I've had a few attempts at giving up my glasses but I always found it too difficult. 5 weeks ago I tried again and I've kept it up so far After the progress I've made I'll definitely never go back to glasses unless I absolutely cannot get back to perfect vision.
I got specs shortly after starting secondary school. The classroms were bigger and the blackboards were further away, and an early childhood of sitting in front of a computer seemed to have taken its toll as I couldn't read the blackboard well. 20 years later (I'm 31) my right eye got to -4.0 and my left was -3.5. Moderate, but bad enough.
I've gathered information about some of the exercises from Rebuild Your Vision and I've been doing them every day for the last 5 weeks. My eyes hardly ever ache like they did in the first week of no glasses and occasionally my eyes feel totally relaxed as if they were brand new. But one of the big problems I have with all the usual "get rid of your glasses" websites is that they're not very descriptive about what it feels like during exercising or how to really do the exercises so that you know you're doing them correctly. Then I found this site and heard about the Bates method and central fixation and all this learning how to see again rather than just exercising my eyes and strengthening the muscles. So now I have another method to employ.
Most effective so far have been all the 3 cups exercises. Stringbeads is also quite good but I think the string I made is too short. I'm having major trouble with In & Out or Zooming as I've seen it sometimes referred to. So I have a couple of questions:
As I'm nearsighted I can easily focus on the small print at about 3 inches, but when I switch to the Snellen 8 or 10 feet away I just can't really focus on the letters. I feel my eye muscles squeeze when I look at the small letters but then when I glance at the Snellen it's as if I'm staring blankly at them. Once my eye muscles have relaxed after looking at the close letters, there's no opposite muscle sensation when I look at the far letters. I've really not seen much improvement in this at all, which I think is why I'm disappointed. Am I doing it correctly? Should I be trying to strain to look at the far letters? Currently, I'm looking back and forth quite quickly and this may be helping but I'm not sure.
Next is what it feels like to see, and this is slightly related to the string of details stuff I've been reading on this site recently. I can look at my PC monitor with my eyes hardly converged and still see the screen well. But I cal also focus more on individual letters a bit more and look at the screen with what feels like more convergence. Is this what central fixation "feels like? Similarly, I can gaze into the distance and choose a point of interest with what feels like converged eyes. BUT! I can also look at objects at different distances stayig what seems like the same convergence/divergence. Just like when I first stopped wearing glasses and I didn't know what to focus on. Basically, what should it feel like to see? I can't remember.
Overall, I think I'm on the right track but I'm not sure how much progress I should be making. Sorry if there's no real answer to any of these questions
Move the Snellen closer. The idea of "far" is different for different levels of myopia. I started with it less than a foot away and moved it out as I improved.
Second, clear vision feels like a flash feels, relaxed neck/eyes/forehead/temples, no trying or straining. The picture just pops into view. Once you see the difference between this and the artificial clarity glasses give you (along with the muting of colors and the flattening of depth, and possibly a headache) there is no comparison.
Thanks. I'll try that with the Snellen. I did have a major clear flash the other day. Only five seconds or so, but it was at my PC which makes me think that moving closer to the Snellen will help. Can't help thinking I've wasted the last few weeks though
That's true. I think I made a tiny bit of progress today. I was sat at my monitor trying to converge my eyes a bit more than usual and it helped a bit but it was hard to maintain. After about half an hour of this I found that I'm now able to pick an object and feel like I'm actually looking at it with both eyes. Of course, everything is still blurry but it feels like I have eyes in my head at least.
I was watching TV last night and I tried so move around the picture as I was watching (about 10 feet away from a 42" screen.) Soon I realised I was straining and probably had been for at least 15 minutes, so I stoped. But since then my eyes have felt as if they're pointing ever so slightly inwards. But now when I'm looking in a certain direction I really feel like I'm zeroed in on whetever's in front of me. Not sure if I've damaged something or given myself a problem
What kind of relaxation techniques are you using from Bates? I have recently started doing the three cups exercise along with swinging, shifting, palming, and sunning. I notice that too much trying to converge/diverge causes stress in my eyes, and that doing doing any of Bates' relaxation techniques helps to relieve the stress so I can keep exercising them.
I know there are many different causes of bad vision, which is why there are so many different ways to restore normal vision. I've found the most beneficial thing for me is doing the long swing outside, alternating between closed eye and open eye every 30 seconds or so (with normal blinking) for about 10-15 minutes. My vision feels absolutely clear while I do it and the longer I do it, the longer the effects stay.
I was already palming as part of Rebuild Your Vision but I started shifting and sunning (on the rare occasion that it's sunny,) this weekend and generally keeping my eyes moving.
However, I've had to admit defeat and gone back to my glasses, which has made me feel better. I gave it a good go and was into my 6th week without them but enough is enough. I hope everyone here achieves their goals.
Look Crayfish, i heard about Bates since February 2010. Since then i experiment the exercises method's,the yoga method's,read and buy a lot of books and today i simple hadn't improve. Even 1 cm...but i will tell you something: I will not give up! You know why? Because this is not only about the eyes,this is about living without mental problems,without glasses,leaving with health in mind,body and eyes...this is the dream i search since kid. One thing is true: this is a commitment for life.
