+- 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: Introduce yourself here! (/showthread.php?tid=18)
Re: Introduce yourself here! - suelin23 - 03-30-2006
Hi, I'm a myope, have been wearing glasses for 12 years and am really sick of them. I have a book "Better sight without glasses" which mentions the Bates method, and then was thrilled to find this site and get the original book.
I use computers a lot at work and home and and would love to be glasses free. My prescription is about 4 diopters, so I can read the top letter on an eye chart without my glasses and that's about it. I haven't been doing the exercises much and so am hoping that this discussion group might help keep me motivated, especially hearing about other's successes.
Suelin
Re: Introduce yourself here! - Minesweeper - 04-03-2006
Dave K Wrote:What do you hope to gain here? How did you find out about the Bates method?
Hi, this is a very interesting website..I congratulate you on setting up a forum so the Bates method can be discussed--I had not found out about the Bates method until three weeks ago, and it was first by search engine I looked for "vision improvement" then skimmed through all websites quickly. Next, I looked up "Relearning to See" on Amazon.com and went through about 15 vision improvement books' reviews, comparing the books one by one based on reviews. The reviews that advocated the Bates method had the most substantial reviews and none of these reviews tried rerouting to some other books on different vision improvement methods. Other vision improvement books, on the other hand, kept having reviews that suggested that "this is not what you need, you should try the Bates method instead", and it happened so often on the other books' reviews that they pointed at the Bates method that I decided the Bates method must be worth looking into.
Through Amazon.com I bought three books on the Bates method:
1- "Relearning to See--Improve Your Vision--Naturally!" by Thomas Quackenbush
2- "Better Eyesight-The Complete Magazines of William H. Bates" editted by Thomas Quackenbush
3- "Help Yourself to Better Sight" by Margaret Darst Corbett
It has been only two weeks since I received the first book, and I have finished books 1 and 3--and portions of book 2. I found something to be out of place since Bates had been at the top of the opthalamologist profession, instructing even other optometrists/opthalamologists and professors/students from the most prestigious universities in the country, and having been so well-respected by his colleagues, making breakthrough after breakthrough, only to have his very important discovery on curing defective eye sight quickly subdued and ridiculed by eye doctors. But as Bates stated, "The fact is that, except in rare cases, man is not a reasoning being. He is dominated by authority, and when the facts are not in accord with the view imposed by authority, so much the worse for the facts." Bates knew what he was saying.
Also, I read that Bates conducted his experiments by not starting off from a theory like others did but instead by building up from stratch to verify theories. This he would do for extended time, for instance, spending two years trying to prove Helmholtz correct on the theory of accommodation before finding where Helmholtz had erred. This convinced me that Bates was worth trusting because there are many "experts" who explain away from what they have learned without doing their own research. Then when I read his magazine publications in book 2 it seemed very apparent that he was an erudite as well as a well-disposed and generous fellow in his own right, having discovered a tremendous deal using the available technology of his time, despite the criticisms thrown against him. And he did so at his own personal sacrifice, even asking that the doctors investigate his findings before condemning them, and to expose him and protect the public if he was discovered to be a charlatan.
Hope this long introduction is ok... these were my initial observations regarding what I had read about Dr. Bates. But just so you know about me, I have a profound hearing loss. I am 100% deaf actually. This makes me extremely dependent on my eyes. I want to help heal my eyes because they have been hurting and straining a lot, and I find palming hard to do since I can't listen to music or other things. But upon starting the Bates method, such as swinging, my frequent headaches have disappeared and four days after starting the method I had about 300 flashes in three hours--I will post a (or add to another) thread later asking about the flashes. I want to discuss in this forum what happens and get feedback on whether things are being done correctly or not, so it will be beneficial for everyone else also.
Re: Introduce yourself here! - David - 04-04-2006
Hi Minesweeper,
Those are all good books. The Better Eyesight magazines especially. Tom Quackenbush has done an incredible service in providing so much for such a low price (the "list" price is only like $29), when there was hardly any mention of them in any other literature to make people aware that they even existed. I've read tons of vision improvement books, and I don't think the magazines, save for possiblyhis compilation in newly published books at this point, is mentioned in the text or bibliography of any of them!
The magazines may seem more daunting than they really are - the first time through, I skipped everything but Bates's own articles, which cut most of the size out, and I'm glad I did. It stopped me from confusing what he said with what other people said.
A lot of people have trouble with palming, actually, and feel like they're wasting their time sitting and doing nothing. So I can't say for certain of course, but your dislike of it might not be all that much due to your hearing loss. Whenever I do it, I prefer silence. Any music I've listened to is distracting to me. But then I don't listen to music all that much anyway.
