A while back I tried using the speech recognition tool in Windows XP to try to make some really long and involved posts quickly without losing my train of thought, but even after lots of calibration it only gets about 30% of the words right - my accent is too thick for it.
I posted a while back about how my view of all this was changing. I'm starting to see how the exercises work as really a way of quieting the mind and returning to yourself and getting rid of the chaff that just screws people up and that they sabotage themselves with. Everyone with blurry vision is more or less on the brink of seeing clearly, and they just keep themselves occupied and held back with the traps that they keep themselves involved in. Diopters don't matter, not even how blurry you see the Snellen chart matters, not as far as being on the brink of seeing clearly. Because people just don't see how close they are to it, the only difference being how they use their eyes, which correlates with other aspects of the way they are.
If you fail at getting results with something, it's almost always correct to stand back and say "I'm making this too complicated; it's easier than I'm letting it be." It's all really about doing less, or being less, by quieting your mind. The thing is that people are used to solving problems by thinking about them. But vision disorders are created by a mind that has gotten so out of control that it can't even focus its eyes properly. You don't really need to learn how to use your eyes correctly so much as you need to learn how to quiet your mind so that you can actually notice what's going on and what you're doing to yourself. Things are easy to notice if your mind is calm (or at least calmer than usual). That's why Bates always had his patients start with palming. He really was just getting them to meditate. Sit and do nothing, don't think, don't see, don't move. Once you're calm, you can notice things like how you see best if you need your eyes mostly looking straight out of your head, not looking down or to the side or anything. You start to notice every little thing that you do, and you can start stepping back and questioning yourself, "Why did I just make a hard blink? What did I just do that makes my eyes feel tense now as I look into the distance?" and things like that. With such a large amount of material on this forum, on the site, in books and the Better Eyesight magazines, people make the mistake of getting caught up in the idea that this process is hard and long and really really complicated and confusing, and that if they really work at it they might just be able to improve their vision. But that's exactly the type of thinking that got them into the mess to begin with. In fact just reverse all that. It's supposed to be require minimal energy, be simple to do, simple to understand, and you get results by beginning to leave your eyes alone.
So, again, if you aren't getting results, first check the instructions for the exercise you're practicing. Are they simple enough for a child to understand, and do they not really ask you to do more than one thing? That's what good instructions should be like. So are you doing anything else other than the instructions? Are you trying to see? Are you making yourself uncomfortable with the strain? Are you squinting? Are you thinking?
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
Quote:Everyone with blurry vision is more or less on the brink of seeing clearly
One question I've been wondering regarding "the brink" is whether there is a kind of inertia that holds me from jumping over the brink to clear vision.
I mean, suppose I am relaxing in the right way and not supporting strain any longer, then should I immediately see clearly, or the inertia will hold me back at first and I need to keep going like this for a while and then the leap over the brink will happen?
This question follows from my own experience, when on some days I begin seeing clearly much easier, and on other days I can't do it without an apparent reason, and I have a hypothesis that the history of my previous state - strain or relaxation during previous hours, days etc - may increase or decrease the inertia and effects the initial state of my mind when I practice. What is your experience?
Davids right.Every since I started palming I became aware of my muscles tense up when I looked in the distance.Before I started doing the bates method I felt nothing, kind of like it was unconscious.I experimented when I looked at a page where I seen it the best and noticed how my eyes flowed freely and without effort and then as I starting pulling the page back I could feel the muscles in the back of my eyes gripping my eyes.Trying to lock it into place.
I usually notice my best vision/results when walkikng home from the bus stop, but I can still barely form the top letter of my Snellen at ten feet (10/70). The subtle stress of wanting "result nowz!!" screws it all up.
I think it's a matter of degree. If you let go of all the strain, your vision should clear up very quickly, so you must just be letting go of some or most of it, while there's something left that you're hanging onto. Conceivably there could be such a thing as an eye that has just lost its ability to focus, but I think it's rare that just myopia would cause that. But something like presbyopia, old age vision loss, is kind of a grey area, because when someone's physical body is clearly degenerating it isn't unreasonable to expect that the eyes are losing their ability to function too.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
self-observation is key most definitely. but the thing I'm having the hardest time with is shutting down the constant stream of thoughts. everytime I practice I probably do so with 20% efficiency, due to all the mental impedimenta that loves to bog me down while I attempt to quiet my mind. an overactive mind is the prime cause of failure when undertaking the Bates venture I suspect.
the one time I was able to center my thoughts, I ended up with 20/70 vision which lasted for about a half hour. getting back there has been the challenge.
just have to keep at it. persistence wins the day...and night.
