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+--- Thread: I want my vision back - started few days ago (/showthread.php?tid=1889)
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - hereford_picnic - 08-23-2011
I think I can make one thing clear: no muscle can work accurately if the mind is under a strain. If you have hard time believing that, learn to play an instrument, go perform, and get nervous.
About the flashes, mine come only when I DON'T wait for them.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - arocarty - 08-24-2011
arocarty Wrote:Andrew, I must compliment you again on your clearly worded understandable helpful posts. If you decided to start a blog I'll bet it would help a lot of people.
Thank you Nancy. There's still much I'm learning, and want to learn. But, similar to David, I'm more at the end of my story, so I'm not sure how I'd want to approach it. Time permitting.... I will try to get something off the ground.
Regards,
Andrew
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - hereford_picnic - 08-24-2011
Andrew,
sounds good. At least you could tell us how you did it and what was hard to do or to understand. Also, a blog is a good way to do it so that you wouldn't need to explain everything at once. Just write what comes into your mind on a subject or an experience. It's also easier to read when you can proceed bit by bit.
No pressure, but I'm sure there will be people that'll appreciate your effort.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - blwegrzyn - 09-23-2011
I guess it is time for some update.
It has been over 1 month since i started to learn about Bates.
So far I did not put my glasses on, even for 1 minute.
I only went to my eye doctor and I complained about new glasses that I received month ago and I told them to reduce the prescription for my astigmatism to -1.25 for both eyes.
I know it will sound funny, but this is my securoty policy in case I fail with Bates.
I just want to have the glasses in the drawer in case i discover that after few years of practicing Bates I am still stuck.
Anyway lets get to Bates.
So far I noticed that working at the computer is the worse to my eyes.
I started to noticed when I start to strain and I try immediately look somewhere else.
It is amazing that I get get stock looking at the monitor and sometimes I will notice it after 30min. I think this is my main cause of strain. So I try to use my computer screen as a constant object of practicing central fixation and shifting while I work on it.
The worse part is my astigmatism.
It makes the letters look blurry or sometimes doubled.
Usually blinking removes the double vision but blur stays still with me.
I was able to contact dr Ray Gottlieb to get some advice.
In short he recommended to concentrate a lot on relaxation and breathing.
For astigmatism he recommended the astigmatism wheel and horizontal and vertical line exercises. I am supposed to look at the lines and pay more attention to blur that my eyes create then to trying to focus on the lines. I should see the double lines, lines changing colors, sometimes being sharp, sometimes blurry etc. The idea is to be able to notice all those things and some time later the vision should be coming back.
Again , I am supposed to observe not try to focus!!!
Not that easy.
Anyone here had any good experience with astigmatism and the lines exercises?
thx
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - Pikachu - 09-23-2011
I have astigmatism too but haven't done anything to deal with it specifically. Interesting advice from Dr. Gottlieb. It sounds strange, but it does seem to confirm what Sean was talking about in his thread. When you become aware of your strain, it goes away by itself. I actually struggle with the same thing you struggle with: I find it hard to observe without straining, because I invariably notice myself straining and try to "correct" it. But the problem with that is that the effort creates yet another strain and what I find is that some days, I'll have tried my hardest to prevent strain, yet end up with more strain than on a day where I don't pay any attention to it at all! The trick is to pay attention but to *trust* that your mind will handle the strain without your input.
For what it's worth, the computer is also the greatest source of strain for me; books are second greatest. It's just so hard not to fixate on the screen!
Keep at it. I have also been focusing on breathing and relaxation lately.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - Nini - 09-24-2011
blwegrzyn Wrote:Anyone here had any good experience with astigmatism and the lines exercises?
I find it most helpful to concentrate on the clear parts of the image and let the blurry parts trouble me as little as possible.
Our brain is 'constructed' that way, that it 'interprets' and filters the incoming information accordingly in order to 'construct' a coherent picture - some optical illusions (for example: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/">http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/</a><!-- m -->) are playing with this function.
So, I think, by training to focus the attention (not to focus the eyes) on the clear parts, our brain will gradually 'learn' that this is the important part and the blurry rest is only a neglectable background.
