I came across this statement from Better Eyesight Magazine about curing astigmatism:
"The successful treatment and the cure of astigmatism without glasses is generally accompanied by so much strain that it is not always easy to make progress. "
Anyone have any idea why is this the case? This is confusing as I always thought relieve of strain to be the cure.
It COULD be interpreted as saying that astigmatism is exceptionally hard on the eyes and releasing that strain is more "painful" for lack of a better word than the other types of strain.
Or it could be interpreted as saying during recovery from astigmatism, patients are prone to developing other degrees of strain and therefore other types of refractive error. Although this one seems unlikely to me.
He's just saying that the process of recovering from astigmatism is accompanied by so much noticeable strain, not only in realizing what strain they already had but also in straining more trying to fix it. People seem to usually strain more when recovering their vision, not less, because they've learned (wrongly) that the only way to accomplish something is by strain, even though they don't call it strain, they might just call it "doing something" with the idea that it's the only way to do something. And apparently he's saying that this is particularly true of patients with astigmatism.
I assume Bates wrote that, and I bet he worded it that way because while talking about the strain people generate that makes it difficult to recover from astigmatism he wanted to stress that recovery from it is by no means impossible.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
How does one knows what type of strain one is experiencing? For example, when I takes of the glasses, I feel a certain sharp pain on my right eye. Does this strain comes from relaxing? Or is it new strain from straining to see without glasses? How does one know if the strain from practising bates' methods surfaces due existing bad vision, or strain from practising the method wrongly? The concept of feeling the 'underlying strain' seem too subtle and difficult to grasp.
Quote:The sensations of the eye and of the mind supply very little information as to the strain to which both are being subjected, those who strain most often suffering the least discomfort; but by means of his ability to remember black the patient can always know whether he is straining or not, and is able, therefore, to avoid the conditions that produce strain. Whatever method of improving his sight the patient is using, he is advised to carry with him constantly the memory of a small area of black, such as a period, so that he may recognize and avoid the conditions that produce strain, and in some cases patients have obtained a complete cure in a very short time by this means alone.
PERFECT SIGHT WITHOUT GLASSES
CHAPTER XIII
MEMORY AS AN AID TO VISION
I think about the most accessible indication of what kind of strain it is (new or uncovered) is by if your vision is noticeably improved like Urban suggested.
Another method that works is judging by how good your visual memory is at the time, but people with myopia seem to have such bad visual memories that it's really not useful as an indicator.
What I started using at some point was just going by how I feel. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the word relaxation as it applies to vision, but I check to see if I am at ease, calm, and quiet inside. It's one of those things where if you do it enough, it's unmistakable. So on that subject, it's a good idea whenever you have a clear flash to check yourself like that, make note of whatever you can, and eventually you'll notice a difference between your "clear" self and your "blurry" self. Then you get to sit and deal with the fact that you're going to have to change yourself a bit to be the "clear" self all the time.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
If you feel that your sight has improved, then its probable that you were uncovering old strain.
If your eyesight worsened, then its likely you were creating new strain.
this seems reasonable. I have been getting quite a few clear flashes recently, and in some there was no pain. in others, I would experience a sharp pain in my right eye (left brain influence probably) while simultaneously seeing more detail than I ever had before. to-day I felt alot of it.
I thought the pain could be accounted by my eyes moving in directions they hadn't in years from the relaxation, but this post seems to make more sense.
Oleg K. Wrote:Dave, it's curious whether you are capable of remembering a black dot for a long enough duration of time?
Probably not, not perfectly anyway unless I'm close to sleep. It isn't something I do often. If I need to, I do something else to clear my vision. How about you?
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
I have had experiences of remembering black perfectly when I palm, but unfortunately not every day and not longer than a couple of seconds. Sometimes I have only a foretaste of perfect black. I am amazed by the state. It's so different from anything I am used to, and it's so simple, just what it is - a perfect field of black, giving me a feeling of great relief. Definitely happens only when I am relaxed and can be used as a reliable indicator, as Bates advises. There are days when I seem to get increasingly more black, then come days of relapse when there's strain and no black. I guess I haven't yet precisely recognized that "piece of code" in my brain that causes me strain and keep moving by touch.
Seems like the strain I feel recently must be new strain then, because after some initial improvement for a few months, the chart started to blur up again these 2 weeks. Its probably because of the new frame for the reduce glasses I use for work even though I had not change the prescription. I guess this only goes to show that how easy it is to strain the eyes with glasses, other than the lenses, there is also the comfort of the frame, whether it is too tight and causing any strain to the side of the face.
On the subject of imagining black, its quite impossible for me to do so, even after palming for 30mins and swinging many times. Reading and shifting on the eye chart does really help either. What other methods would work?
