I am still in the process of reading the bates book (at the middle) and have a few questions. I am a little familar with eye exercises from doing a program called Perfect Eyes. If anyone has done it before, they will probably agree that there are too many exercises and not enough explanations. So, the program did not work. However, I am doing the program at this free site, It has an entire free program at visiontherapy.net. It has three free MP3 21 min audios that gives you the cue as to when the exercise begins and stops. One has a relaxation audio that is 30 minutes that you listen to at night, very effective.
Questions:
1. I noticed that all the exercises in the Bates Method have to do with mental exercises. Now, should I continue doing the visiontherapy exercises, plus the bates to be more effective. The physical exercises in the Vision therapy program help bring circulation and blood flow into your eyes and keeps them elastic and flexed.
2. I asked the eye doctor for a weaker pair of glasses (im nearsigted, not terrible vision) and he rejected, and told me to keep wearing my new glasses. I keep my new glasses on a shelf and continue to wear the old ones. I don't want to go without glasses, because I might have a tendecy to squint. The Vision Therapy tells the patients to wear weaker glasses, instead of their corrent ones, or they won't make any progress. The theory is to wear a weaker pair of glasses. When you improve your sight and your weak glasses get strong, you then switch to yet another weaker prescription. While your eyes get stronger.
3. I am going to start my vision adventure now, but would like some guidelines. Any help would be appreciated. I have worn glasses for 5 years (age 17.) I take off my glasses for reading and use pinhole glasses 30 minutes a day. Also, I am interested to know what are some of your EYE EXERCISE ROUTINES?
Quote:2. I asked the eye doctor for a weaker pair of glasses (im nearsigted, not terrible vision) and he rejected, and told me to keep wearing my new glasses.
Otis> Then "give up" on this OD. I would strongly suggest you personally check your Snellen -- since
you say your vision is not that bad. You must pass the DMV test for driving -- but if
you can avoid the minus you should do so. You can also obtain a weaker minus
from Zenniopical.com and avoid that arrogant OD.
Quote:I keep my new glasses on a shelf and continue to wear the old ones. I don't want to go without glasses, because I might have a tendecy to squint.
Otis> That is your choice. But Bates recommends avoiding the minus as much as possible.
Quote:The Vision Therapy tells the patients to wear weaker glasses, instead of their corrent ones, or they won't make any progress.
Otis> That is indeed the second-opinion.
Quote:The theory is to wear a weaker pair of glasses. When you improve your sight and your weak glasses get strong, you then switch to yet another weaker prescription.
Otis> If you Snellen is in the range of 20/70 to 20/60 -- you should be able to transistion to no glasses. The
minus truly prevents recovery.
Quote:3. I am going to start my vision adventure now, but would like some guidelines. Any help would be appreciated. I have worn glasses for 5 years (age 17.)
Otis> Then you probably are wearing a -2.5 dioper prescription.
Quote:I take off my glasses for reading and use pinhole glasses 30 minutes a day. Also, I am interested to know what are some of your EYE EXERCISE ROUTINES?
Here is an easy-to-use Snellen to check your vision.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/oph/ped/IVAC/IVAC.html">http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/oph/ped/IVAC/IVAC.html</a><!-- m -->
If you strictly want an opinion from the Bates method, then the first thing to remember is that there are no exercizes in the Bates method. It's about learning good habits and implementing them the whole day. Bates did not believe that it was about the eye getting stronger, it's about the eye learning to relax. Bate's book is available free on the iblindness.org site, I would suggest reading it slowly and thinking about each method he discusses for eyesight improvement. Bates magazines are found at central-fixation.com and are also insightful. This is how you learn the Bates method if you can't find a Bates method teacher.
That said, I haven't heard any evidence for eye exercizes working or not working. Maybe they don't do anything, or maybe they help with marginal improvement. I agree that you should go completely without glasses when it's safe to do so (without squinting, just love the blur and you start to see more detail), and go with a reduced pair (around 20/40 or 20/30 eyesight correction) otherwise.
eyexplorer160 Wrote:I am still in the process of reading the bates book (at the middle) and have a few questions. I am a little familar with eye exercises from doing a program called Perfect Eyes. If anyone has done it before, they will probably agree that there are too many exercises and not enough explanations. So, the program did not work. However, I am doing the program at this free site, It has an entire free program at visiontherapy.net. It has three free MP3 21 min audios that gives you the cue as to when the exercise begins and stops. One has a relaxation audio that is 30 minutes that you listen to at night, very effective.
Questions:
1. I noticed that all the exercises in the Bates Method have to do with mental exercises. Now, should I continue doing the visiontherapy exercises, plus the bates to be more effective. The physical exercises in the Vision therapy program help bring circulation and blood flow into your eyes and keeps them elastic and flexed.
2. I asked the eye doctor for a weaker pair of glasses (im nearsigted, not terrible vision) and he rejected, and told me to keep wearing my new glasses. I keep my new glasses on a shelf and continue to wear the old ones. I don't want to go without glasses, because I might have a tendecy to squint. The Vision Therapy tells the patients to wear weaker glasses, instead of their corrent ones, or they won't make any progress. The theory is to wear a weaker pair of glasses. When you improve your sight and your weak glasses get strong, you then switch to yet another weaker prescription. While your eyes get stronger.
3. I am going to start my vision adventure now, but would like some guidelines. Any help would be appreciated. I have worn glasses for 5 years (age 17.) I take off my glasses for reading and use pinhole glasses 30 minutes a day. Also, I am interested to know what are some of your EYE EXERCISE ROUTINES?
To put it bluntly, you will likely find little support for visiontherapy.net here. Vision therapy appears to be your run of the mill "eye exerciser" program, which I have pretty much no faith in whatsoever. The Bates method is the exact opposite of these exercising programs. Your eyes don't need strengthening, they're plenty strong enough, what you need is to relax the strain that has become part of your everyday life. You can feel free to try things out for yourself, but at least give Bates a chance first. I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Mmm, initially I wrote a rather scathing paragraph here regarding your optometrist, but let it suffice to say that you should never ever return there and that my opinion of this person is *incredibly* dim.
You should never sink into a routine. The entire Bates method is about shaking you out of your daily routines. Bates isn't something that can be practiced for 1 hour a day. It has to be applied all day, every day. It is nothing less than a complete transformation of yourself.
