Anecdote about Dr. Bates' student

[dietdanish]

I attended a one week vision improvement vacation two weeks ago and the teacher told us a story about one of his students:

Over 80 year old lady came for one of his seminars - her eyesight started to fail in her 80s and was worried that she could not thread a needle in darker light as she used to in her younger years. She met Dr. Bates a couple of decades before and his teachings allowed her to have a great eyesight until her 80s and now she wanted to refresh her memory. She told other students that Dr. Bates taught her to move her head left to right to left etc.very quickly, breathe and blink often while doing this. Just this single simple routine allowed her to enjoy great vision most of her life...

I tried to do this but it really gives me a headache. I found the story very inspiring though. I was thinking however where all these people who Dr. Bates healed are? I understand there was no internet at that time but still if someone helped me see without glasses I would be singing songs about her from the rooftop... And I can't even sing.

[Summon-Pretty-Peace]

How are you supposed to do that exercise? Do you keep your eyes in the same place?

[Jason]

I think you're supposed to move your eyes in the same direction as your head, like the long swing.

[David]

It sounds like something that could have been lost in translation after passing through a few people. Anyone would get a headache by shaking their head back and forth. And "quickly" would mean different things to different people. How fast are you doing it? If it's slow enough, it's just a short swing, a common Bates exercise.

David

[dietdanish]

We practised it at different speeds just to loosen tight neck muscles which reminds me of another story read somewhere - maybe in one of the vision books or maybe this forum.

When a person from pure tribal land visited our western civilization he was surprised "how you white people don't move your heads". And it's so true - when I observe my sister's son, he is like the cartoon baby spinning his neck around - it's unbelievable how much he turns his head!

And my best of the best yoga teacher would always start her lessons with similar exercise - just turning head to the left to the right and breathing. I always thought it was boring and could not wait for the real lesson to start just as much as I didn't like relaxing muscles at the end of the class. I admit I was one of those annoying people to leave before the class is over to avoid the last part when you just lie down and "waste your time".

And I think Esther, another great Bates teacher from California, told me that astigmatism can be created when we look at something without turning your neck and head in the direction when you're looking. In the exercise your eyes just follow your head, you don't do anything with them, just blink and the outside world comes in.

[Jason]

Hello dietdanish,

Was it bikram yoga? I've taken bikram yoga lessens before (in a heated room to make you sweat out all the toxins), it was intense!!! It was very energizing and relaxing, too. We didn't do that one exercise where you turn your head from left to right, but we did do that one thing where you lie down at the end of the session. The yoga never improved my vision though (I didn't expect it to). I plan to go back after I cure my nearsightedness, because the room is lined with mirrors and when I look at myself in the mirror I'm a big blurry blob, and it makes it worse when I'm all the way in the back of the room (not to mention when things are reflected they appear 2x farther away). This certainly isn't good for my balance, and many of the poses require very good balance.

Jason

[David]

And I think Esther, another great Bates teacher from California, told me that astigmatism can be created when we look at something without turning your neck and head in the direction when you're looking.

I never thought of that quite that way, but it does make sense, doesn't it. The eyes are best at rest looking more or less straight ahead, and when they're turned to the side for a long time there's some unbalanced tension. And astigmatism creates an unbalanced focus, sort of squeezed in one direction, so it would make sense.

David