05-20-2007, 01:56 AM
People often ask how much their vision can be improved. Here's the answer.
Our eyes are capable of focusing over a wide range, from pretty close up to a virtually infinite distance (20 feet away or farther is functionally the same as infinity). This is universally accepted as far as it applies to people with normal vision. But in fact it's true for people with myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism too. The appropriate focus adjustment takes place all by itself. It's taken care of by your body. Imagine how inconvenient it would be to have to deliberately adjust your focus for every distance you glance at. It would take up so much of your energy just to see. The wonderful thing is the system works perfectly unless it's disrupted somehow, and then when the disruption has ceased, it works perfectly again. Misusing your eyes is by far the most common disruption, the only other major ones being a severe blow to the eye or a disease condition. The misuse of the eyes consists of conscious attention and effort put into moving and focusing your eyes. This only serves to disrupt the whole system, and as long as you continue to do it from second to second, your focus continues to be off, ie: you have myopia, or hyperopia, or astigmatism. The amazing thing is this often continues for years and years, and the strain becomes so chronic that it drifts away from conscious awareness, even when the strain becomes so great as to exert enough force to literally break the eye (detached retina). The process of the Bates method has to do with simply learning to stop this strain and allow the eyes to do their job without undue interference.
So the question of how much your vision can improve is more a question of how much something can be cleaned when it has gotten dirty. Nothing has to be fixed, so it isn't even a question of how much the eyes are capable of changing. The real question is "How deep am I willing to go in recognizing the abuse I'm continually inflicting on my eyes, and stopping it?"
Our eyes are capable of focusing over a wide range, from pretty close up to a virtually infinite distance (20 feet away or farther is functionally the same as infinity). This is universally accepted as far as it applies to people with normal vision. But in fact it's true for people with myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism too. The appropriate focus adjustment takes place all by itself. It's taken care of by your body. Imagine how inconvenient it would be to have to deliberately adjust your focus for every distance you glance at. It would take up so much of your energy just to see. The wonderful thing is the system works perfectly unless it's disrupted somehow, and then when the disruption has ceased, it works perfectly again. Misusing your eyes is by far the most common disruption, the only other major ones being a severe blow to the eye or a disease condition. The misuse of the eyes consists of conscious attention and effort put into moving and focusing your eyes. This only serves to disrupt the whole system, and as long as you continue to do it from second to second, your focus continues to be off, ie: you have myopia, or hyperopia, or astigmatism. The amazing thing is this often continues for years and years, and the strain becomes so chronic that it drifts away from conscious awareness, even when the strain becomes so great as to exert enough force to literally break the eye (detached retina). The process of the Bates method has to do with simply learning to stop this strain and allow the eyes to do their job without undue interference.
So the question of how much your vision can improve is more a question of how much something can be cleaned when it has gotten dirty. Nothing has to be fixed, so it isn't even a question of how much the eyes are capable of changing. The real question is "How deep am I willing to go in recognizing the abuse I'm continually inflicting on my eyes, and stopping it?"
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"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
