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Practises while away from home? - Choirs of Winter - 10-07-2015
I have started to practice the Bates Method, and so far, I have a big difference between the eyes (one myopic, the other normal) which I'm trying to work on.
I do have feelings of strain and fatigue around my eyes, when sitting at the computer, reading books, or while being in school. What do people do when they are at work to reduce eye fatigue/strain?
I don't want to make my vision worse.
Does it take longer for those of us who have a tight schedule?
So basically, I want to know:
1. How to work with eyestrain and to have a relaxed mind, wherever you are.
2. Some suggestions[i] on how you can practice while NOT in home, without drawing yourself too much attention. Especially to reduce eyestrain and difference between the eyes. I shift and blink already. I have about five minutes break and half an hour lunch.[/font]
I hope I've stated what I want to know here, so it does not get misunderstood in any way. Sorry for my English.
Thank you.
RE: Practises while away from home? - vst - 10-08-2015
Hi Choirs of Winter. One method I've been trying out and having considerable success with lately is making your sight worse deliberately. Although it sounds incredulous, consciously making your sight worse can help you identify the strain patterns that you unconsciously subject yourself to, thus improving relaxation and your vision.
It's actually quite simple, just look at an object at a distance you can see clearly without straining , and start to stare and make every conscious effort you can think of to make the object you see blurry, and try to maintain the blurry vision for about three seconds. After that, let go of all the effort you were making and allow the object to return to its original clarity. It's best if you give your eyes at least a minute's break before trying again. You don't need to deliberately rest your eyes by closing them or palming, just look around at stuff as you normally do. This should be quite easy to get for objects you can see clearly. As you become more adept at it you can do the same thing for distant objects you can't see clearly.
I practice this exercise every chance I get throughout the day, which is quite often.I think it's quite convenient, since it only takes a few seconds to complete, and you can do it anywhere, such as on the street, in the restaurant, at work, or even when talking to people! Once you get the hang of it you will be able to make your vision worse without showing disturbing signs of effort (squeezing your eyes, suddenly holding your body rigid) and attracting attention.
I wrote this post sort of hastily, so maybe it sounds really weird to improve your vision by making it worse. For your convenience, I 've pasted Bate's explanation of the principles behind it from the Better Eyesight Magazine below:
MAKE YOUR SIGHT WORSE
Strange as it may seem there is no better way of improving the sight than by making it worse. To see things worse when one is already seeing them badly requires mental control of a degree greater than that required to improve the sight. The importance of these facts is very great. When patients become able to lower their vision by conscious staring, they become better able to avoid unconscious staring. When they demonstrate by increasing their eccentric fixation that trying to see objects not regarded lowers the vision, they may stop trying to do the same thing unconsciously.
What is true of the sight is also true of the imagination and memory. If one's memory and imagination are imperfect, they can be improved by consciously making them worse than they are. Persons with imperfect sight never remember or imagine the letters on the test card as perfectly black and distinct, but to imagine them as grey and clouds is very difficult, or even impossible, and when a patient has done it, or tried to do it, he may become able to avoid the unconscious strain which has prevented him front forming mental pictures as black and distinct as the reality.
To make imperfect sight worse is always more difficult than to lower normal vision. In other words, to make a letter which already appears grey and indistinct noticeably more cloudy is harder than to blur a letter seen distinctly. To make an imperfect mental picture worse is harder than to blur a perfect one. Both practices require much effort, much hard disagreeable work; but they always, when successful, improve the memory, imagination and vision.