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+--- Thread: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties (/showthread.php?tid=2107)
Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - Jambo2000 - 06-23-2012
Hi everyone!
I made some progress lately, I did what David wrote in his posts. I tried to narrow my central vision as much as possible and when I could maintain it, it was like a more sharpned mode, it cuts 25% of the blur at least.It's kinda hard to keep the central vision tiny and focused all the time, but now I understand that a person with good vision have a very small central vision and he keeps it that way all the time. I know that I need to make it a habit to look at stuff with a very small area of narrowed central vision and expect the sharpness to come only from there.
But I got difficulties some times, my friend is having the same trouble as I do too.
The first difficulty is when I'm sitting in the darkness, I can't keep my central vision narrowed, cause I can't see anything.
The second is when i'm looking at a blur, my eyes lose focus, it's hard to keep them working together it's like one is looking at one little point and the other kinda slides down or up.I had some kind of trick that I used, I imagined a little black dot on the blur but the problem with it, is that i'm focused on imagining the dot and not paying attention to what i'm seeing.
The third trouble that I got, I use small details here and there to remind me the narrowed state, but when I look at a blank wall or something that doesn't have details(or noticeable ones), it becomes very hard to maintain the central fixation, my eyes start to be all over it..one eye slides a little bit left, the other one goes down. It's hard to keep them together because there isn't a small detail to be focused on.
David, do you have any more tips or information that maybe can aid me? oh and btw I didn't thank you for all your help in my other posts. The truth is that I had an appointment for a lasik surgery a few months ago. But then I read your blogs, the information you gave, made me realize that I just didn't used my vision right and thats the reason why all the methods that I tried failed. So I canceled the appointment and gave it a go. Now when my eyesight had improved, I'm so glad I made that decision that day.You improved your own eyesight and now you are aiding others in doing so. Thanks man, god bless you.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - clarknight - 06-23-2012
Glad you did not get lasik! Read this; http://www.naturalvisioncenter.com/Other.html
I think your trying hard to do central-fixation, using effort, almost like a tunnel vision thing? No good. Relax, let the eyes do it 'on their own', let the eyes, visual attention move throughout the environment as you enjoy looking at things. Blink and relax. Forget about the eyes. The central field will move upon objects, shifting from part to part nice and easy. Do the looking at details as David describes; look at a stone, up close and shift on it from tiny part to tiny part. Then do this on a distant object.
When the light is low, reaches a level of darkness the central field of the retina, (fovea) shuts down. The eyes need some light for the center of the retina, fovea and its cones to activate and produce central vision. Also in darkness all the cones in all areas of the retina shut off; only the rods which produce less clear vision function in very dim light. Thus in darkness you have mainly peripheral vision. Turn on a light, tv... and the central field also functions.
When looking at a blurry object; shift part to part on the blur. Let the eyes move. The central field will be clearer, easier to use as things clear up. Donât imagine the dot. You are right; doing that causes the eyes, brain to be on 2 different things and thatâs diffusion, strain, does cause blur. I drew a picture of a house with dots on it to shift part to part on but only on the picture, for practice, not on a real house. http://cleareyesight.info/id56.html
The blank wall; just let the eyes move, look part to part on the wall. Blink. Go up close and inspect tiny parts. Shift tiny part to tiny part. Thatâs what the eyes really do at any distance but we donât usually realize it because many of the tiny and microscopic shifts are so automatic, subconscious; like a fine tuned motor humming along, keeping the eye in movement, pulling in light, keeping the eyes, muscles relaxed, vision clear.
Your description of the eyes sounds like you have some strabismus? Or is that just the way your describing things? Strabismus can also be corrected. David cured it himself.
Clark
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - Jambo2000 - 06-23-2012
yes, I know that lasik is no good. I knew it back then too. Thanks for the informative link.
