I have been doing the Bates Method for about two months now. I have watched a spine surgeon friend of mine go from glasses to no glasses seeing 20/20 a few years ago and although I believed that it was possible, I didnât have the stamina to keep up with it when I tried it back then. I also figured that when I put my glasses back on I was just negating all of the progress that I would have made. I decided to give it another shot. I checked out the book from the library (Improve Your Eyesight: A Guide to the Bates Method for Better Eyesight without Glasses by Jonathan Barnes) and read it cover to cover. Starting vision from previous prescription was: Right Eye: -5.0 Astigmatism correction -2.25. Left Eye: -4.75, Astigmatism correction -2.25. Needless to say I cannot drive without them or see any detail. The optometrist that I have been going to for the past 15 years was not interested in hearing about the Bates Method or giving me an Rx for a weaker pair of glasses. The front desk lady, Lisa gave me an appointment with his partner at a different location that might be a little more accommodating.
I thought he might be more understanding. I had to explain to him about the Bates method and he was not impressed. When I told him that my surgeon friend went from -2.0 in each eye to seeing 20/20 without glasses, he explained that he must not have really needed them or that he had learned to interpret the blurred image, and that relaxation exercises cannot change myopia. He even tried to tell me that sometimes peoples with myopia will have an improvement in their vision when they get into their 30âs and 40âs (I am 38). I am sorry, but I have never heard anything about that before. I had not wanted to wear my glasses I bought with the last eye exam (two years ago), because my friend told me that I should revert to an earlier pair. For the past couple of years I have been wearing my glasses from 2001, and the new ones have been setting in a drawer. Here is the progress in two months:
Before: Right Eye: -5.0 Astigmatism correction -2.25.
Left Eye: -4.75, Astigmatism correction -2.25
Now: Right Eye: -4.25 Astigmatism correction -1.75.
Left Eye: -4.0, Astigmatism correction -1.75
My eyesight is now better than it was in 2001, as they are too strong for me (Right: 4.75, Left 4.25). He agreed to write for a pair .25 under what I needed, but not less because he was concerned about night driving. Itâs a start. I wanted to tell him, âI saw the letters on the chart clearly and I am not âinterpreting the blursâ, yet my numbers show a definite improvement. It looks like itâs working to me.â I could tell he already had all the answers and wasnât too interested in exploring new (old) ideas. All I cared about was that he wrote for something weaker. I am so pumped.
I do palming, brushing/tracing, sunning, watching TV and reading without glasses.. I sit outside for about 30 minutes a night. I have a digital egg timer and sun for about 3 minutes a couple of times during the 30 minutes. I palm for 6-8 minutes, then I brush and just look around at the trees and the houses. I switch back and forth between the near and far trees. I also read my book without glasses. I put the print at such a distance that it is just out of focus, but I can still read it.
I think the egg timer works for me, because I donât have to concentrate on counting seconds or wonder how much longer until the time is up. I can just push start and spend all of the time relaxing. I must admit that sometimes I will jump when the timer goes off, but not usually.
I also periodically throughout the day will remove my glasses at work, close my eyes, take deep breaths and totally relax my face and shoulders. I have to be selective when I do this because I donât want my boss to think I am sleeping. I have to confess that if I want to relax my face, sometimes I will go into the bathroom stall...no boss in there.
I have noticed some changes in my vision habits since I started two months ago. One of them is that while driving (never without my glasses), I find that I project much farther ahead than I had in the past. I was sitting at light and found myself watching the cars driving past ten full blocks away. I could have always seen them with my glasses on, but now I donât limit myself to the immediate view as much.
Wow! You really earned your improvement. Sounds like a really rounded regimen that continues through out you day. I think it's smart how you stay focused on staying relaxed. I hope you don't mind me saying, but, you are an excellent example for the other newbies that want instant results without taking consistent action. You are also inspirational to me and I'm going to start using my kitchen timer.
Mazal tov!
