First off I'd like to give a little background on who i am.
I am the possessor of the misnomer Kenneth Anderson, which i fully realize is not my name. I don't even believe in names at all, but I have one prepared for when I do have to play the name game, and it's Whohlme, which I constructed as a kind of soft wind-like sound to refer to me. It is a combination of many English words, such as calm, storm, whisper, etc.
I used to be a heavy computer user, which ate a good portion of my life. Now my philosophy is different. I only use Free Software, which is software licensed under Free licenses, such as the GPL, BSD, MIT, etc. This means I do not and will never again run Windows or the Mac OS, any version. Just like glasses are a big conspiracy to steal your money and life, so is proprietary software, which only "professionals" can edit. Anyone can edit and change a piece of Free software to make it work better. Operating systems I now run include GNU/LInux (sometimes mistakenly referred to as "LInux") and some BSD variants. Anyone interested can check out Dynebolic.org for one of the easiest versions. you simply burn a CD and boot from it. No install required at all, and you can return to your normal computing environment afterwards. It's traveling light in the digital age.
I started vision improvement back in the fall of '06 through something called the See Clearly Method, which has since been pulled from the market. I did not progress far at all with this method, but it did make things incredibly clear (at least to me at the time) through the glasses i currently wore. I tried to the the progressive under correction thing but eventually reverted and by December was very depressed with some strange headaches that caused no pain but scared me.
Early '07 I was fitted for glasses and found that my prescription had actually increased. Very foolishly, I did not question anything and wore the newer stronger glasses for the duration of the spring 08 college semester and did not link my depression, pain, or headaches to them until the end of the summer, right before I ordered and read Relearning to See by Quakenbush. The book was a revelation and seemed to be very similar to the See Clearly Method in many ways. For the Fall 07 semester, i managed to find some old lenses of mine and super-glue them into some old frames, which they approximately fit, and get by, although i could not read the board even sitting up close. This, I felt, was actually a good thing, and I managed to ace all my classes.
I meant to practice Bates hard-core during the winter break, but did not get around to it and left my under prescribed lenses on. It was during mid January that I really began to purpose to start to changing myself. So i began using an even older pair of glasses, despite that I could see even less well through them. I dedicated much time to practicing bates as well as I knew how, according to Quackenbush's book, which includes large quotes from Bates' original work. At first I felt very scared, angry, and uncertain whether I was making any progress, and while the fear and anger are starting to go away, I do wonder sometimes whether I am getting anywhere.
Note: I have worn glasses since third grade, at age 7, so that is 11 or 12 years, as I am now 19, and sick and tired of it.
Could anyone tell me why I have read here that Quackenbush's books are garbage? And what does Dave think? Is Relearning to See a bad book? Did I do wrong in choosing it?
Also, what books do you recommend I read? I am not interested in wasting time reading a billion books, cuz I know there are tons out there. I just want to know enough to cure myself. I don't necessarily think this will cost a lot of money and I don't think it should. I have wasted enough money on crutches (glasses). I have read so far: Relearning to See and Better Eyesight Without glasses (the abridgement) as well as currently owning the complete Magazines. What else do I need? Are some of the books that link this to Eastern teachings helpful, or not really?
Finally I would like to say that what I am doing here is trying to get enough momentum and info to propell me to the end (20/20 or better). I don't want to be stuck to the forums because right now, I can only view them with glasses. I want to heal ASAP, like some of the amazing stories Bates' had. I currently see about 20/333, how would that rate around here? really bad?
I want to kick this ailment once and for all and with the most power I can muster ever. I feel that this is the most important part of my life, the here and now, and I will give my all to healing as soon as I have enough info. Please hasten to answer so I can hasten to heal.
May the Force be with you all, and thank you (slight humor implied, but seriously, the Force is awesome.)
I am sick and tired of seeing everyone around me including myself get worse health-wise and mentally and in every way. When I first read in Bates that imperfect vision only reflects an inperfect mind, i was insulted and didn't want to believe it. But, if it is true, no mind of mine will be imperfect while I can help it. Once I understand exactly what to do, I will hasten to the goal and not look back. I want to do this like nothing I have ever done in my life. I'm also tired of people with no faith in natural healing. I have not used western medicine in years and am just fine. I think fixing my sight would shut a lot of people up and make them listen ,and not to mention the personal satisfaction of achievement. I am currently around 20/333. About how long did it take you, Dave to start knowing inside that this would work? I've been going for 3 months and am still doubtful.
Also, what would the best approach be? I have some 20/40- lenses and some 20/86 lenses. The only time I need to use either would at college or while using the computer/reading, etc. Should I discard the stronger ones and use the weaker when needed, or what? In the end, I have to see the board at school, so... As you can see, I am ipatient to be cured, yet willing to sacrifice time and whatever it takes.