About straining and relaxing, no I don't make it some kind of tunnel vision. I'm looking at things as relaxed as possible, but I can't relax completely and let the eyes work on their own. It's a problem to just relax and let the eyes do things on their own, because when i'm relaxing, i'm widening the central vision and I need to to make it as small as possible right?
here's what David wrote on the other topic:
"That's the biggest stumbling block, I think. If you try to see details that you can't see (yet), you're putting a strain on your visual system. If you react to that by trying to relax your eyes instead, you may end up further suppressing your central vision in your effort to avoid straining to see details.
And I suspect that to some degree relaxing the eyes is a reaction that many people have who haven't even heard of the Bates method. They know that trying to force themselves to see details that are blurry hurts their eyes and fails, so they widen their attention to avoid doing so."
Hmm now when I read the post again I think I need just more practice and patience. To narrow the central fixation step by step and not making it as small as possible right away.
Anyway so in the darkness the central fixation don't suppose to work it's good to know that
About strabismus, no I don't have it, it's just I feel that when i'm trying to narrow the eyes to a very small point they some times struggle to work together.
You wrote also that the central field will be clearer, easier to use as things clear up.So yes I guess I'm just pushing it too hard. Okay I think I just need more practice and just need to take it slower with narrowing the central fixation.
Thank you for your help! BTW <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cleareyesight.info">http://cleareyesight.info</a><!-- m --> did you wrote all the info there? it's a great site it helped me a lot when I was starting with bates method, very informative site. I always send a link of it to friends that want to improve their eyesight naturally together with Davids blogs.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - clarknight - 06-24-2012
Donât try hard to make it small as possible, just let the eyes move. The central field which is the smallest area in the center of the visual field will move on small parts, details. When your trying, tense the eyes donât move as easy. When relaxed the eyes will move better. If not, just keep practicing and it will improve.
Donât try hard to relax and donât try hard to see details. Sometimes doing nothing and just shifting will clear the vision, then details are easier to see.
Ok, no strabismus, good. Sounds like when you try to see the eye muscles may get tense. Or they might be trying to relax completely, perfectly along with the brain and this might cause some adjustment as the whole system gets used to returning to correct function. Float with it, be patient.
I wrote a lot of the things on the website. I learnt much here, my teachers, books, practice. Dr. Bates books helped the most. The books contain the website-free on GoogleBooks. They are the upgraded 4th edition so you might want to read that instead of the website. The website has the old elementary edition, when I first started learning to write, use computer, teach by writing the directions. Hope to upgrade it in the future.
Have you tried the âswitching close and farâ to improve the vision? It is Behavioral Optometry but with Bates Method, shifting⦠mixed in. It has helped people get clear vision.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - David - 06-24-2012
How do you know your eyes are moving different directions when you look at a blank wall?
Whether you're looking at something relatively uniform or full of details, or whether it's blurry or not, your approach to looking at it shouldn't change much. You need a reason for inspecting anything. You can come up with the reason when your eyes first fall on it.
If I look at a honeydew melon on my counter, I can either glance back to something else or look at the honeydew in more detail. To inspect it in more detail, I have to form some kind of curiosity about what I'm seeing. It wouldn't do any good to look at it and keep in mind to only see best with my central vision unless I also engage my brain about what I'm seeing. So I consider the texture of its skin.
So when you're looking at something that doesn't appear to have much detail, part of the reason you might have trouble is you find it easier to be interested in things with more detail. So you just have to find a reason to curious about what you're seeing in a way that will cause you to look for things within it.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - clarknight - 06-24-2012
Yeah!