Thanks for the compliments, and welcome to the forum!
Dave
Minesweeper Wrote:Hi, this is a very interesting website..I congratulate you on setting up a forum so the Bates method can be discussed--I had not found out about the Bates method until three weeks ago, and it was first by search engine I looked for "vision improvement" then skimmed through all websites quickly. Next, I looked up "Relearning to See" on Amazon.com and went through about 15 vision improvement books' reviews, comparing the books one by one based on reviews. The reviews that advocated the Bates method had the most substantial reviews and none of these reviews tried rerouting to some other books on different vision improvement methods. Other vision improvement books, on the other hand, kept having reviews that suggested that "this is not what you need, you should try the Bates method instead", and it happened so often on the other books' reviews that they pointed at the Bates method that I decided the Bates method must be worth looking into.
Through Amazon.com I bought three books on the Bates method:
1- "Relearning to See--Improve Your Vision--Naturally!" by Thomas Quackenbush
2- "Better Eyesight-The Complete Magazines of William H. Bates" editted by Thomas Quackenbush
3- "Help Yourself to Better Sight" by Margaret Darst Corbett
It has been only two weeks since I received the first book, and I have finished books 1 and 3--and portions of book 2. I found something to be out of place since Bates had been at the top of the opthalamologist profession, instructing even other optometrists/opthalamologists and professors/students from the most prestigious universities in the country, and having been so well-respected by his colleagues, making breakthrough after breakthrough, only to have his very important discovery on curing defective eye sight quickly subdued and ridiculed by eye doctors. But as Bates stated, "The fact is that, except in rare cases, man is not a reasoning being. He is dominated by authority, and when the facts are not in accord with the view imposed by authority, so much the worse for the facts." Bates knew what he was saying.
Also, I read that Bates conducted his experiments by not starting off from a theory like others did but instead by building up from stratch to verify theories. This he would do for extended time, for instance, spending two years trying to prove Helmholtz correct on the theory of accommodation before finding where Helmholtz had erred. This convinced me that Bates was worth trusting because there are many "experts" who explain away from what they have learned without doing their own research. Then when I read his magazine publications in book 2 it seemed very apparent that he was an erudite as well as a well-disposed and generous fellow in his own right, having discovered a tremendous deal using the available technology of his time, despite the criticisms thrown against him. And he did so at his own personal sacrifice, even asking that the doctors investigate his findings before condemning them, and to expose him and protect the public if he was discovered to be a charlatan.
Hope this long introduction is ok... these were my initial observations regarding what I had read about Dr. Bates. But just so you know about me, I have a profound hearing loss. I am 100% deaf actually. This makes me extremely dependent on my eyes. I want to help heal my eyes because they have been hurting and straining a lot, and I find palming hard to do since I can't listen to music or other things. But upon starting the Bates method, such as swinging, my frequent headaches have disappeared and four days after starting the method I had about 300 flashes in three hours--I will post a (or add to another) thread later asking about the flashes. I want to discuss in this forum what happens and get feedback on whether things are being done correctly or not, so it will be beneficial for everyone else also.
Re: Introduce yourself here! - Minesweeper - 04-07-2006
Hi Dave,
I do palming for about 5 minutes three times a day, but will eventually increase it. I find it hard to palm without periodically nodding off, but the palming does bring relaxation and makes the contrast seem more relaxing after only two minutes of palming. For some reason it does not seem like the distance gets clearer after palming for 5 minutes, but then again, I cannot imagine how I could palm for 30 minutes straight without nodding off without something like music.
I will try all the techniques published in the books one by one, then choose the ones that work the best... the more choices available the easier it gets to narrow down what works best.
Tom Quackenbush did us a civil service selling his books for such a low price ($27.50) each. He could have easily sold them for more. Before I ordered Relearning to See through Amazon.com, I went in search of it at four different local bookstores, and it was sold out at all of them. I was surprised when you mentioned there was hardly any mention of the magazines in other vision improvement books so it's good Tom dug up that information for us.
Re: Introduce yourself here! - David - 06-01-2006
Just bumping this topic to the top again so people will see it.
Re: Introduce yourself here! - elias - 06-10-2006
Hi to all, Well I noticed that I should introduce myself:
My name is Elias and I am 25 years old.
I have been wearing glasses since I was 11 or 12.
Well when I first got my glasses they were:
R Eye -1.5 D
L Eye -1.25 D
without any astigmatism, but they gradually got worse until now:
R Eye -2.5 D
L Eye -2.5 D
But the good news is I have improved them to -1.75 in about a week of doing eye exercises.
