A few years back I tried out sungazing, at one point following the HRM* protocol, on and off, due to frequent cloudy mornings. One thing I got from it was calmness. After only a minute or so, it really helped clear my mind, gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, and eventually colors might have started appearing brighter or something, like even blur was more defined. Basically all I did was slowly adapt to looking at the sun when low in the sky, doing it for only so long each session that I was comfortable with. That's really the important thing, I think. It's easy for people to get hung up on how long they should do it, but I suggest that if you're going to do it, listen to your body to tell you when to stop, or if it's too bright for you now. Then it's a no-brainer. I mainly did it with the early morning or late evening sun, when it was low enough in the sky to look at without discomfort. UV rays are blocked by the atmosphere when it's low in the sky. I don't do it regularly anymore, just maybe look at the sun for a moment. I did find that my eyes would start bothering me after a week or so if I didn't ever look at the sun and didn't spend time outside. I'm outside more during the day now too, so getting enough sun isn't an issue.
Just to clarify, "sunning" is a different thing, involving closing your eyes and facing towards the sun, moving your head back and forth.
The "sun treatment" is what Bates called his use of a magnifying glass on patients. The patient looked down, and he would lift the upper eyelid and focus sunlight from the magnifying glass on the sclera (white of the eye), moving it rapidly back and forth to avoid damage, and doing so for only a brief moment at a time. This intense exposure to sunlight, without the need for the subject to look at the sun himself, apparently had very good results.
Anyone have other experiences of using one of these methods?
* HRM = Hira Ratan Manek, a guy claiming to live without food, relying on sunlight only as his source of energy through long periods of sungazing. He was eventually caught eating and finally publicly admitted his deception before word got out, but still claims that he hadn't eaten for many years prior, up until a relatively recent time. He claims sungazing will cure pretty much any ailment, including vision problems, but the same is said in other circles about perfect nutrition, internal cleansing, meditation, etc, etc.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
otto Wrote:When sunning, do you just face the setting or rising sun or do you do short swings? What is recommended for the imagination at this time?
Well if you're just talking about sunning (closed eyes), it isn't necessary to do it at sunrise or sunset. It's relatively so dim at those times that sunning wouldn't be very effective. Anyway, I don't do sunning, so maybe someone who has found benefit from it can comment.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
Hi,
Today's news on TV announced that spending an hour or two under the sun everyday helps in preventing myopia in children. The fact that the sunlight is good for vision has been known for nearly a hundred years, and yet only today the media broadcast it as something new! How 'blind' can this world be.
clarknight Wrote:Optical industry hiding truth for years.
lol years? try decades.this is an example of "technological evolution"aka laziness. the thing is glasses is thje easy way to "see in 20/20" but it doesnt actually help. i think sungazzing actually works but if i read it right back in the book, the way it works is like lazer surgery, where you need to go through a faze of blindness to cure yourself....im not gunna do it but u'know. thats a trick more usefull in a "slower paced society" like in those outback areas
To achieve a very similar indoor effect to outdoor 'sunning' I have been placing a mirror on my desktop - angled so as to slightly reflect the overhead lighting at me - and then going about my business. The mirror occasionally, by my own normal movements, reflects light across my eyes, which results in flashes of clear vision. I came up with this method after noticing it by accident years before, but not making the connection with some of Dr. Bates' methods until this year. The advantage is that once placed, the mirror requires no other manipulation, although it helps to occasionally remember what's going on with it. It is placed on the desk, between me and a Snellen posted on the wall opposite. I occasionally move it around, but not much once it's in a good spot.
It also works well combined with another method I devised: Turn head left, look back to the center with right eye, hold the focus, then turn the head back while trying to pull the left eye into central fixation with the right - involves keeping the left eye turning on the same plane/line of vision as the right eye. Then do the same from the right side. This helps with central fixation, and is somewhat simliar to Paul McCartney's yoga-style eye extercises, but addresses the problem myopics have with eyes of different acuity/astigmatism not working well together.