This way I hope, the clear parts will become more and more dominant and 'substantial' , whereas the blurry parts, less noticed, will eventually fade out;
If you pay too much attetion on the 'negative input', you allow the blur to play an unnecessary important role in the image seen; it's better to try to 'let it go' instead of 'holding it back'.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - JMartinC4 - 09-25-2011
New technique or improvement to Bates Methods, probably related to astigmatism:
I look at an object/area. It is blurry. I turn my head slightly (sometimes left, sometimes right), then hold that position and look back with both eyes, at the same object/area, and it is distinctly sharper/clearer. I turn the head more, then look where the head is now pointed, and then back at the original object/area. Then I head swing between those two locations, trying to calibrate the vision/visual system. It is working. My eyesight is improving, and I am (re)gaining control over it. (Relaxed breathing and blinking is required.)
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - JMartinC4 - 09-26-2011
JMartinC4 Wrote:New technique or improvement to Bates Methods, probably related to astigmatism: I look at an object/area. It is blurry. I turn my head slightly (sometimes left, sometimes right), then hold that position and look back with both eyes, at the same object/area, and it is distinctly sharper/clearer. I turn the head more, then look where the head is now pointed, and then back at the original object/area. Then I head swing between those two locations, trying to calibrate the vision/visual system. It is working. My eyesight is improving, and I am (re)gaining control over it. (Relaxed breathing and blinking is required.)One of the two areas has to be nearer (and thus clearer/sharper) for the calibration to work.
The head swing may be more of a head shift.
The reason this calibration method works is many-fold:
1. As discussed elsewhere, it provides a relaxed and minimal form of pulling on the sides of the face/eyelids/orbits etc. which every myopic child knows can inprove distance eyesight.
2. It coordinates and synchronizes the eyes.
3. It provides an immediate feedback loop for comparison of the blurry/blurrier distant object/area with the clearer/sharper near object/area.
4. It encourages Batesian shifting/swinging and discourages nearpoint fixation.
5. It 'activates the periphery'.
6. It encourages shared and equalized eye dominance.
7. It is reasonable and goal-results-oriented.
8. I'm sure there are other reasons...
Read here on How To Calibrate A System:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibrate">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibrate</a><!-- m -->
But I guess so-called optical science/opthalmology wouldn't want to teach anyone how to calibrate their vision - that would be like teaching someone how to fish when what you want is for them to always buy their fish from you! You'd be killing the golden egg-laying goose! No, first you 'hook' them on your product, then you deny that anything else is even possible. Now, that is pure evil.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - JMartinC4 - 09-26-2011
Another Calibration reference with which to put the visual system in the context of:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4224">http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4224</a><!-- m -->
And for the more technically/scientifically-minded:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.vision.caltech.edu/bouguetj/calib_doc/htmls/example5.html">http://www.vision.caltech.edu/bouguetj/ ... mple5.html</a><!-- m -->
The end paragraphs are particularly relevant.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - JMartinC4 - 09-27-2011
Today's tip: Look sideways, then perform the Bates swing/shift.
I searched on 'calibrate a 2 camera 3d system'
and found this:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://blog.martinperis.com/2011/01/opencv-stereo-camera-calibration.html">http://blog.martinperis.com/2011/01/ope ... ation.html</a><!-- m -->
The retinas are essentially checkerboard/gridlike.
The cones and rods of the retinas are essentially cylinders;
The lightrays entering the eyes through the pupils can also be thought of as cylinders;
The 'pit' of the foveas can also be thought of as rounded or spherical.
