I have just finished reading the palming section of Bates' book and I was wondering if this is the correct way to do it. I will put both of the palms of my hands over the eyes with the fingers crossing on the forehead. Trying to make sure that I don't put any pressure on the eyes. And then I just relax and don't try to do anything. Whatever comes to my eyes comes. And according to Bates' theory I should be able to eventually start to see black which will become blacker and blacker until a perfect black is achieved which will indicate that my eyes are completely relaxed.
I'm new to all this too, so take that into account when you read my responce. But from what I understand you are correct in your palming method, except you may want to try and picture a calming image in your mind. When I just stared at the blackness I started, well, staring and TRYING to see black -- which of course is wrong.
I've had the best results palming so far be covering my eyes and then picturing a beach where I went on my Honeymoon years ago, then my mind relaxes more and I am to momentarily see clearer when I take my hands away from my eyes.
And I've only been doing it for a week. I'm nowhere close to 20/20 of course, but I'm measurably better. In fact as I'm typing this right now I'm seeing clearer and more relaxed than ever -- this relaxation will soon dissappear though by the time I'm done writing this for reasons I'll explain in a second.
The reason I know it's measurably better is I went out to <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.Central-Fixation.com">http://www.Central-Fixation.com</a><!-- w --> and downloaded one of there Snellen charts. When I printed it out on a 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper it was about half the size it should have been (relaxed feeling is gone now by the way, and my vision is more blurry). But that didn't matter since I figured that if I could see the smallest letters from farther and farther away over time, regardless of what the actual measurement of my vision was, then that would be sign my vision was improving.
And, indeed, I can read the small letters about 11 inches further away today than I could last week. If I can make that much progress every week than that would be fantastic. But alas, I get the impression that your progress goes in fits and starts, so we'll have to see what happens.
The reason why I was seeing so good a few minutes ago and not now is I had just got done doing one of my favorite methods. I took the 20/10 line of that snellen chart I told you about and cut it off the rest of the chart with some scissors. I then taped that scrap of paper to the top of my monitor. then periodically throughout the day I'll lean back far enough for those letters to be just blurry enough not to make out at all. I'll then put my hands behind my head, (or not, whatever feels comfortarable), THINK OF OTHER THINGS, and just softly blink and look back and forth across that paper. Within a few minutes (sometimes more, sometimes less) some of the letters on than paper will come into focus for just and instant or two -- enough to make them out anyway. When these clear instances start increasing in number, if I have time, I lean back further/push my chair back until It happens again.
For me, I'm finding that I can only go back so much further each day. In other words, it seems I can only go back so far on a given day and then no matter how much I try this my eyes are not going to see any better that day. This may just be a mental block or something. You know, I've told myself this is the case so it became reality. Whatever the case is though, my eyes are very much measureably getting better.
Of course I'm also practising Central Fixation whenever I can. I try to do it whenever my eyes are open like you are supposed to. But life goes on and I forget for one reason or another. As I forget I begin to stare and soon my eyes begin to ache -- like right now for instance -- and I have to start sketching (from the book Relearning to See) again until they feel better.
My big downfall is working on the computer. I'm a software engineer and whenever I code I start to want to see what happen before the line of code I'm working on and I think about it. It makes sense since you have to know the flow of logic you are using. But I'm realizing that instead of REMEMBERING what happened before and what will happen after a line of code, I'm trying to SEE what happened before and what is happening after. In other words, I STARE big time. This habit is so deep seated, I'm learning, after years of doing this for a living that it's going to take a lot of effort to break. I've tried shinking my window size down so I can only see a few lines at a time, and this seems to help, but it's not solving it.
I'm finding I do the same thing when I do things like write this post. So right now my eyes are aching, whereas when I started this post they felt terrific. Live and learn I guess.
I can read just fine for some reason. When reading I can focus on just a letter at a time, my peripheral vision takes care of the rest, and my eyes are comforarable while reading. But writing and coding are another matter altogether.
Thanks for the in depth answer to my very short question. I had another question. I was wondering when you palm do you leave your eyes open or do you close your eyes under your palmed hands? If palmed is even a term. I don't know
Also is it worthwhile to pickup the relearning to see. I already have the complete newsletters and The Bates Method for Better Eyesight Without Glasses. Does Quackenbush just rehash what Bates says or would it be worth my time to pick it up?
Sorry for not replying sooner, I've been out of town.
I do close my eyes when I palm and I also think Relearning to See is worth getting. Every book gives a little differant insight. But if you don't want to buy it you can always do a inter-library loan. This is what I've done with this book. It only costs $1.00, and lets you see if it's worth buying permanently because he does rehash a lot of what Bates already said,
I had an improvement yesterday and I had only palmed for about 5 minutes before going to bed. I could see the numbers on the bathroom scale for the first time without glasses so that was nice.
Does anyone else feel just wiped out after they palm. I am also finding that my vision seems to be getting a little worse since I took my glasses off. I am going to keep trying to see without them though.
I usually feel pretty relaxed after I'm done palming -- if I haven't been distracted.
What I'm bummed about for the last few days is that my progress seems to have come to a standstill. And some days I'm definitely better at remembering to practise Central Fixation than others.
krackerjack121 Wrote:Does anyone else feel just wiped out after they palm. I am also finding that my vision seems to be getting a little worse since I took my glasses off. I am going to keep trying to see without them though.
Rocky
A lot of people feel sleepy after doing it. I sort of do, if I do it while lying down on my back. But I meditate (without palming) too, and I've been palming a long time too, so I'm used to the feeling, and it's more of an issue with getting used to different states of awareness or brain wave patterns. The "alpha" pattern is associated with early stages of sleep, but it's also associated with vivid imagery and psychic activity. If you aren't used to relaxing, you'll take any change like that as a indicator that you want to sleep.
Dave
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"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
In response to krackerjack121, When I attempt to go without glasses, my vision is very blurred, and if I have them off for more tham about thirty minutes, and put them back on, my vision stays blurred for a while especially if I do close work without them.
Do many of you wear your minus lenses for close work, and what is your Rx.
The glasses that I wear are for seeing things at a distance. I find that I see things blurry the further out on the horizon I am looking. Sorry I don't know what my Rx is. I find that I am going pretty well without them on. But I would like to see with a little more clarity. I guess that it will come in time.