As I told in my post, the annoying floaters made me come across this website and start improving my vision. Eye Doctors simply don't give the cure or can't give the cure, they only give treatments.
I think that I see less floaters when I am more relaxed but, I am not so sure.
I have another problem and that is I can't see perfect black when I palm, I see somewhat uniform white sparkling dots. I see them even with my eyes open when I look at blank surfaces.
I have noticed that when I tilt my head left or right and realize the rotation my eyes see slightly sharper. I have got plenty of clear flashes and I think that cycling and looking at the distance had so much to do with this, sometimes for instants it seems that my vision is perfect. My most severe problem are the floaters and the sparkling dots which make me strain in outdoor activities.
I am really curious to know that if someone had success in curing his floaters by these methods.
I also thank Dave very very much for this nice work.
Elias,
Re: Introduce yourself here! - Andreas - 06-13-2006
Hi! I'm near-sighted and started with some exercises today (palming, sunning, zooming, swaying, blinking, shifting). One thing I noticed is that when I'm palming sometimes I almost fall asleep while doing it, is that a good thing?
Also I read about different ways to do the blinking exercises, one where you blinked a few times and then took deep breaths and one when you did them at the same time, do they have different purposes or doesnt it matter much how you do it?
I also have some problems doing the swings, anyone know a good guide about how to do them?
Re: Introduce yourself here! - Guest - 06-14-2006
Hello!
My name is Lucia, I'm 32 years old and I have glasses for myopia since I was 11. I have 7 dyopters in each eye. Now I feel I don't see well enough with these lenses, and I don't want to wear contact lenses. Surgery is totally out of question. I've been reading your experiences, but I don't know how to start the Bates method. Is very difficult for me to just leave the glasses behind, but maybe around the house I can do my normal life without them.
I guess I'll learn a lot in this forum, but it will take some time, english is not my mother tongue (I live in Portugal).
Anyway, I hope to hear from you soon.
See you around...
Re: Introduce yourself here! - David - 06-14-2006
Welcome, Lucia!
To learn how to begin, see the Introduction pages at www.iblindness.org, and then move onto the Online Books.
(By the way, to others - I try to welcome everyone new, and I've started to create a new topic with my reply instead of always replying here, to keep things relatively clean in this topic)
Dave
Re: Introduce yourself here! - Scythe - 06-25-2006
Hi, my name is Chris
I am another myope and according to my contact lenses I have -3.5 on my right eye and 3.75 on my left. I have had glasses for four years. At first I did not use them until I needed to but I always somehow lost them or broke them. My mother got fed up and said to wear them all the time. I assumed it was better that way, besides it was frustrating not to see anything in detail unless I am relatively close to it. I assumed it was for the best and I heard that if you took them off after wearing them for an extended time your vision gets worse, it just gave me more incentive to keep them on.
When I started my senior year, I just had fully realized that I was strongly dependent on them. When I took them off briefly and looked at the world around me. I had forgotten how bad my vision was but also I had forgotten what it's like to look around with eyes free from glasses and contacts. With glasses there is obviously the lack of peripheral vision and with contacts, you feel that it was there and when I got a bit of dust in my eye it burned like hell for several minutes. Also they were a bi**h to put on every other morning.
I initially thought of getting Lasik surgery when I was in my early twenties, but a little research on the risks involved such as blindness I stepped back. Nobody knows whether or not there are long term effects since it is relatively new tech. It just seemed hopeless from there on, then I recalled reading an article of these eye exercises. I looked more into that and I came across the Bates method. However, I visited a site that was selling their kit on improving your eyes naturally for a price of more than 300 dollars! Then I dismissed it as I cleaned my eye 'crutches' with my shirt. This was late in 2005.
A few days ago on a forum I usually lurked someone made a thread about the Bates method. I came up with the same results as last time with people selling the method at an unbelievable price. I did some research on Bates himself and then I thought "there has to be a forum" just two days ago I had found this forum. Coming to this site was one of the best things that has happened to me in a very very long time. Reading about someone's clear flashes made it all so inspiring. I decided to give this method a shot. However, I can't. If I forgo without my glasses now, my mother will give me hell about it. I will start doing the Bates method when I'm go to my first year in college and turn eighteen (August 29th).
Re: Introduce yourself here! - Bob - 07-05-2006
Hi, my name is Bob.
I just learned about the Bates method a few days ago and I'm interested in learning more. Oddly, I'd really like to see 20/20 again, make no mistake, but what I'd really, really like to learn about is how to relax. This method seems like a very good way to learn more about relaxation.
