Method of the Month - Looking at Halos - Feb 2005

[David]

The following discussion took place on the 'batesmethod' Yahoo Group. It is copied here so members of this forum have a chance to read it and even continue the discussion here.


From:  <methodoftheweek@s...>
Date:  Sat Jan 29, 2005  8:17 pm
Subject:  Method of the Week - Looking at Halos


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LOOKING AT HALOS

When your eyes are relaxed, the white spaces inside black letters appear
whiter than a large blank area of a page or computer screen. When the effect
is stronger, the area immediately surrounding the letter is also whiter than
further away from the letter. Bates called these halos.

They're your imagination at work. The contrast is emphasized by your visual
mind in order to help you distinguish the letters.

Imagining the halos can be relaxing, and it helps open up your imagination
if you're someone who otherwise habitually blocks the use of it.

The first time this effect was at its maximum for me, I was looking at a
small 'i', and I felt as if I were looking at the letter inside my mind, not
looking at it "out there". But that's really what's going on anyway. By the
time you see something, you are never seeing something "out there", you're
imagining it, because all you're doing is processing the image you're
forming inside your mind.

One time I saw letters printed on a page in this way, with the area
surrounding the letters whiter than the slightly greyish background, and it
took me a moment to figure out whether I was just imagining the halos or if
they were actually printed that way. It was hard to figure out, and by the
end I still wasn't positive about it.

Regarding the white halos can end up being easier on the eyes than if you
attempt to see black letters. Black is nothing; it's an absence of light,
because a black object absorbs light and bounces none toward you. When you
strain to see a black letter, you're straining to see something that isn't
there at all, so it might help to start looking at the white in and around
the letters instead.

Comments?

Dave K

[Mihai_alexandru]

When I try to do this, I get my visual field filled with thick gray lines as afterimages. Am I doing it right?

[Ram]

I think all after images are symptoms of eye strain. I allso experience the samething as you. Even looking at the same object for a few seconds produces an after image for me. As long as I was wearing my thick glasses until three months ago I had never noticed any of these phenomenon as glasses truly mask all symptoms of strain by giving you a false illusion of clear vision. I think these after-images are useful for vision improvement because it helps you realize that a particular activity causes you eye strain( it is common with sun gazing), so doing that repeatedly you will finally learn to relax one day. When I get these after-images I shift my eyes very rapidly ( usually facing a blank wall) and these images disappear quickly.