Quote:Nancy - When you notice something you're doing wrong, like you're tensing your eyes and getting tunnel vision, be careful about trying to do the opposite thing, like trying to open your eyes wider or doing anything to relax them. In a way it seems like the right thing to do, but consider whether people with normal vision do it. It's okay to take a break sometimes, and palm or whatever to relieve some excess strain if it works, but be careful about what you're teaching yourself about what you need to do to see. It can add just another layer of programming that you'll have to come back to again and deal with. Or in other words, two wrongs don't make a right. So when you catch yourself doing something that you know is wrong, it may be enough to just stop doing it, and be patient as you catch yourself doing it over and over again and eventually stop doing it.

David Wrote:I'm trying to do a little research and understand better what problems people have when they try to see. When you, for example, look at a car in the distance, and you take a few seconds to look at blurry parts of it, such as what might be a wheel, the windshield, light glinting off the chrome, etc, do your eyes start feeling tense (or pressured) the smaller the things you look at? What happens right away? And then what happens after a minute or a few minutes of looking at another such object every few seconds, spending those few seconds to notice the smallest details or pieces of blur? Is there anything else you notice that you're doing, or that you want to do?

JMartinC4 Wrote:What I'm now doing to stimulate clear normal eyesight has to do with equalizing the images/information from each eye. So, before trying to focus in on an object or a point, I use a slight rhythmic head shake (sort of as if I'm saying 'No' to something) trying to get light from the general area to fall on each macula/fovea. In my case I have problems with my weaker and submissive left eye, which I have to force into the game more than the right eye, which is over-dominant. I have to relax my breathing and blinking while doing this. (I have identified an abnormal rigidity in the way I hold my head, blink, and breathe, and which have been gradually improving/relaxing.)

Nini Wrote:Martin, did you ever try to 'work' with your eyes closed? I found out, that - when I close my eyes for palming after looking at a bright surface (for example concentraring on the eye chart in my laptop) - I see the black square 'after image' not centered, not equal with both eyes, but much more (or sometimes even exclusively) with my dominant, weaker eye. When I then concentrate to see black with both eyes, the other eye gets it too. Maybe this helps a bit to equalize both eyes.

JMartinC4 Wrote:...Good idea, Nini, thanks. I too have discovered that positioning one or two bright reflective surfaces on my desktop so that they reflect the overhead light at my face/eyes definitely causes clear flashes. Which indicates I am perfectly capable of [normal] functional distance vision from my maculas/foveas, but I am simply not holding them in correct alignment with the surrounding light field/reflections/point sources.
Since light is actually always moving, so should my positioning be always moving, if ever so slightly. Other factors come into play of course (tearfilms, corneal bulging, orbital squeezing, synchronization, the optic chiasm, etc.) My picasa website has more info. Or you can review my entries in the Other Eyesight Topics forum. And, yes, indeed, I sometimes 'work' with my eyes closed. I do think it helps orient and equalize the eyes.

Marlene Wrote:So, my spin on “looking at a point” is that I try to concentrate my attention to the size of an area where it feels just nice, but it’s definitely not a point/ or a pixel.
I’ve just read Aldous Huxley’s “The Art of Seeing” and I think he mentioned somewhere that it’s not necessary to purposely confine your area of attention to align with a certain size as it could produce strain, as long as you’re aware that you see best where your attention is.

What’s your take on that?

Marlene Wrote:Thanks for the tips, David. I think you should start more Q&A threads like these. This thread has definitely helped me understand a little bit more of what you're trying to get across.

As a newbie starting out, my wish list on what I'd like to see are instructions coupled with solid, detailed examples like what you just gave here. I guess I'm a lot less confused now compared to last week. ;D

hammer Wrote:If there are some mean estimations to be done by the visual system, then you have to wait to apply it, because applying it to early would make the opposite effect. Maybe this is the reason why trying too hard to see fails.

David Wrote:It has helped me too. Having to write out longer explanations forces me to make sure what I say makes sense as far as how I currently see the process of seeing correctly and that I'm not contradicting myself. I'm putting together some notes to incorporate some of the concepts in this thread into a cohesive series of several articles that I plan on posting together at once, and the plan is for it to cover most everything I currently think is important. The blog posts have been a method of getting my thoughts out so I can get feedback and revisit what I wrote and determine what's important and where I might have gone off the deep end.