You see, I'm very much a stressful, worrying type of person -- though I come off just the opposite to people at work and those who don't know me very well. In fact, at work, people frequently think that I'm not taking their issues, or whatever, as seriously as they wish I would because I don't act nervous, raise my voice, lash out etc.
Anyway, I'm 42 and have had glasses since I was eight years old. I'm very much a left brained junky having graduated college in Physics and I currently write software for the Defense Department. My left brain-ness and poor ability to relax are all things I'd like to change.
As far as my plan for implementing the Bates method goes I was wondering what you folks thought of this. I sit in front of a computer all day, and it would be no problem to turn up the resolution on it so I could read it and function, and then not wear my glasses all day. I'd also try Palming periodically (is five minute stretches at a time enough?) throughout the day, and then thy some Central Fixation methods for 15 - 30 minutes before I go to bed.
Is it a good idea to go without glasses that much? I know I should get lenses with weaker and weaker prescriptions as I do this. But since I don't know what my progress is going to be I don't want to run out and get a weaker prescription just yet.
Thanks,
Bob
Re: Introduce yourself here! - krackerjack121 - 07-12-2006
Hi there,
My name is Rocky J. Martin and I have been learning about the Bates Method for about 2 months now. I am still a little gun shy about taking my glasses off for fear of my eyes getting worse. But I am slowly getting up the courage to try it and see it if works for me. From what I have gathered there is no one technique that will necessarily work for me, but I should probably try them all at some point. I think that I am going to try the palming first. It seems like that is the easiest one to do. And it seems like this has met with the most success by others on this page.
I got introduced to this method after I was reading a book by Fred Amir. He suffered from all sorts of mind body aliments and once he recognized the sources of his pain he was able to completely heal. In the process his eyes completely healed and he had no recurring probelms with his eyes. In his book, Rapid Recovery from Back Pain he sourced Dr. Bates' book and that is how I found out about this. So, that is where I am coming from.
Looking forward to talking with others about this condition and hopefully get rid of my glasses soon.
Rocky
Re: Introduce yourself here! - krackerjack121 - 08-04-2006
Bumping back up to the top of the board.
Re: Introduce yourself here! - jini - 08-09-2006
Hi I' m Jini. I have been wearing glasses since i was 12yrs old. Thats for 32 yrs!! My eyesight was really bad. It was 875 on the right and 850 on the left. In May this year, i started doing palming, shifting, swinging and sunning for two weeks. Not very frequently. Then I started getting bad headaches. My eye specialist whom i checked with first told me 'eye exercises are good but dont expect improved vision' and gave me a telling-off for not wearing my glasses often. (I told him that i remove them for the exercises). Not wearing my glasses made me strain my eyes and that gave me headaches, he said. He then proceeded to test my eyes.
At the end of the test(which took an extra long time), he turned to me and my husband (who is a doctor) and said that in his whole career he had not seen such an improvemnet in vision. My vision had improved to 825 on my left and 700 on right.
It was so encouraging and exciting!!
I was so happy that i started doing them morning , afternoon, evening and night!!. I went to the optician to change my glasses two weeks later and asked him to test again. It was down to 650 on my left and 675 on my right!!
That was mid June. I have been faithfully doing my exercises. I have also stopped wearing my glasses except for my job. I know my vision has further improved. I just haven't gone for another test yet.
I just want to ask you all out there not to give up. I must also add here that I am a devout Christian and before all these I prayed that God will heal my eyes. I had been diagnosed with Syogrens and my eyes had been affected badly. My eyes were extremely dry and gritty and i suffered from sensitive eyes. I could not go out into the sun without a pair of dark, dark shades. I live in Malaysia where the sun is really hot!! I'm still praying that I will have perfect vision. God bless all of you! I believe God helps those who help themselves and dont give up believing in Him.
Cheers!
Re: Introduce yourself here! - berryqbear - 08-17-2006
Hi, I'm Joanna. I've been wearing glasses since elementary school. About 5 years ago during one summer (in college) I worked on improving my vision for 8 weeks, and managed to get my prescription down from
R -6.25 (some astigmatism)
L -6.75
to
R -6.0 (with 0.5 astigmatism)
L -6.25.
Then school started again and I wasn't able to continue with my exercises. I did get an under-prescribed pair of glasses for daily wear and tried to do relaxation exercises every so often. Last year when I went to get a checkup, my eyes were both at -5.75 and the astigmatism was pretty much all gone, even though I hadn't been actively doing anything for my eyes. Now I want to try to improve my eyes again, but it's kind of frustrating because I can't really see much progress.
Anyways, I found this forum while looking for more information, and I'm happy to see that other people are doing the same thing too. Good moral support.