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - Jambo2000 - 06-24-2012
I don't know really if the eyes are looking at different directions but it feels like their struggling to stay together on the point that I'm looking on. it's like I already moved to the other point but the attention stayed on the previous one. hmm it's hard to explain. nevermind that, now I know why it's happening.. I understand i'm forcing the eyes to look on something without engaging the brain, just for the sake of narrowing the the central vision. This is my mistake. oh and now while writing that line I'm looking at the blank wall with interest trying to look for details for shades of color or something or maybe some little fractures and the eyes work properly they aren't struggling to keep the central fixation. This is it. This was my mistake I got to keep the interest. okay, Thanks
clarknight,
You asked about âswitching close and farâ, I'm doing it many times, but I get great results by just looking at details at the distance for some time. Then when i'm looking at closer things they are very very sharp.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - clarknight - 06-25-2012
Thats good; your doing it right; some teachers have their students just switching back and forth close and far. Thats too much like a exercise without natural eye function. Bates teachers have the student shift on the objects; shift for a while on the distant object. Then on the close object, then distant... Any amount of time on a object, distance as is comfortable, enjoy the view.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - lakeivan - 07-11-2012
Dear Jambo2000,
You wrote
Quote:because when i'm relaxing, i'm widening the central vision and I need to to make it as small as possible right?
No, no, and no. Please remember that the essence of David's Method, in which he recommends that you concentrate your mental attention on very small details in a small area, does not involve blocking out any part of what you see! There is no version of good vision which involves "blocking out what you see." You are supposed to take in everything, absolutely everything, in the whole width and height of your visual field. It is simply a matter of concentrating mentally on very small details directly in the center of what you see.
When you relax your muscles, and your field of vision widens, rather than narrows, that is a good thing, not a bad thing. You can continue to maintain your mental concentration on the small details in the center, while at the same time having an awareness of the whole picture. In fact, your awareness of the (spatial) relationship of the whole picture to the specific detail you are looking at is the very thing that tells your brain how far away is the plane you are looking at, and this tells your brain how to allow your eyes to focus properly.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - Jambo2000 - 07-25-2012
wow now I understand I misunderstood David completely. I thought I need to get my attention on this small area and see what details I see there but I was blocking all the other visual information. About what you said about looking directly in the middle it's very helpful. Now I can read a sign only with 2 shifts or even one on every word before that I was doing too much shifting and it was taking too long. Thank you!
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - Kayla - 07-26-2012
lakeivan Wrote:Dear Jambo2000,
You wrote
Quote:because when i'm relaxing, i'm widening the central vision and I need to to make it as small as possible right?
No, no, and no. Please remember that the essence of David's Method, in which he recommends that you concentrate your mental attention on very small details in a small area, does not involve blocking out any part of what you see! There is no version of good vision which involves "blocking out what you see." You are supposed to take in everything, absolutely everything, in the whole width and height of your visual field. It is simply a matter of concentrating mentally on very small details directly in the center of what you see.
When you relax your muscles, and your field of vision widens, rather than narrows, that is a good thing, not a bad thing. You can continue to maintain your mental concentration on the small details in the center, while at the same time having an awareness of the whole picture. In fact, your awareness of the (spatial) relationship of the whole picture to the specific detail you are looking at is the very thing that tells your brain how far away is the plane you are looking at, and this tells your brain how to allow your eyes to focus properly.
How do you concentrate MENTALLY on a very small detail directly in the center of your visual field while still taking everything in?
I'm confused on how to mentally do this. Kinda frustrating.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - Nancy - 07-26-2012
Noticing you can see the center clearest, and everything else less clear (even though you can still see it) might be a start. A lot of it is about awareness rather than just going forward with your old automatic habits.
Re: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - Kayla - 07-26-2012
Nancy Wrote:Noticing you can see the center clearest, and everything else less clear (even though you can still see it) might be a start. A lot of it is about awareness rather than just going forward with your old automatic habits.
Thank you, Nancy, for clarifying that for me!
I'll be doing this more.
RE: Made more progress, but I have some difficulties - lakeivan - 03-21-2015
Kayla wrote
Quote:How do you concentrate MENTALLY on a very small detail directly in the center of your visual field while still taking everything in?
I'm confused on how to mentally do this. Kinda frustrating.
The main point I was trying to make is that you should put no mental effort into blocking out anything you are looking at. You shouldn't think about "narrowing" or "limiting" your vision, only about paying particular attention to the details of what is in the center. And you most definitely should not try to narrow your vision in any physical, muscular way, as this will make your vision worse.