Hello everyone, I'm a 25-year old guy from Poland and this is my first post here...
I've been doing eye exercises for 2 months now and I have a question to everyone: :o :o :o
Is it strange that when I do palming my better eye gets better and my worse eye gets worse?
Do I do something wrong? Please tell me what do you think about it...
[color=blue]Hello JK1981. I have a different experience, when i do palming for relaxation, my left eye keeps improving while my other eye refuse to improve, not get worse, i wonder do any body else have similar experiences?
I also realised that my vision can really fluctuate when I'm stressed ot tired or during the day itself. Is it normal? It's pretty irritating cos i'm basically seeing with the 'better' eye which is almost 20/20. But when this eye fail to function at it's optimal due to reasons stated above, my vision sucks, though I can still see relatively well without glasses, but it's not crisp as on some other days for me.
Anyway I will continue the Bates method that's for sure cos I have witnessed it improving for me...oh by the way I started off as -1.5 diopters in both eyes 2 years ago...
Sometimes I also have this thing with one eye improving and the other refusing to cooperate.
Anyway, palming usually causes me eyes to be more, how shall I put it, flexible. I mean, I think
my both eyes are more likely to respond to what I do next even if I don't have effects right away.
Maybe I shouldn't worry so much about one eye getting worse for a while. On the other hand, I might be
"stressing" !?!?! my weaker eye when I try to relax...(and of course I shouldn't) I also worry that I
should decrease the difference between my eyes and not the other way round.
I wonder if it is possible to consciously relax eye you choose.... especially with palming.
Bates writes about how he treated only one eye in their patients and it worked. I understand that they
did palming with both eyes covered and some active exercises on one eye only
Hi JK1981, thanks for sharing your somewhat similar experiences. Our body remembers the original state of it's health and when damage is done, it will try to heal itself. That's what prompt me to try the Bates method some time ago. If the other parts of the body can heal, why not our eyes? ;D
I come from sunny Singapore and we have one of Asia's highest number of myopic people around. Here the Bates method is relatively unknown, instead the LASIK procedure advert is all out to attract more people to have their eyes zapped, from celebrities to us folks, backed by wonderful testimonials. Well, anyway...
Ever since I noticed an obvious increase in depth perception and contrast 6 months after I practiced this technique, I dumped my glasses and persevere on to reach the kind of results that I want today. From what i understand, you have quite bad vision, so it takes you great determination to improve your vision to a level you considered satisfactory.
For the benefit of others, I can say that Bates is not the only method that i tried, you know that Vision for Life program someone in this forum queried about? I tried that too. But one thing, though I tried all sorts of eye exercises, the fundamental teachings of Dr Bates remains deep in my mind. The shifting, blinking, relaxing tracing outline of objects and so on...Hence can I say my improvement may come from a number of factors? One thing I noticed, if I try the 'Vision for Life' eye exercise before I go to bed, I wake up with poorer vision the next morning, only clearing slightly later in the evening. But never as good as if i don't do it. I'm not bashing the program, a lot of people find it amazing, it's my personal opinion, cause you really stretch those eye muscles in the exercises, which may be against Bates teachings.
JK1981, what is most important now is to relearn the good visual habits, without glasses, I'm afraid. It will prove to be difficult initially. Don't worry so much about the power difference between the eyes increasing or decreasing, it will adjust and recover itself according to your efforts. If you apply medication and keep a wound clean it will recover faster, am I right? I believe my right eye is responding now, though more slowly, i'm only worried that the brain adapted to using info from my left eye only to form a sharp image in future, hence only my left eye inproves much faster.
Oh yes, now I'm trying the Long swing on top of the good visual habits and palming..remember, we have to relearn how we once see when we have good eyesight, if you believe in Dr Bates, as it will reverse the damage and allow the eyes to heal. I wish you all the best in your vision improvement journey. It's tough and should you choose to give up and resort to much faster ways of getting that perfect eyesight, I will respect your decision if you have gone through serious thoughts.
1:
Since I wrote about differences between my right and left eyes I have noticed some things that might
explain, at least to some extent, why one eye "stays lazy". The inspiration came from Alexander
technique. I'm neither expert on Bates nor Alexander so I don't want to play "I am so wise and know
so much" - Simply: I think I behave a bit differently when I exercise my worse eye... more blinking, more tension in my body, more "trying". I seem to get better results when I don't think about what am I doing but rather HOW am I doing it. That is, how do I respond emotionally, what do I do with my arms, head etc.
What is the most important when I observe what I do and relax I get my weaker eye working...
2:
I know that my eyes are pretty bad but I strongly believe in all the natural methods. It wouldn't be difficult to get my eyes operated but I am sure that there is much more in myopia than bad-shaped
eye ball. I wear contacts most of the time trying not to use it when I can. Not wearing them is, as you
may imagine, pretty inconvenient but when I don't I can enjoy all those little discoveries concerning colour.
This morning I was really surprised at the colour of stripes on my sweatshirt that I have had for about 2 years and have worn it pretty often. I start to notice in detail colours of my face in the mirror: eyes, eyebrows. Those who have never had problems with eyes may not truly understand my last sentence but you who have witnessed quite good improvement in your eyes must understand it. It isn't the same when you see something with glasses or contacts and I it wouldn't be with LASIK I am afraid...
3. Working with a chart I usually manage to go further one or two line with no tricks, my eyes
stay relaxed and open I see shape and colour better.
good luck to you ROR, wish you (and myself ;D) seeing the smallest line from 20 feets..
Those are very good observations about having more strain when using your worse eye only. Now keep holding in your mind the better feeling of using your better eye. Then consider how it might feel even better, lighter, or more effortless, and stay focused on that as often as possible. Before long, you'll discover something about yourself and a reason why you put so much unnecessary force into your eyes while seeing. Maybe it's your way of armoring yourself, or pushing and striving like you feel you've been inculturated to, or something along those lines. Maybe you feel it isn't appropriate for you to be mentally and physically light and loose and soft. Just some ideas.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
I sure understand what you mean by 'start to notice in detail colours of my face in the mirror: eyes, eyebrows....'I went through the same process myself, similarly I remembered the reverse, when i start losing details in colour and contrast the day my eyesight went downhill...and got worse the moment I went to U as i wore glasses almost 8 hrs a day...I wished I had known the Bates method earlier...I recommended it to my friends, but they were all 'interested' but skeptical.
You are right, if we emphasize too much on the 'effort to see' we will in fact see worse. As Dave mentioned in the forum now and then, if one just let go of the effort to see and practice the 'correct way of seeing', vision improves.
After I started on the long swing, i noticed a further slight improvement in my vision! I do it before I go to bed, and the first thing when I wake up. It somehow has an effect on me, I feel more alert, and better vision follows. The tension (yes I can feel the tension in my eyeball, the better eye feels very light, interesting huh?) is loosening up..I really hope this translates to vision improvement. I'm trying not to test the visual acuity for this eye too often cos it brings upon it tension.
I believe my right eye is responding now, though more slowly, i'm only worried that the brain adapted to using info from my left eye only to form a sharp image in future, hence only my left eye inproves much faster.
Many thanks again...