-Otto
Subject: Trusting a majority-opinion OD -- who does not CARE about your vision
I would stop trusting BOTH his prescription and his measurements.
One thing Bates strongly suggest was that you READ your own Snellen.
Here is one. Just click here, and then on "display" several times:
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Yes, you are probably at 20/100 at this time -- but I have seen truly
AMAZING improvement when the person has the guts to avoid the minus.
One person (Sassy) while having a refractive STATE of -6 diopers, in fact
sees between 20/70 to 20/50. I she had not read her Snellen -- she
would have NEVER seen this improvement.
I got my new glasses today. Because I have been wearing glasses that are too strong for me, whenever I take my glasses off the muscles in my face relax. When I put them back on all this stress and tension returns. With my new glasses I do not have that feeling. I can't wait until I can smash my glasses under foot.
I wear them most of the day unfortunately, but a lot less at night. I am a surgical nurse and I have to see details to work I don't want to be like Mr. Magoo without glasses fumbling around. I cannot drive without them (but I won't say I haven't :o ), so commuting with glasses are a must too (probably about 30 minutes driving total per day). When I first get up in the morning, I have been trying to delay putting them on until I have to go to work which for me is about an hour. To force myself to not put them on immediately after getting up, I put the glasses in their case in the kitchen. When I get home I take them off while in my driveway and try to not wear them during the evening, but I would say that I still wear them too often at night. I sit outside for about 30 minutes a night. On the weekends I go the majority of the time without them. I started out by just not wearing them on Sunday mornings until I got out of church around 12:30. That was where I first started noticing the difference, at church. Because I didn't put them on in the morning and went without them for about four or five hours, my eyes got adjusted to not wearing them. Sometime during the service I would realize that I could actually make out that the pastor had a head and then I could just see that he was wearing a tie. We sit in the balcony towards that back, so believe me, that is an improvement.
To make the answer quick I would say that probably wear them for about 10-12 hours a day Monday through Friday and 6 hours a day on the weekend. Since getting my new glasses on Thursday (two days ago), I am seeing clearer flashes more often during my 30 minutes of outdoor sitting. I went from seeing that there is a chimney on the house across the way to seeing that there are mortar lines. I will take what I can get.
I do palming, but I think that I can get as much relaxation by just closing my and concentrating on relaxing my entire upper body with every breath. I feel like it is working when my temples start tingling. I am not sure, but I believe it is due to relaxing muscles that have been too tense. It only happens when I reach a state of good relaxation. I still palm though.
That really is a long time throughout the day. I find it absolutely amazing that you are seeing any kind of improvement, let alone this amount of improvement! You are certainly doing well and I wish you the best of luck with it.
Thanks. I appreciate that. I think the reason I have made progress is that I am diligent with my efforts. I am serious about this. I have to wear them throughout the day, no choice.
You're a great example of persistence. If you feel that you have to wear your glasses most of the day, then that's the way it goes. You work with what you've got. Every single person out there can come up with a legitimate excuse why they can't or shouldn't put in that kind of dedication. If you don't give up, keep putting in the time, and keep experimenting with other exercises when you start stagnating, it really isn't possible to fail. You hardly even have to do the exercises right, because as long as you shake things up enough, you'll eventually find that there's an easier way of using your eyes.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
itmightsurpriseyou Wrote:Thanks. I appreciate that. I think the reason I have made progress is that I am diligent with my efforts. I am serious about this. I have to wear them throughout the day, no choice.
