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+--- Thread: ways to shift attention (/showthread.php?tid=1742)
ways to shift attention - David - 02-24-2011
As I've mentioned before, there are various ways to apply shifting as far as using it as a way to see in every moment. The purpose remains the same: to become able to look at the smallest possible point as quickly as possible and be able to shift to another point the smallest possible distance away.
The article currently describes it in terms of narrowing the attention to the smallest possible point and looking as short a distance away as possible in order to see the previous point worse.
Another way is a little simpler and more direct and is basically the above but without really considering the clarity of the previous point looked at. As you sit in front of the eye chart, think of the smallest possible point you can imagine. As you look at a letter on the chart, you're looking at a point of that size, even if it's blurry. You just place it mentally as a tiny point in the blur you see, and in doing so you've completed that task, and you move on by immediately disregarding that point and placing a point of the same size on another spot nearby. Seeing blur usually makes your vision worse and worse, because when you see it, it does not encourage you to look at tiny points. You have to overcome that by refusing to look at anything but the smallest points, continually placing them wherever you look, even though you don't yet see the details very well.
When you move your attention away from one point and you happen to notice a particular tiny speck of detail, use that as your point and immediately move on, moving your attention back and forth or to various points. By taking advantage of any specks that you actively notice such as that, you are seeing the way people with normal vision do, looking at where your attention is drawn. However, if that doesn't happen, you need to just keep looking at predetermined areas to mentally place your points in.
At some point you will be able to speed up. You also will be able to shorten the distance between your points. But you have to remain attentive to each point. Don't let yourself fall into a pattern of mechanically shifting your eyes around without really paying attention to what you're looking at. You're used to seeing by locking your gaze for a longer moment, looking at a large area at once, and only moving your eyes to look at something a large distance away. You have to do the opposite of all of that by glancing at each point for only the instant necessary to place it.
It's all in the way you think about it. Your eyes themselves are most likely fine. Your process of attention is backwards.
My intent is to get people to consider why the process of normal seeing has to be the way I've described, or what possible other variations in ways of seeing there are that I haven't thought of and are in line with the way people with normal vision see.
Dave
Re: ways to shift attention - Nancy - 02-24-2011
David, thanks -- this, and the previous thread on how to screw up, are very helpful. I don't see anything wrong with what you said; it's actually getting more understandable as I continue to practice, either from your efforts at rephrasing things or my own at continuing to "get it". The knot I'm untangling has to do with looking at very small details -- I screw up in almost every way you mentioned! I do big shifts instead of small ones, and I stay with the blur trying to make/let it clear instead of shifting away to another point. The "wrong thought" I'm trying to exorcise now seems to be something about seeing a small point clearly means I'm going into tunnel vision and excluding the periphery, which I did for most of my life and am really wanting to undo. As I see a small point clearer and clearer, I can feel myself get afraid that I'm losing the periphery even though I can still see it in a blurry way, so I'm just continuing to practice. I think my wrong habits of using my eyes are pretty entrenched still, and I so much want to do this right! Anyway, long post, hope it added something. Thanks for your work as it is a great help.
Re: ways to shift attention - JWLBOYCE - 02-24-2011
I completely agree with you Nancy - it is getting easier to understand as I practice more too
Re: ways to shift attention - Deliverance - 02-24-2011
David.
Excellent update as always, a step forward for the community and the Bates method.
I think everyone have got what are you talking about, it's easy to understand. I think that in order to see the previous point worse we can discard the idea of noticing it verbally saying to your self, becouse that is a bit "tedious", at first could be fine to get the idea. instead I'm doing it "mentally" like you wrote before in a post. What you said above is more about shifting the attention between points, but I know that it's just another way of shifting as you've said with the same purpose. Thank you!
Re: ways to shift attention - DaniFixe - 03-14-2011
What should be the distance in small shifts ?
Re: ways to shift attention - Deliverance - 03-17-2011
I want to share something with you all, this has happened today, in fact some hours ago. A full street of normal vision, it was about 1 minute, the longer moment of clear-er vison in years!, I've become myope by late 2005 but I noticed that I had poor vision by mid 2006. In this clear flash everything was crystal clear, no double images, faces perfectly clear at the distance, I could notice the depth, trees, bus numbers,etc, everything clear, it was of course 20/20.
It was like my eyes were not there, I was just seeing with my attention, peace in my mind, there was no concerns, my eyes were so soft that I had to blink again and again to "check" if this was "real". That's all for now, it have been my great success so far, I'll keep you informed about my progress.
