In his book Bates mentions a guy who palmed for an entire day without stopping, drinking water only, until he was completely cured. I wonder if this would be worth doing? I could post the results on here if you guys think it'd be worth a try.
I have considered this myself. I would be interested in the results for sure. I don't remember the man being completely cured, however. I believe it was an older man that did it for 20 hours and considerably reduced the strain he had, but not to a complete cure, though I do not doubt it is possible.
Yes, I'm curious at the improvement you'd get. I remember Bates mentioned of a guy like this. There was another individual who cured his blindness using the bates method, but still has considerable myopia. He palmed for 8 hours and right afterwards passed his DMV vision test.
When you take on something like this, it's on the principle of "If a little is a good, a lot is better," which is true for some things. So first you do need to establish that a little palming is good. Some people don't find any benefit from it. The guy in Bates's book had already established that that he was benefited by it, as he indicated.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
Palming does have benefits for me so I'm going to try. I'll do it this Sunday so on Monday i'll post if there's been any improvement, however slight, and any other changes.
Paul A Wrote:hey Tyler,
Post your profile.
Age, current prescription, measured eyesight, at what age you had good eyesight, how often do you wear glasses?
Just for comparison purposes after you finish.
Good luck bud
18, 1 diopter of myopia/floaters/monocular double vision, good eyesight until recently, I have glasses but i've only worn them a couple of times for curiosities sake.
I'm looking forward to this since even a few minutes of palming brings me greater visual acuity. As a side note, do you guys think I shouldn't open my eyes until I finish, or open them now and again and test myself throughout the day?
A big difference between you and that man is that he learned how to palm from Dr. Bates himself. Would you really feel confident spending a whole day doing this after only taking a cursory look at the book or are you just looking for a miracle cure?
It's not my intention to dishearten you here; I just happen to have had the same kind of almost foolhardy misplaced enthusiasm when I started out. If you truly feel this will be good for you, then by all means give it a shot, but if you ever feel strain or discomfort during the day, don't press on. I think a better way to spend a day devoted to sight-improvement would be to practice conscious shifting all day, do a set number of swings every hour on the hour (Bates felt that everyone with normal sight ought to do 100 swings before bed, so how about that?) and palm when you find it necessary.
Do whatever works for you, but do make sure you know what works before you do it!
Ridley Wrote:A big difference between you and that man is that he learned how to palm from Dr. Bates himself. Would you really feel confident spending a whole day doing this after only taking a cursory look at the book or are you just looking for a miracle cure?
It's not my intention to dishearten you here; I just happen to have had the same kind of almost foolhardy misplaced enthusiasm when I started out. If you truly feel this will be good for you, then by all means give it a shot, but if you ever feel strain or discomfort during the day, don't press on. I think a better way to spend a day devoted to sight-improvement would be to practice conscious shifting all day, do a set number of swings every hour on the hour (Bates felt that everyone with normal sight ought to do 100 swings before bed, so how about that?) and palm when you find it necessary.
Do whatever works for you, but do make sure you know what works before you do it!
Yes, and yes.
I could try that some other time, but to be honest, I really don't get the explanations of central fixation/shifting/swinging. No matter who's explaining the concept I just don't get what they're on about, so I stick to palming and sunning.
You must be really dedicated to improving your vision to spend a whole day on it! It sounds like a good idea to me, if you find palming really does work. I'm also thinking about devoting the entire day Sunday to the Bates method. I'm devoting almost all of today to it.
TylerDurden Wrote:...I really don't get the explanations of central fixation/shifting/swinging. No matter who's explaining the concept I just don't get what they're on about, so I stick to palming and sunning.
Oddly enough, shifting, swinging, and central fixation are the 3 methods that are of most benefit to me. My vision is usually 20/400, which I think is pretty high. And since high myopia is basically a staring/rigidity problem, I find that keeping my eyes open (but blinking of course) and keeping them moving (along with my head and entire body) is an amazing help in obtaining sustained clear flashes.