Then I looked up 'calibrate' in the dictionary:
caliber or calibre: [Arabic qalib shoemaker's last]
1a: the diameter of a bullet or other projectile
b: the diameter of a bore of a gun usu. expressed in modern U.S. and British usage in hundredths or thousandths of an inch and typically written as a decimal fraction
2: the diameter of a round body; esp: the internal diameter of a hollow cylinder
3a: degree of mental capacity or moral quality
b: degree of excellence or importance
calibrate:
1: to ascertain the caliber of (as a thermometer tube)
2: to determine, rectify, or mark the graduations of (as a thermometer tube)
3: to standardize (as a measuring instrument) by determining the deviation from a standard so as to ascertain the proper correction factors
calibration:
1: the act or process of calibrating: the state of being calibrated
2: a set of graduations to indicate values or positions - usu. used in plural
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - blwegrzyn - 09-27-2011
Quote:If you pay too much attetion on the 'negative input', you allow the blur to play an unnecessary important role in the image seen; it's better to try to 'let it go' instead of 'holding it back'.
It looks like that is the whole point of the exercise; to look at blur so we don't strain while trying to focus.
If i look at the astigmatism wheel the line at 12 is super sharp and black and rest of the lines are blurry and not as black.
Of course I could turn my head and then make any line sharp but this would not do anything to my vision.
So, I start with following the for example line at 11 from top to bottom.
I do it very slowly. While I do so I start to see duplicate lines that change the color from black to very bright white and vice versa. (in other words black or white ghost image of the line)
Every time I pay attention to that blur the main line gets clearer and the blurry line goes away for a split of the second or longer.
Also, while I follow the line slowly I see it blinking and changing the levels of black.
Sometimes it is super black for split of the second and then is blurry again.
Those splits prove that I can make the line perfectly sharp and black.
Question is how do I make those splits permanent?
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - Nancy - 09-27-2011
blwegrzyn, this is similar to what I'm seeing on the chart, flashes of total clarity disappearing as quickly as they arrive, some ghost images or double vision appearing and disappearing. I'm taking this as a sign that I'm doing something right, and just need to keep practicing and noticing, especially if I notice myself straining. So that's what I suggest to you, too. I know I need to make healthy ways of using my eyes and looking an automatic habit, and I don't know about you but I'm not sure I always know exactly what I need to be doing differently yet. So I keep practicing, hoping I am practicing something helpful and not reinforcing bad habits. If I start feeling eyestrain or seeing blur, I stop and assess what I'm doing so I can change it.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - blwegrzyn - 09-27-2011
Also, Dr Gottlieb said that the exercise must be done with a lot of light so we can see them at high contrast.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - Andrea Major - 09-30-2011
OMG I could not take it any more! Same old same old from JMartinC4... John, could you please read the Bates book finally before going any further with your theories?! I hope you didn't discourage another potential member again??
blwegrzyn, your first instincts were absolutely right! You have overworked your eyes when gaming or whatever you were doing all night long on your computer back in your twenties! Tiredness probably made you strain. And now you are stuck in that strained position. Astigmatism or myopia. The difference is just how even the strain is... but it doesn't matter. It could have been that you had astigmatism all along, but they corrected it as myopia first, which usually goes unnoticed. But again, it doesn't matter. Please read the Bates book and keep your glasses off. When you begin to strain, just rest your eyes for a few minutes instead of putting the glasses on. You can rest your eyes by closing them (palm) or by looking at a surface, where there is not much to see, or by swinging. You will find you can begin to work with your bare eyes again after that rest with less strain.
Re: I want my vision back - started few days ago - JMartinC4 - 09-30-2011
???? My 'theory' is based on previously unknown or unexamined facts, has given me gradual permanent improvements to my eyesight, and provides a common sense explanation for many if not most or all of the 'holes' that have developed in Dr. Bates' methods and theory. There is nothing 'old' about it. It brings everything he did up to date and into the 21st century. It provides a light at the end of the tunnel of unexplainable increasing myopia. That I am being rejected as Dr. Bates was in his day only gives me more confidence that I am correct.
Stop being foolish, Andrea, and admit the truth of my theory. Release your inner neonate and try to remember the ingrained strain you received within 60 minutes after you were born. Then you can begin trying to release that strain and improve your eyesight.
Members 'get discouraged' when their vision improvement gets stuck in a rut and no one offers anything new to get them out of it. Telling them to keep on doing the same old things over and over again without improvements is a little bit crazy. Don't you think?
O0