Okay so I just read he chapter on shifting and swinging in bates book and I thought I would try it out on a few words in the chapter. I was positioned about a foot away just so that the letters were a little blurry. I started shifting between two works directly next to each other, I think they got clearer although I could of moved my head forward a bit, sometimes it seemed to be okay then other times my eyes began burning. Eventually when I looked at them again I noticed that the section of the line I was looking at began appearing beneath the line but just a bit dimmer.
I have just plain old myopia, nothing else and I was just wondering what this all means?
Ask yourself whether you are shifting only your attention or using physical strain to shift. Only the former is correct.
Ask yourself if you notice the universal swing. Only if so are you shifting correctly.
Ask yourself if you are resisting feelings of muscular strain or mental anxiety that arise while you shift, or merely noticing these feelings. Only when not resisting but merely noticing these sensations are you shifting correctly.
Ask yourself if you see your vision improve slightly within a few shifts (in seconds, not minutes). Only if so are you shifting correctly. If you don't see at least some immediate, temporary, improvement, you're doing something wrong. It may take a while to realize what you're doing wrong, but inevitably it has something to do with using physical effort. Your vision will not improve for as long as it takes you to figure out how you're using effort, but as soon as you figure it out, progress is rapid.
For further clarification, try reading Bates more closely, especially the chapter on strain. His writing is dense, but he means every word of it literally (there is very little figurative language in his writing).
That is a huge help, I completely understand what you mean and hope I will get it to work for me soon. You mentioned how progress is rapid, have you or anyone you know improved their vision much by just learning to shift. I ask this because even though I understand how to palm I still do think I stress much, not anymore than normal anyway.
On one last note, bates mentioned a few different ways to practice shifting, is their any other ways he may have missed that are any good and how about drawing two separate dots on a white page to shift between.