As a last note are there any non-eye related things I need to do, such as yoga, meditation, etc.? Remember I want the fastest possible path. Diet, herbs, etc.?
Anything I could do to prepare for the potentially long journey would help too. Such as, preparing mp3 audio books, music, etc. basically finding things to do during the time i heal. There is not much one can do with 20/333, but there is some, such as play a musical instrument and practice, listen to the radio/mp3 player, etc. Anything else? I was thinking of designing a computer interface that I could use without my eyes to keep up with things online, but I think that would take too long. And I hope to heal FAST...
So far I read about half of what you wrote (I'm kinda busy now, sorry).
Are you sure your Snellen reading is 20/333? If so then my vision is actually worse than yours (20/400, even worse when I'm stressed) and I'm currently taking college classes without wearing glasses. Actually I haven't even touched my glasses in almost a year!
I have been doing the Bates method for a very long time, and have had very good temporary progress but nothing permanent yet. There are some parts of your story which are similar to mine, and I share many of your opinions, and most of all I share your hatred for imperfect vision/glasses and your passion for complete recovery (better than 20/20)! ;D
But right now I gotta finish up some college work that's due tomorrow. I'll try and post a more thorough and helpful reply this weekend!
welcome to the forum you will get a variety of answers, everyone has different experiences with this.
yes, I had the same questions and the same frustrations finding answers. I started with about the equivalent of 20/800 eyesight (measured at 5/200, I could see the 200 line from 5 feet) and now 5 months later I'm seeing 10/40, pretty huge improvement for me. I still have to wear a reduced prescription (around 20/30) for work every day.
I can tell you some things that helped me along the way. The first was keeping notes of my progress and the changes in what I observed without my glasses. The link to my blog is at the bottom of the post. This helped me at the beginning to realize, hey - it's actually working! But, in fact, I didn't fully believe it was working until I could read 10/200. So don't be discouraged that you find it hard to believe in. I can say that once you do believe you recover more, so find a way to record your progress.
I'm an engineering, so I prefer reading Bates's original writings. I don't think they are very difficult to understand. I read Tom Q's book and enjoyed his interpretation as well. The key is (and this is why some people will say certain books are rubbish), is what works for YOU. I experimented with different things and just picked up what worked for me along the way. I plan on still reading other books (Huxley, Corbett, F.M. Alexander, Lieberman...)
The first thing I did was learn to breathe and blink properly - with amazing results in progress. What did it take? not reading or learning so much as just paying attention to what I do to my body and what the effect is on my vision. That is how you will progress fastest.
Haven't tried meditation, but I do autogenics training (link on blog) which always improves my eyesight without fail. I do yoga, this helps if I can remember to keep my mind quiet and focussed on my body while doing it. I'm getting into learning about mindfulness (link on blog), don't know if it will help but I like the way it makes me feel so alive. I will also try the Alexander Technique soon in due time when I have found a balance with the above, as I have read about many people who have used this successfully with the Bates method.
My philosophy is to use whatever helps me, so it's not just purely Bates, but Bates plus...
I wouldn't get too hung up on reduced prescription lenses. It's the time without any lenses that counts. If you need to see, just wear a reduced lense that allows you to see what you need and not so much more. It will just strain the eyes more to wear a reduced lense that is too reduced and you have to squint to see more. As time goes on, then you can get to lower and lower lenses, but it's not important, and in my experience, doesn't happen linearly with progress without the lenses. For example, I've improved from 5/200 to 10/40 which is HUGE, but I don't think my eye doctor would reduce the prescription more than 0.25D below the -7.75 prescription she set for me. I still wear -6.25D to work.
So you mean if I recover enough, the temporary strain will not affect me? Like Bates could produce much astigmatism without being affected long term. What i'm afraid of is that wearing any lenses will permanently set me back...
Dr. Bates strongly reommended reading your Snellen.
Your statement of 20/333 does not seem "right".
Here is an easy-to-use Snellen to verify your visual acuity.
Just click here:
<!-- 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 -->
And then on "Display" several times.
You can use this at the conventional 20 feet -- or 10 feet if you wish.
Vision does change from year to year -- so, before starting Bates, it
would be good to check.
As one person reported, he started at 20/800 (I believe) and has
profoundly improved his vision -- by confirming with his Snellen.
Let us know what you read -- and we will help.
Otis
"What i'm afraid of is that wearing any lenses will permanently set me back..."
Yes, that's the point, wearing any lense will set you back, not permanently in my experience so far, so only wear them when needed. But if you do need it, then you might as well wear the lense that allows you to see what you need to see, rather than squint through a pair that's too weak. I find that a lense that's weaker than 20/40 is too weak for anything practical (reading, driving, etc), so I might as well go completely without glasses than wear a weaker lense than that.