It is amazing that you have made progress by wearing so much of glasses. This shows that some people can actually improve while still on glasses as long as they have the right attitude. With weaker glasses progress maybe more easily possible. When you improve closer to normal , glasses will definitely prevent further progress. Interestingly, at -8.5D I have made it without glasses even for a minute for two months. I never thought it was going to be possible. I found pinholes substituting for the 'no choice' problem. Without pinholes I would inevitably have to wear them for vision critical tasks. I have not checked my vision officially but I think I have made a permanent improvement of around 2D during this period. ( not just a clear flash because the improved vision is quite constant but occasionally plummets to very lows)
That is amazing that you have gone that long without your glasses with such a stong prescription to start with. What do you do for a living that allows you to get away with it? Do you have to drive to work? I have never used or seen pinhole glasses. As I said earlier, I am a surgical nurse. I assist on spine surgeries and I have to see clearly. Because I am doing delicate work around and on the dura and spinal cord, I have to see at full capacity or darn near. I carry malpractice insurance, but believe me, it's better not to damage someones spinal cord. I also handle sharps (blades, sututre needles, gauged needles and such) and I have to see to prevent getting stuck with one of these. It is better for me if I keep them on with a weaker prescription and relax my eyes every chance I get. Your story of how much you have improved is an inspiration to me, I am surrounded by skeptics who think the method is bunk. I have all but quit trying to help others. They are going to have to discover it on their own. Even those physicians I speak to about it, think the progress I have made is not valid. One of our vascular surgeons believes that my progress is actually caused by a worsenibg in vision, and that I will be wearing bifocals in a couple of years. Go figure.
I am a PM in a software company and also own a consulting company and hence work a lot. It hit me very hard to suddenly stop using glasses. I have stopped driving for the last two months and either have someone drive me or use public transport. It certainly sucks but I am too determined to work this out at any cost since my eyes have given me so much trouble all these years and no doctor can give me relief. Afterall, what relief do you expect from glasses and what else eye doctors have? I have found great potential in Bates method but I find my work to be hindering my progress. I am planning a long vacation to ease off things. Just forget all work and pressure for a couple of months and concentrate solely on NVI.
It is interesting that you work in spine surgeries. My area of specialization is spinal diagnostic software and I have delivered three major projects in this domain. I can understand your need for perfect vision to be involved in delicate spine surgeries and pinholes do not help in such activities because they shut out too much light and useful only for computer work and TV which are light sources by themselves.
I am all too often hearing that the whole NVI affair is a bunk. But what more proof does one need other than personal evidence? Three months ago when I measured myself at 20 ft under room illumination I could not even see the chart leave alone reading it. The wall was white, the chart was white and my eyes could not even detect the white chart on the white bkg. So I could neither see the chart nor anything on it. Nowadays I can easily see that there is a chart and also know that something is written on it from 20 ft. I can sometimes read the 200 line from around 15 feet though the average is 12 feet. I dont believe that better blur interpretation enables one to see letters now when sometime ago even the chart was out of focus. But this is only the beginning. Every evening I go to the terrace of my house and look around for 30 minutes. I am easily noticing that more and more details are slowly coming into view. Initially it was one big mass of blur - it is still a big blur but with some details in it. Trees appeared as one big green blur but nowadays some shades of green are discernible in those trees. I am hopeful that I would be able to clear more lines in the coming months and I am especially looking forward to some absence from lots of computer work.
I dont think all doctors are just skeptics. Even if an eye specialist is convinced that there is some truth in NVI he wont entertain the idea nor allow the idea to get a public hold. He has spent considerable money in getting the degree and by eliminating the phenomenon known as myopia he will be shutting out his profession. I am not saying that all myopes would be curable. But it seems it can be prevented or reversed early in its tracks before it progresses. But which eye doctor would honestly like that happening? His clinic would become deserted in place of the long queue he has today. There is always a tieup between eye doctors and the optical business - commission for every eye glasses sold. The entire optical industry would collapse if there were a cure without glasses. Not only the glass business but the incidence of other eye diseases would decrease as almost every eye disease is caused by eye strain. Not only the eye, but even other physical illnesses would decrease. Most of the diseases in human beings start in the mind before making their way into the body. If all people were taught to relax their minds, the entire medical industry would suffer a setback. So it is not that every doctor remains a skeptic but never wants such a thing to happen. I have been involved with the healthcare industry long enough to understand that the profit factor ranks well above patient care and welfare in this sector. ( there are very noble sefless professionals but they will be sidelined and silenced by the one big voice of authority)
