My vision's gone from 20/200 to 20/70 in my 2 years without correctional lenses. I have been stuck at 20/70 for months and I think the only think halting my progress is my inability to allow myself to notice oppositional movement at all times. During my years of wearing prescription lenses, I believe to have cultivated the habit of moving my head and eyes really quick to my target of interest and pretty much ignoring my eyes path to the target. Obviously the oppositional movement that I should be noticing happens in that split second when my eyes are moving towards it's target.
I'm gradually becoming better at noticing oppositional movement when I practice the swinging movements(long, rock, infinity), but it seems really hard to make it automatic in my everyday life.
Does anyone have any tips on allowing the notice of oppositional movement to become as automatic as breathing?
Also when I am able to notice oppositional movement during the long swing my vision goes out of focus during movement, and comes into focus when I stop/switch directions. Does anybody else notice the change in focus?
First, congratulations. With that amount of improvement you must have pretty good visual habits, as taking off corrective lenses alone isn't enough. My thought is that you just have to notice the oppositional movement more -- it's happening but you're not giving it your attention. Turn your head slowly from left to right and back: see it now? Look from one end of this line of text to the other: see it now? Like that; just keep practicing. Maybe you can think to look for it when you take a drink of water, or walk by that brown chair, or something else you do regularly. When you swing the world slides past in the opposite direction and you shouldn't be focusing on anything, just letting the images flow by without trying to grab them. (Trying to hold onto a moving image is what gives people motion sickness.) Again, good work!
I'd say that to make anything "automatic", one needs to practice it enough to make it a subconscious habit. So just keep at it and you should get better and better at noticing the movement.
In response to your question, I have found that in general, not much is in focus when I swing. I don't think this should be a source of concern though. The second I start thinking about not being able to see the center clearly while swinging, I forget to notice the oppositional movement and I begin to strain and everything falls apart.
what about moving your head vs. moving your eyes. I primarily move my head in order to look at a different objects. I also move my head to trace the letters on the snellen chart. However as I approach smaller and smaller letters, the movement of my head is not precise enough to trace the tiny letters. I'm guessing at that point only eye movement is needed?
Yes. Your attention (brain) leads, then eyes, then head, then body follow, in that order. (From Peter Grunwald) If your attention and eyes are moving only a slight amount, say from one side of a letter to the other, you won't need to move your head, just like turning your head slightly to look at something may not make you need to turn your body. It should feel easy and loose, not forced.