The left/right/center head/eyes turn/look/turn/central fixation also works well outside (without the mirror effect) and while riding in the front passenger seat, and combining it with looking into the distance and into darker/est areas. O0 8)
What i done was to "look" to the Sun with the eyes closed for 2 minutes, and then at the Sun directly with eyes opened.
I believe that trying to relax the eyes can be done more easily when looking at a very bright light source, because when you fell annoyed, you can actually "feel" the strain. That's what i was trying when i looked in to the Sun with eyes opened.
Results.
With corrections (contacts), i heaved 20/20 vision or more, after a long time.
(I heaved about -12 of myopia on the right, and -13 on the left).
Funny think is that when i got to the streets, i was seeing everything clearly for many meters away. Even the people inside the houses if the windows where open.
I've discovered that, for myself, the 'secret' effect of sungazing (eyes closed of course) is that it puts my head in a raised and tilted back position. This tilted back head position forces an elevation of my line of sight, and points my nose downrange. Leaving/keeping my head in that position, and keeping in mind that both my pupils need to be aligned and synchronized while rotating, results in very good and gradually improving clear vision flashing.
It reminds me of a documentary I saw on one of the military service academies - a scene in the dining hall, where 1st year cadets or plebes or whatever are required to keep their heads up, looking forward never downward, while eating. They have to raise everything up to eye level or so before putting it in their mouth. One reason the services would have originally required that is: it improves eyesight. But I'll bet they've forgotten that reason and now think it does something else.
The 1989 study on increasing prevalence and progressive worsening of myopia (1st link in my signature below) was established at the request of and largely funded by the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, primarily because it is affecting their ability to find and train pilots.
So far, my theory of neonatal antibiotic eye treatment as a root cause of later functional/common myopia, fits all the facts and observations. All of them. I have been interviewing a number of people wth 'normal' eyesight who were born outside of the U.S. (Guatemala, England, Jamaica, etc.) and so far none of them have one eye with markedly worse vision. Yet all the U.S. born people, even those with 20/20, do have one eye with markedly worse vision. Yesterday I raised my Snellen chart on my World Map on my office wall by about 2-3 inches, and today the lower two lines are clearly visible and becoming legible, whereas previously they were a blur. All the facts and observations fit!
So - if I have to go around now looking like "a snob with my nose in the air" - I don't care! Now I know the real reason why!
Ideally, you don't want your head tilted back -- you just don't want it tilted forward and down which is the typical myopic posture. The top of your spine is in the middle of your head between your ears, so visualize your entire spine upright (NOT curved forward), then your skull balanced easily on top of that. Think Bobble Head! Your eyes can shift up or down quite a ways without having to tip your head -- watch someone with good posture and good vision.
I'll bet a lot of myopes have a tendency to droop their visual angle. I know I do. Especially with my left (worse) eye. Keep it elevated! Keep your chin up! Skylarking is good for your vision! Be a snob! Point downfield with the line of your nose! Keep both pupils on the same visual axis and focusing at the same distance! Synchronize them! See what you can see! Learn to use the good eyes God gave you, not the blurry eyes the doctors gave you! Reject the magical vision of lenses whenever you can; accept the clear vision which lies above and beyond or around the corner from the blur!
8)
DaniFixe Wrote:So,in the sungazing you put your head back and look to the sky too ? It's funny beacuse i have myopia and i'm always looking to the floor.
Has anyone tried the sungazing with eyes open?, but someone who has practiced this for months?... I've hear that you can get a lot of benefits, the indian man called Hira Ratan Manek said this. (but on safe hours, of course)
lordofthesun Wrote:Has anyone tried the sungazing with eyes open?, but someone who has practiced this for months?... I've hear that you can get a lot of benefits, the indian man called Hira Ratan Manek said this. (but on safe hours, of course)
I do it for 15 minutes sometimes....I look directly at the sun, and just shift from point to point on the sun.
There is a passage on better eyesight magazine on this. It hasn't helped me greatly yet, after I do it I get bright balls of light in my vision after. Bates said it helps pave way for relaxation, but usually doesnt cure.