If you don't fully understand how Bates explains eye shifting, oppositional movement, centralization, etc. then I would suggest (as Bates does) observing someone with normal sight. I find that a great help. And it doesn't even have to be a living person (for example, you can pay attention to eye movements of people in videos). Or it doesn't even have to be a person at all. I find it a great help to watch the eye movements of my cats. They do seem to move their eyes a little less than humans, but when they do the movements are effortless and graceful. Cats with normal sight look extremely relaxed and I can easily observe how that relaxation permeates their entire body.
Result, everything is slightly clearer but no real changes and I can't read any further down the eye chart. So I guess palming is not much help.
Jason Wrote:If you don't fully understand how Bates explains eye shifting, oppositional movement, centralization, etc. then I would suggest (as Bates does) observing someone with normal sight. I find that a great help. And it doesn't even have to be a living person (for example, you can pay attention to eye movements of people in videos). Or it doesn't even have to be a person at all. I find it a great help to watch the eye movements of my cats. They do seem to move their eyes a little less than humans, but when they do the movements are effortless and graceful. Cats with normal sight look extremely relaxed and I can easily observe how that relaxation permeates their entire body.
How does watching someone with normal sight help you understand. I just don't get wtf he's on about.
"When the eye with normal vision regards a letter either at the nearpoint or at the distance, the letter may appear to pulsate, or to move in various directions, from side to side, up and down, or obliquely. When it looks from one letter to another on the Snellen test card, or from one side of a letter to another, not only the letter, but the whole line of letters and the whole card, may appear to move from side to side. This apparent movement is due to the shifting of the eye, and is always in a direction contrary to its movement. If one looks at the top of a letter, the letter is below the line of vision, and, therefore, appears to move downward. If one looks at the bottom, the letter is above the line of vision and appears to move upward. If one looks to the left of the letter, it is to the right of the line of vision and appears to move to the right. If one looks to the right, it is to the left of the line of vision and appears to move to the left. "
Seriously.. What is that? ^ I just don't get it. Likewise with central fixation:
"The cause of this loss of function in the center of sight is mental strain; and as all abnormal conditions of the eyes, organic as well as functional, are accompanied by mental strain, all such conditions must necessarily be accompanied by loss of central fixation. When the mind is under a strain the eye usually goes more or less blind. The center of sight goes blind first, partially or completely, according to the degree of the strain, and if the strain is great enough the whole or the greater part of the retina may be involved. When the vision of the center of sight has been suppressed, partially or completely, the patient can no longer see the point which he is looking at best, but sees objects not regarded directly as well, or better, because the sensitiveness of the retina has now become approximately equal in every part, or is even better in the outer part than in the center. Therefore in all cases of defective vision the patient is unable to see best where he is looking"
I don't get that either.. He also says to "see the bottom of the C better than the top" whatever that means, I try to make the top seem worse but it doesn't happen. If I even understand wtf that means.
Quote:HALOS.âââ‰â¬ÂWhen the sight is normal and when one regards a letter of the Snellen Card with a white center, the white part of the letter appears whiter than it really is and whiter than the rest of the card. I use the word Halos for this illusion. This is an illusion which can be demonstrated quite readily by covering over the black part of a letter with a screen with an opening slightly smaller than the white part of the letter, which permits the center of the letter to be observed. When this is done the white center of the letter is the same shade of whiteness as the rest of the card. Some people can imagine the illusion when it is described to them. When reading fine print the spaces between the lines appear whiter than the rest of the card, but only when the vision is good. As a general rule when one can imagine these white spaces between the lines are whiter than the rest of the card, Halos, the black appears more perfectly black and the letters can be read with normal vision. Halos are imagined, not seen. Imagination of the illusion of the Halos is a quick cure of myopia and astig-matism, as well as other cases of imperfect sight.
What the hell is he talking about there?
Likewise with "remembering black," are you supposed to remember a black object? For example if I try to think of a black phone, it'll be on a table and that isn't actually black?
In trying to understand these concepts and use them it just creates a massive amount of strain. Like i'll think I get what central fixation is, and start looking at one point at a time, but this will induce staring, and I really dont get what CF is anyway, likewise shifting and swinging which makes no sense at all, aswell as "seeing black"
