At first, Bates is not about exercises, you need to use central fixation all day long. First concious, later it will become an unconscious habit, but therefore you need to practice it. If you want to do a special exercise to learn and better understand central fixation, I suggest the "Pebble Game"This is described in Thomas Quackenbush's book: Relearning to See. I'll try to give a short guide o the Pebble Game:
Place 2 pebbles about 14inches apart, 1 left and 1 right about 10inches in front of you. Sketch the left pebble. If you are a high myope( if you are a myope?), bring the pebbles closer to you so the pebble you're sketching is clearer than the peripheral pebble. The sketched pebble must be clearer than the peripheral, that's the goal of this game. While sketching, NO peeking to the right pebble. After 20 sec, sketch the right pebble and see this is clearer than the left pebble. Don't make an effort to see it clearer!! When you've sketched both,bring them closer together and repeat the previous steps. Continue this until your eye s grab both and one isn't seen clearer than the other one. If you can see the sketched pebble clearer than the other when both pebbles are touching!, then you' ve reached your goal. Remember to NOT make an effort to see one clearer, also stop when feeling fatigue or discomfort. Hope this helps.
i'm myopic and i have a prescription of 1.75 in my left eye and 1.25 in my right, how long do you think this Bates thing should take? I already had some clear flashes...
That's difficult to say, it most depends on your own. If you're able to relearn the good vision habits fast and relaxed, your vision will improve pretty fast. As your prescription isn't very high, you can be cured in a few months, maybe one if you can keep up the good habits. The fact you've got clear flashes is a good sign, as long as you don't consciously create them by yourself. I'm only doing this for 4days and even I have noticed a little improvement, especially in the morning. Bur I haven't got any clear flashes yet. I've never worn glasses, so that's a great advantage, but just hang on and stay motivated to keep working on your vision. Every improvement, even the slightest, should encourage you to get better vision. If you're able to pass the DMV (for driving licence) test, you don't need glasses anymore, and that's the most important I suppose.
The thing is...i'm not sure if the flashes were consciously created or not, they didn't come out of no where, i had to focus, and it wasn't a completely clear one either. Does that mean it's a consciously created flash, how can i tell??
I can't tell if that one was conscious or not, but consciously created flashes can become by:
-Blinking harder than normal
-Keep your eyes open for a long time ( the tears make your vision clearer)
-Squinting: pushing the eyelids together so the lightrays are more curved
-move head down and eyes up (light rays are more curved)
I don't support these things because it's a strain and it lowers your vision.
But I'm not sure if it was subconscious, because normally they just happen without suspecting them to happen. You say you had to focus, but there are 2types of focusing:
-Relaxed "concentration" ( don't understand "concentration" wrong, it usually means: only think about 1 thing, but that needs an effort, effort lowers vision, just let your mind "concentrate" without effort
This is how it's meant to be
-Really focus and strain to see it better and focus only at one point without moving your eyes, that the bad way.
A clear flash isn't necessary perfect vision, just improved vision. Don't be disappointed if you created it consciously, I also did it sometimes. Try not to strain to see, that the most important and then (if you use the good vision habits all day long correct) the real flashes come by themselves and maybe stay permanent. Not every vision student gets clear flashes, they just improve constanly without clear flashes.