Great post. I have noticed that for a long time I was trying too hard to do all the things that were supposed to make me relax and see without effort. My blinking was too hard, I'd put a ton of effort into swinging and shifting, and then I'd end up with dry or tired eyes. I recently read where Bates said that while moving through space, such as walking or driving, imagine the ground coming at you, and the things at your sides moving at you. I did this while driving for a bit and noticed for the first time I wouldn't get strained or tired eyes while driving. Before, going outside was the most difficult for me for some reason because I'd try to centralize on objects, but would always end up in strain. I'm learning to stop trying and just relax while I do these things, and enjoy the movements.
It's kind of funny because it seems like our eyes were made to see correctly, so of course anything we do that wasn't in the design, can mess up our vision or halt improvement. I had a lot of stumbling blocks in my way the last year or so, but once I began to understand the relaxation involved, it has been getting a lot easier to just live my daily life without forcing my eyes to do the right thing. I just missed the DMV test 2 months ago, so I figured to give myself a year of the correct habits, and see what happens next February or so. My goal is to just see with ease until then, and watch the world move, and blink frequently and softly, and then hope for the best at the DMV test. Then I figured once I pass the test, I have the rest of my life to get to 20/20. Before my mindset was "I GOTTA SEE 20/20 BY TOMORROW!!" heheh Which was forcing more strain on me with just that mental aspect.
Anyways, great post David. I agree that the methods are supposed to be simple, just as seeing is supposed to be effortless.
-Mike
To simplify it says that you must read 3/4 inch letters at 20 feet. (20/40).
In some states, it is 20/50 and one state 20/60.
However, I have found out that the DMV does not honor their published
legal standard! They test for 20/40, NOT 20/20.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.lowvisioncare.com/visionlaws.htm">http://www.lowvisioncare.com/visionlaws.htm</a><!-- m -->
This is why I think it is very important that you self-test.
If you are reading 20/30 (for instance), and you "fail" this DMV test -- when
it clearly states 20/40 -- then you do have a "problem". ???
It will be a waste of time to "argue" with the DMV. But at that point,
with your 20/30 to 20/40 vision, just buy some 3/4 dipoter sphericals
from Zennioptical.com (for $10) go pass their darned DMV, and
keep those negative lenses on the dash.
But continue to work towards the ideal (and very, very sharp) 20/20.
However, I have found out that the DMV does not honor their published
legal standard! They test for 20/40, NOT 20/20.
Correction: They test for 20/20, NOT 20/40 as published.
Unless you check this -- you will never know.
Further, there are people who have an over-prescribed -2 diopter lens,
who, when they check their Snellens -- find they can read (naked eye)
20/40 or better.
This is what Bates "warned" about -- this zeal for over-prescription.
This explains why, when he encountered people with -2 diotpers, he
would "cure" them back to normal, and then the "other" OD would
put that person right back into that -2 diopter!!!
With the person being "jerked around" because of it.
That is why I suggest in "doing Bates" you self-confirm your Snellen.
The only person who truly values his distant vision (without
glasses) IS YOU. ???
I think a lot of people have trouble quieting down their thoughts as words that keep popping up and fill your mind. Here's another way of explaining it, which now I see I didn't really get into in my original post.
When we talk in general about the way we are, or the way other people are, the idea is supposed to be that it's describing what is them as a thing, but really another way to look at it is we are what we do. In the same way that, for example, a person heavily involved in a business really becomes the business for all intents and purposes, the same is true for internal actions. Every thought or emotion we have is something we allow ourselves, by habit or not, to take part in. Some may seem automatic, like someone or something else caused it, but it's only because we have become the program that includes the action of responding automatically in that way. So I suggest that it's very useful to look as deeply at yourself as you can, at all your automatic responses to things, because these are things that you do that are not in sync with the intention to see clearly without effort or strain. There is something, maybe many things, that you do, that you identify yourself with, because that is the basic way you do things and the way you see yourself as being.
