This is just a brief note to say thanks, Dave, for making this website available. I have struggled for years with an intuitive belief that my poor eyesight was a result of how I used my eyes and that I could overcome the problem. Unfortunately, I was trying too hard, using an assortment of eye exercises without the basic understanding of the goal to achieve relaxation as described by Bates. Within just a few weeks of reading Bates' book, which I download from this site, and some of the wonderful articles found here, I have significantly improved my sight to a level of functionality (such as driving without my glasses). I'm a long way from the crystal clear 20/15 that I once had, but I believe I may well get there. I just want to say thanks to all that make this site possible.
goldrx7 Wrote:This is just a brief note to say thanks, Dave, for making this website available. I have struggled for years with an intuitive belief that my poor eyesight was a result of how I used my eyes and that I could overcome the problem. Unfortunately, I was trying too hard, using an assortment of eye exercises without the basic understanding of the goal to achieve relaxation as described by Bates. Within just a few weeks of reading Bates' book, which I download from this site, and some of the wonderful articles found here, I have significantly improved my sight to a level of functionality (such as driving without my glasses). I'm a long way from the crystal clear 20/15 that I once had, but I believe I may well get there. I just want to say thanks to all that make this site possible.
Ron
Congratulations!
I to am hoping to get acceptable vision!
What do you see now? 20/40? or??
What was your acuity before doing the Bates Method?
Blauw
I'm not really sure what my vision was. When I first went to the eye doctor, I was having trouble reading plane tickets and my watch...bad for someone who travelled frequently for work. The eye doc said my far vision was a problem, too. I ended up with progressive bi-focals. After wearing these, I went from seeing distances fine (at least from my perspective) to not being able to see names on street signs, then during the subsequent check ups, my prescription became stronger. However, I often had flashes of clear vision, which convinced me that I really had two good eyes. It might not be fair to say that I had severe vision problems, but without what I gained from this website, I'm quite sure that I would have ended up with an eyeglass restriction on my drivers license as a result of the vision test. I am extremely happy.
goldrx7 Wrote:Blauw
I'm not really sure what my vision was. When I first went to the eye doctor, I was having trouble reading plane tickets and my watch...bad for someone who travelled frequently for work. The eye doc said my far vision was a problem, too. I ended up with progressive bi-focals. After wearing these, I went from seeing distances fine (at least from my perspective) to not being able to see names on street signs, then during the subsequent check ups, my prescription became stronger. However, I often had flashes of clear vision, which convinced me that I really had two good eyes. It might not be fair to say that I had severe vision problems, but without what I gained from this website, I'm quite sure that I would have ended up with an eyeglass restriction on my drivers license as a result of the vision test. I am extremely happy.
Ron
Its really great how the Bates Method can do wonders and yet we still have this Optical industry that hides everything from us.
Your story is encouraging for me. I am working my way towards getting at least 20/50 or 20/40 vision after I reach that goal I will stride for 20/20.
Blauw
In terms of exercises, I did a mixture of palming, sunning, swings and shifting. I also like to shift the eye balls up, down, side ways and to the corners to just maintain muscle tone of the face and muscles around the eyes. However, I don't attribute my progress as much to exercises as I do to suddenly realizing how the mind and sight are inter-related. The articles by various individuals in the article library were of enormous help in realizing this. Even today I see some slight progress over yesterday, as I learn to be concious of how I see, seeing with the mind rather than forcing myself to use my eyes. That's not meant to be mystic, I mean that I try to let my eyes just be their natural self. I have also tried to steer my focus from being totally vision oriented to stopping and making sure that I'm sensing the world through my hearing (one of the articles talks about how myops are often totally vision oriented). In one of these forums there is a piece about loving the blur. That was also important to me. If something is a blur I found that if I relaxed and accepted it, that my vision would clear.
If I forget to be concious of relaxing my eyes, I find myself back to where I was. However, I'm starting to feel that my concious effort to relax is becoming more natural and takes less of my effort.
Something else, that might be controversial since a lot of bad is said about glasses. I do better if I use my glasses when I really need to vice trying to always do without them. If I try to accomplish something that I absolutely cannot do without glasses, my vision regresses as I lose the ability to relax. I use my glasses as a tool or crutch when needed. My next goal is to be able to do things close up without having to rely upon them. At the moment I'm happy to be able to navigate down the highway without glasses.
I have always been sensitive to glare. As I learn to relax my eyes, I find that glare is much less a bother, something that Bates touches upon, I believe. I still have a long ways to go. If I were to offer any advice based upon my limited success, it is to focus on doing what helps your eyes relax, which is mostly an intuitive aspect.
goldrx7 Wrote:Blauw
In terms of exercises, I did a mixture of palming, sunning, swings and shifting. I also like to shift the eye balls up, down, side ways and to the corners to just maintain muscle tone of the face and muscles around the eyes. However, I don't attribute my progress as much to exercises as I do to suddenly realizing how the mind and sight are inter-related. The articles by various individuals in the article library were of enormous help in realizing this. Even today I see some slight progress over yesterday, as I learn to be concious of how I see, seeing with the mind rather than forcing myself to use my eyes. That's not meant to be mystic, I mean that I try to let my eyes just be their natural self. I have also tried to steer my focus from being totally vision oriented to stopping and making sure that I'm sensing the world through my hearing (one of the articles talks about how myops are often totally vision oriented). In one of these forums there is a piece about loving the blur. That was also important to me. If something is a blur I found that if I relaxed and accepted it, that my vision would clear.
If I forget to be concious of relaxing my eyes, I find myself back to where I was. However, I'm starting to feel that my concious effort to relax is becoming more natural and takes less of my effort.
Something else, that might be controversial since a lot of bad is said about glasses. I do better if I use my glasses when I really need to vice trying to always do without them. If I try to accomplish something that I absolutely cannot do without glasses, my vision regresses as I lose the ability to relax. I use my glasses as a tool or crutch when needed. My next goal is to be able to do things close up without having to rely upon them. At the moment I'm happy to be able to navigate down the highway without glasses.
I have always been sensitive to glare. As I learn to relax my eyes, I find that glare is much less a bother, something that Bates touches upon, I believe. I still have a long ways to go. If I were to offer any advice based upon my limited success, it is to focus on doing what helps your eyes relax, which is mostly an intuitive aspect.
Congratulations there!
You've got some good advice there too. I agree with you about glasses.
Cheers, JW
Did you have to do an driving exam as well, or you have just tested your vision in the office and got the wording removed from you licence?
(I know the laws may be different in countries). It's just I am seeing getting the licence cleared out from vision limitation is a good goal to go towards, and am occasionlyy getting 6/12 vision (for I am struggling between 6/15 and 6/18). Just don't know if it's worth to rush into it if it's too much trouble. I also noticed the test in the office for driving licence is on full light and on 3m... maybe easier to pass then within the optometrist's office where they put you into dark and have some dimmed light behind the letters and is on mirror (I am still sceptical about getting 6 m with having mirror on 3 m - have to test this out myself....)
No actual driving test, just got to the end of my license period and had to do the vision test to renew. Though I passed it, it seemed difficult. I had to force myself to relax (which is counter intuitive). I don't use a Snellen or measure my actual vision. I have a coffee cup sitting across the room with lettering on it and the license plate on the car in the driveway across from my office window, so I know when I'm having a clear day and when I'm not. I have days when I can read road signs with great clarity and other days when they are simply a blur.
Congrads!
I like your eyecharts!
I notice that looking into the machine at the DMV is different, not natural like looking at a chart on the wall.
The ones at our DMV are low so you have to bend the head and neck down to look into it and that adds to tension.
