I've been wearing glasses for 25+ years ever since I was a little child and now have pretty bad myopia and astigmatism. My right eye's prescription is -10.5 and my left eye is -7.5 with astigmatism thrown in. I've been reading about Bates ever since I read in an NLP book about how to use hypnosis to cure eyesight. At first I didn't understand Bates but now I think I get it. I also went to a local hypnotist who tried to help me but was unsuccessful mainly due to my expectations.
What I've noticed is that I have a lot of muscle tension when I take off my glasses and do any sort of eye exercise. My eyes feel really tense (like they're being compressed or squeezed and the tension extends down to my neck. Like I said I haven't practiced much in terms of the Bates method as I have to wear my glasses constantly in order to work and any improvement would be wiped out if I wore my glasses back.
Has any of you experienced similar thing and gotten god results with Bates? In a way I would want a quick enough result so that any work I do is not wiped out by my wearing the glasses back.
I suggest to you to get some reduced prescription glasses. The point is to practice proper eye habits, and if you can do at least some of them while wearing glasses, your work will not be wiped out. Any relaxation, any improvement, will never be wiped out completely, because it will be easier to recall it and bring it back the more often you do it.
Palming will help with releasing tension in the eyes.
As far as the neck thing, I have these troubles too. My neck was pretty misaligned, and yours may be as well. I went to the chiropractor, who helped move some things back into place. It stopped helping after a while, and I have started to go to the physical therapist. Massage therapy may help you as well, and Alexander technique and yoga. Neck muscles and eye muscles are intrinsically connected so releasing one will help release the other. Also practice better posture and moving your neck. I think it would be good for you to practice Bates method, even if you are often wearing your full strength glasses, but if you don't yet feel comfortable, do some things to release your neck. Then, when you do take your glasses off, a more relaxed neck won't become as tense from your eyes.
Same experience with chiropractor; physical therapist helps, often better and lasts, can do it myself.
Professional massage on neck, shoulders works.
Choose a good massuse. I had one that pressed on my lower back and threw vertebrae out, couldnt feel legs, trouble waklking and had to go to the chiropractor to get it placed back together.
Now I have new massuse and she is great! My neck will be so stiff that the muscles pull me forward, left and right... scary imbalance feeling, ear and head aches and C4 vertebrae neck slightly pulls out.
The massage leaves me feeling rubbery for about 1/2 day, then my neck is perfectly relaxed, vertebrae moves back into place, neck moves easy and balance perfect.
Try shifting, tracing with the nosefeather, figure eight, (infinity swing) Long swing to move, relax the neck.
Avoid diet soda, aspartame.
Caffiene dehydrates muscles.
Apple cider vinegar (raw, organic) and organic local raw honey mix with spring water is a old farmers remedy for arthritis in neck, all joints. Lots old people (100+) interviewed on TV say that is one of their life long health drinks.
Get potassuim daily; two bannanas worth of potassium.
Unlike some other people here, I've had good experience with chiropractic, supplemented by regular massage. My behavioral optometrist initially recommended chiropractic to me. He said people with a severely myopic pattern (I wore a -10 correction, with cylinder too, for over 30 years) often have a mis-alignment of C2 (2nd cervical vertebra, high up in the neck). I've been seeing the chiropractor for a couple of years now, & my spine is a lot more flexible, my posture is straighter, my neck is looser, & my shoulders aren't hunched forward much at all now. I'm sleeping better & am more calm overall.
My opinion is that like anything else, a skilled practitioner can help guide our body back to healthier patterns, since if the unhealthy patterns are long-standing they'll often feel "right" because we're so used to them. However if we keep up our bad habits, like terrible posture & no exercise & caffeine & processed food & never getting outdoors, our unhealthy body habits won't shift very quickly (if at all), no matter how great the practitioner is. He/she can't really "fix" us like a broken bicycle, just educate our body in what is right. The responsibility to be well is our own.
I've been wearing glasses for 25+ years ever since I was a little child and now have pretty bad myopia and astigmatism. My right eye's prescription is -10.5 and my left eye is -7.5 with astigmatism thrown in. I've been reading about Bates ever since I read in an NLP book about how to use hypnosis to cure eyesight. At first I didn't understand Bates but now I think I get it. I also went to a local hypnotist who tried to help me but was unsuccessful mainly due to my expectations.
What I've noticed is that I have a lot of muscle tension when I take off my glasses and do any sort of eye exercise. My eyes feel really tense (like they're being compressed or squeezed and the tension extends down to my neck. Like I said I haven't practiced much in terms of the Bates method as I have to wear my glasses constantly in order to work and any improvement would be wiped out if I wore my glasses back.
Has any of you experienced similar thing and gotten god results with Bates? In a way I would want a quick enough result so that any work I do is not wiped out by my wearing the glasses back.
Thanks,
JB
Have you tried palming or acupressure? Might release some of the tension perhaps? What about other Bates exercises that will bring about relaxation? Perhaps Long Swing or The Sway (aka the Rock??
