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+--- Thread: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold ...) (/showthread.php?tid=1396)
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Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold ...) - spydermann - 03-10-2010
I'm reading the Art of Seeing right now and I think Huxley says it well that much of the mental side to seeing is attention...and if a person has a healthy shifting attention (less dwelling on worry), then the eyes will follow the mind's lead and will then naturally move in a healthy clear seeing way. Like you said: you TREAT something differently and you see it differently. You can look at a mailbox and see a blur. Or treat it it differently, with interest in its details, and take in it's oak wood-post, designs going up the post, the cylindrical shape of the white-metal box, the lid is a little bent, rusty red flag... and as the mind shifts its attention all over these details, the eyes scan over all of these fine details too, and as a side effect of all that healthy scanning movement, clarity comes-
but when I look at the metal mailbox for example, my eyes can scan over it pretty smoothly, since it's a larger object. But then once I move onto something smaller like the flag, I see the flag in those shattered 3D specks and then my movement starts to hurt and sting the eyes like Scott says. I remind myself to relax and breathe, maybe even look away then back, because just gritting my teeth thru the sting and strain doesnt seem right. Sometimes my eyes will feel like they "stick" and anchor in a stare- its a weird sensation-but I dislodge them and relaxedly scan them on a larger object that feels easer to look at...
I dont know if this analogy is right, but retraining the eyes kind of reminds me of working out. looking at large objects/large areas is like lifting light easy weights, and seeing the small objects/fine details is like lifting the heavier stuff. And you have to start with lifting the light weight (scanning large objects) and then ease into the heavy weight (scanning small details) if you want to get them back to their normal function. Get the eyes off the couch and back in their original healthy shape. No pain no gain- but the natural and effortless kind of pain. And maybe the stinging sensation that the eyes feel when you practice seeing correctly is just like the ache you feel in your legs after you haven't used them in a while.
Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold ...) - David - 03-10-2010
slf Wrote:David Wrote:If your eyes sting, don't use it as an excuse to stop searching for details.
Hi, I would like to explore the stinging eyes a bit further, as this is exactly what I find happens when I get clear flashes. The fact that my eyes were stinging was something I thought of as a problem, maybe that I was straining them in some way (aside from the fact that it felt so unpleasant that I felt the need to blink asap to get rid of the stinging!). I am interested to hear that it is not a problem at all. Do you have any ideas as to why they might be stinging at those times?
Thanks
Scott
I don't know. But if you treat the stinging as something where you need to react by doing something to fix it, it's reflective that you probably do the same thing with blur, bright light, or anything else. You may not know exactly what it is you do, but it might involve tensing your eyes briefly in some way, maybe while blinking. Anything you do along those lines is harmful. Blinking by itself isn't necessarily, as long as it isn't done in a way that's a reaction like that.
Dave
Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold ...) - Nancy - 03-10-2010
David, this thought to not focus so much on moving the gaze to avoid that dreaded stare, and focus instead on looking at smaller and smaller areas, has really given me a new direction. Thank you! I wrote about this on my blog last night -- my experience is much like Spyderman's. I am now less worried that if I look at a small point I am excluding the periphery, which I think was always a reason before that I tried to see a bigger area as soon as I got some clarity on a small one (and of course then lost it). My behavioral optometrist had told me years ago that I was "born to converge" and should practice divergence divergence divergence -- yes I spent my childhood with "my nose in a book" and was only comfortable looking close. So I've been afraid to look at small points too intently, thinking I'm making my condition worse. I guess any good advice can be misinterpreted, but something about the way you phrased this last nugget of wisdom really cleared things up for me. Thanks again --- I'm looking forward to steadier progress now.
Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold ...) - David - 03-11-2010
Nancy, that's great that it turned a key for you. I haven't heard that one before about diverging, but that's exactly the kind of point of deception that we program into ourselves that has to do directly with how we use our eyes and that we have to recognize for what it is and reject it. We can even build points of deception while in this process and bury our vision further in the complexity of deception, like the movement thing without actually looking at what your eyes are pointed at.
Dave
Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold . - DaniFixe - 04-28-2011
In my case i have a little of astigmatism,and noticing to details i see double images. Which one is correct ?
Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold . - Pikachu - 04-28-2011
David Wrote:... We can even build points of deception while in this process and bury our vision further in the complexity of deception, like the movement thing without actually looking at what your eyes are pointed at.
Dave
Just wanted to reiterate this point, because I made this exact mistake before I read this post. For two weeks, I went about moving my eyes, trying to ignore what my eyes were looking at in an attempt to "relax" them. What ended up happening was that I began to feel more strain at the cheekbone, jawbone, and earlobe areas of my face. My vision did not decrease much, if at all, though. I am still unsure if I merely became more aware of previously hidden strain (I still feel it these days, even after I stopped the poor habit that I created) or if it created extra strain. In any event, I feel that it sort of exemplifies David's post there, as well as Bates' words about how deliberately worsening the vision can be helpful, as it helps one recognize strain and avoid it. Perhaps I unwittingly created more strain during those two weeks, which in turn allowed me to notice the many other strains that I had not noticed before. One thing is for sure: I'm wiser now than I was two weeks ago!
@DaniFixe: If memory serves, double images are a sign of progress. I don't think it matters which one is "correct", as long as you don't try to look at both images at the same time (which would be diffusion).
Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold . - JMartinC4 - 04-28-2011
DaniFixe Wrote:In my case i have a little of astigmatism,and noticing to details i see double images. Which one is correct ?Neither one. Double images probably means your eyes are not looking enough in the same direction at the same points at the same time. If they were, the images would fuse stereoscopically. Think about what's going on - one eye is dominating the other which refuses to be dominated. One eye is probably always the leader. You probably need to shake it up - figure out how to let the follower eye be the leader and vice-versa.
After using my 360 degree swinging method for the past two weeks (stand at a mirror, turn your back to it, then swing left 180 degrees until you see your image with your left eye leading, then swing back 360 degrees pivoting on your feet, until you see your image from the other perspective with your right eye leading. Repeat until both eyes learn to lead and to follow.) my eyesight has improved.
Re: better vision habits (split from: Need Help going cold . - David - 04-29-2011
DaniFixe Wrote:In my case i have a little of astigmatism,and noticing to details i see double images. Which one is correct ?
Doubles images can be astigmatism, strabismus, or simply one eye being blurrier than the other. When the two eyes are not focused the same, it's hard for them to work together, because they aren't seeing close enough to the same thing.
Practically speaking, if you see double images, then you look at it the same as if you didn't. That is, look at the details of what you're seeing and don't try to fix the double image. It will only be fixed properly when your eyes are focusing the same, and they will only do that when you use them right.