I've read some posts here about sunning/sungazing and it seems that most of you prefer to do it during early morning and early evening. I'm unable to do sunning during these hours and so I have to settle for the 'harmful' hours. Should I continue sunning at these times or is it really harmful? I do closed eyes sunning by the way.
Also, I don't think Dr. Bates said anything about closed eyes sunning in his book, but most practitioners nowadays (such as <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cleareyesight.info/">http://www.cleareyesight.info/</a><!-- m -->) teach closed eyes. So, which one's better? Is closed eyes less effective than open eyes?
Unfortunately, just like everything else in Bates' work, we have little to no idea of what will work for different people. Bates may have mentioned sunning in his book, but he most certainly mentioned sungazing.
I personally feel that the risks are vastly exaggerated, so long as you take proper precautions. The Bates community has caved on this point to modern science for fear of something, probably further rejection by science as being actually harmful. Don't sun when it is cloudy, only sun when you have a completely unobstructed view of the sun, never sungaze through a window, hole or aperature of some kind and make sure that your entire periphery is engaged with the bright light.
Probably most important is don't push yourself to sungaze. I think that like anything else if you jump into it you can go too fast. Take it slowly at first and only increase your sessions when you feel that you are ready.
I've been lazy to refute each time those posts about supposed preference of morning/evening sungazing and supposed injuriousness of noon sungazing, but in fact I believe the contrary is the case. I agree with Urban that when the sun should not be clouded, and in the same manner it should not be tempered by its low position above horizon, because just like in any other adverse conditions, it is impossible to look at the noon sun without full relaxation, while you can look at a yellow morning sun with still a lot of strain, that will just result in long lasting scotomata and no actual benefit.
Disclaimer: Bates wrote: "One has to be very careful in recommending sun-gazing to persons with imperfect sight; because although no permanent harm can result from it, great temporary discomfort may be produced, with no permanent benefit". You can get all sorts of eye trouble from sun gazing, but they all will be temporary and will go away as soon as you stop straining. The main principle of sungazing is to do it totally without disomfort, literally. Start with closed eyes (least efficiency), then open your eyes and look away from the sun, then use burning glass to focus rays on your scleara (high efficiency yet very safe), then look directly at the sun (maximal efficiency). Never make the next step until you are absolutely comfortable with the previous.
You should, in fact, develop your own safety rules and you will not have any trouble but only benefit from sun gazing. I've written a blog post about my own rules: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://krupnov.blogspot.com/search/label/sun%20treatment">http://krupnov.blogspot.com/search/labe ... 0treatment</a><!-- m --> (scroll down, these are all posts regarding sun treatment). After a year of practicing sun gazing I really find people's fear of the sun ridiculous.
And don't trust posts on this forum, read the original: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.central-fixation.com/perfect/chapter17.htm">http://www.central-fixation.com/perfect/chapter17.htm</a><!-- m -->
cheerio Wrote:What's the difference through a window vs not through a window sun gazing?
The trouble is that the iris is tricked into opening too much in comparison to its exposure to uv radiation. When you look through an aperture at the sun, the iris will constrict less than if it were observing the sun without the aperture, because there is less light getting to it. The uv radiation is much more powerful than the visible spectrum and even though it cannot be detected by the human eye, it can still damage it and in fact is more dangerous than visible light.
cheerio Wrote:What's the difference through a window vs not through a window sun gazing?
The trouble is that the iris is tricked into opening too much in comparison to its exposure to uv radiation. When you look through an aperture at the sun, the iris will constrict less than if it were observing the sun without the aperture, because there is less light getting to it. The uv radiation is much more powerful than the visible spectrum and even though it cannot be detected by the human eye, it can still damage it and in fact is more dangerous than visible light.
Oh my, thanks for the info. Are there any good articles you know of to get started in sun gazing? I've tried closed eye sun gazing a little bit and it seemed to work but I want to start doing it with open eyes.
Quote:As for the ultra violet part of the spectrum, to which exaggerated importance has been attached by many recent writers, the situation was found to be much the same as with respect to the rest of the spectrum; that is, "while under conceivable or realizable conditions of overexposure injury may be done to the external eye, yet under all practicable conditions found in actual use of artificial sources of light for illumination the ultra violet part of the spectrum may be left out as a possible source of injury."
For thousands years people lived in sunlight under the sky without dark glasses etc. and never suffered any inconvenience from the UV in their eyes.
It's better to sungaze "not through window" just because when you look through window, you don't receive the reflected light from the bright sky and objects, which results in smaller intensity of light and therefore less relaxation effect. It is OK though if you open the window and show your face outside.
As regards to the iris, in normal eyes it doesn't change its aperture significantly. Only strained eyes expand and contract depending on the illumination.
Quote:The pupil of the normal eye, when it has normal sight, does not change appreciably under the influence of changes of illumination; and persons with normal vision are not inconvenienced by such changes. I have seen a patient look directly at the sun after coming from an imperfectly lighted room, and then, returning to the room, immediately pick up a newspaper and read it. When the eye has imperfect sight, the pupil usually contracts in the light and expands in the dark, but it has been observed to contract to the size of a pinhole in the dark. Whether the contraction takes place under the influence of light or of darkness, the cause is the same, namely, strain.
The best articles you can get is the original Bates book and the Better Eyesight Magazine by Bates. So called "disciples" of Dr. Bates abridged sun treatment from their books.