Now let me be clear - I don't suggest that it's very productive to sit and reflect about yourself and try to find a problem. They aren't easy to find that way. Because the problem is the way people identify with the habits that include (or have the effect of) straining and misusing their eyes, it can be hard to disinvolve yourself in something that you are so used to doing, and totally avoid it, even if you can note that it isn't in your best interests for the purposes of seeing clearly. That's been a problem for a long time. People get clear flashes and yet they don't keep producing clear vision and somehow have a hard time committing to what is necessary to stay that way. It just isn't productive to focus on the problems. We know about the psycho-analytic BS that people come up with, all the psychological theories that seem to make sense but just paint a more and more complicated and daunting picture. It makes so much more sense to me to just start over! Be your breath. Simple. Whenever you have time, in the morning, evening, and throughout the day, take a deep breath, feel it, listen to it, and focus on it. Anyone can do that. Continue to breathe fully and feel yourself as nothing more than your breath. Even just a moment of doing this, a space of a few breaths, can help a lot. As you get into your car, out of your car, step out your door, start to make dinner, or are in the middle of something, stop for just a moment, breathe deeply, and be your breath. You start to notice the effect it has on you, that your mind stops racing as you do the breathing for a moment and you stop worrying about whatever you were worrying about. You don't have to deal with any kind of confusing issues like "Am I relaxing my eyes? Should I shift more?", just be your breath. The beauty of this is that once you have practiced being your breath enough, you start to notice what else you are being/doing. Suddenly you notice that you're not just your breath - you're for some crazy reason (it doesn't matter why) tensing your shoulders, or you are turning to worry, or doing something with your eyes, or anxiously and automatically trying to please people. Or whatever it happens to be. It might not even be something that affects your vision, but it probably has some kind of effect on you anyway, and it's worth knowing who you really are. I think working this simple way is much, much more efficient than starting from a complicated view of yourself and trying to figure yourself out, trying to figure out the "why" of your vision problems.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
People here might not like the direction you're taking here with meditation and mindfullness, but I see that it is so. The Bates techniques are only at their most useful when the mind is really serene. Hate to make Bates method sound like a spiritual endeavor but it lends itself to such things quite nicely. Our eyes developed vision problems through prolonged tension and effort. The only way out is to find another way of being.
otto Wrote:People here might not like the direction you're taking here with meditation and mindfullness, but I see that it is so. The Bates techniques are only at their most useful when the mind is really serene. Hate to make Bates method sound like a spiritual endeavor but it lends itself to such things quite nicely. Our eyes developed vision problems through prolonged tension and effort. The only way out is to find another way of being.
Right. And judging from no more responses after my second post (besides yours), you're probably right that people won't like the direction I'm taking. The thing is, most people will stick with what doesn't work so they don't have to change. That's why eye exercise programs like Vision for Life are so popular. They want a quick fix, but even more so they don't want to be invaded and made to be uncomfortable, and that overshadows the familiar and friendly discomfort of blurry vision that they're used to and prefer to endure. Or even if it takes the direction I did above, as long as it's theoretical and without a practical application (such as the breathing method I went over), then it's mentally stimulating, but not dangerous to their way of being, so people will like it. Not to criticize anyone - that's just what I've noticed over a long period on this forum and others. So from now on, maybe I should try to make posts that people don't like.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
I think that David's way of describing things hits the nail right on the head.
It is extremely difficult to manifest changes in our habits.
I'll use myself as an example. I'm always telling myself to do my work early, and get to bed on time, but I'm forever up later than I know I should be. Its not that I don't sincerely want to get more sleep, but habits seem to have a will and mind of their own and they don't much like being discarded.
My goal is to just see with ease until then, and watch the world move, and blink frequently and softly, and then hope for the best at the DMV test. Then I figured once I pass the test, I have the rest of my life to get to 20/20. Before my mindset was "I GOTTA SEE 20/20 BY TOMORROW!!" heheh 
Which was forcing more strain on me with just that mental aspect.