;D
Lord
Re: ways to shift attention - seetheleaves - 03-17-2011
@Lord
Wow!! That's fantastic!
Were you aware of what brought on the clear flash? Were you searching for details and then the clear flash happened?
What changed to make the clear flash go away?
Congratulations on your progress!
Re: ways to shift attention - Nancy - 03-17-2011
DaniFixe, play with making the shifts smaller and smaller, until objects not too far apart look equally clear to you -- that's your edge right now. Looking even a very slight distance away from something should make it less clear, and if 2 objects are close the one you're looking at should be more clear no matter what the distance.
Lord, wow! I'd be doing a dance of celebration right in the street! Keep up the great work -- it's obviously paying off.
Re: ways to shift attention - JMartinC4 - 03-18-2011
Lord Wrote:I want to share something with you all, this has happened today, in fact some hours ago. A full street of normal vision, it was about 1 minute, the longer moment of clearer vison in years!, I've become myope by late 2005 but I noticed that I had poor vision by mid 2006. In this clear flash everything was crystal clear, no double images, faces perfectly clear at the distance, I could notice the depth, trees, bus numbers,etc, everything clear, it was of course 20/20.Can you tell more about this, such as:
It was like my eyes were not there, I was just seeing with my attention, peace in my mind, there was no concerns, my eyes were so soft that I had to blink again and again to "check" if this was "real". That's all for now, it have been my great success so far, I'll keep you informed about my progress. ;D Lord
Time of Day?
Lighting conditions?
Primary direction you were looking?
Were you stationary or mobile? If mobile, how so?
Were both eyes equally clear?
Any differences in breathing or other senses?
Any interactions with other people or animate creatures?
What you were thinking beforehand?
How did the clarity dissipate?
What you were thinking when you lost clarity?
Did you return to that same location at the same time next day, and if so, what happened?
Re: ways to shift attention - hammer - 03-18-2011
Lord Wrote:I want to share something with you all, this has happened today, in fact some hours ago. A full street of normal vision, it was about 1 minute, the longer moment of clear-er vison in years!, I've become myope by late 2005 but I noticed that I had poor vision by mid 2006. In this clear flash everything was crystal clear, no double images, faces perfectly clear at the distance, I could notice the depth, trees, bus numbers,etc, everything clear, it was of course 20/20.
It was like my eyes were not there, I was just seeing with my attention, peace in my mind, there was no concerns, my eyes were so soft that I had to blink again and again to "check" if this was "real". That's all for now, it have been my great success so far, I'll keep you informed about my progress.
;D
Lord
That is absolutely fantastic Lord, congratulations !
I have a feeling that my eyesight also is improving every day.
I also can see in the mirror that my eyes looks much more relaxed.
Re: ways to shift attention - JMartinC4 - 03-21-2011
DaniFixe Wrote:What should be the distance in small shifts ?I see no one attempted to quantify an answer to this, so here is mine:
1. There are at least three kinds of 'shifting' necessary: eye/face, mental/attentuation, and lateral body sway.
a) Starting with an actual swivel movement of the face, about 10 to 5 degrees from center, back and forth in short swings, looking to shorten those movements until they are practically imperceptible and more like 'vibrations'.
b) Simultaneously a shifting of mental attention so that it joins the clear visual input which comes from each eye's fovea, which is located slightly to the outside of and slightly above the centerpoint/blindspot of each eye. (Blurry vision indicates that the mind is accepting visual input from some non-foveal area of the retina.) The distance from the blurry non-foveal point to the clear foveal pitpoint will vary (greater blur indicates greater distance) but is obviously going to be very short.
c) The objective then, I believe, is to get the worse-visioned (usually the non-dominant) eye's fovea pointed at the desired area on the first shift while simultaneously shifting the mental attention to that foveal input, and on the reverse shift to do the same with the better-visioned (usually dominant) eye. And then increasingly shorter shifts to allow the mind to find and unify the two visual inputs.
d) A combination of gyroscopic (E-W-N-S and other directions to counter astigmatism) head shifting and lateral body swaying is sometimes necessary. Sit tall. Stand tall.
e) Keep in mind that 'myopia' means that the ancient Greeks noticed that nearsighted people tend to keep pressure on their eyes creating a 'closed eye' effect. To counter that, frequently stretch your eyebrows and cheeks wide open (like with a good yawn) to learn to relax the pressure or to shift it away from the eyeballs. Raise two skeptical eyebrows like a deer caught in the headlights, and keep them raised for a second or two. Smiling helps!
I'm sorry if that's all only as clear as mud, but it is the best description I can come up with so far for what is working for me.