its almost like you escape your muscle spasm for a while and then it kicks in again. This is OK too, you will get better at relaxing and the flashes will last longer and get better. And eventually you will stop accomodating when looking far.