Central Fixation & Sungazing Improvements

[Ben Hill]

Alright, now having since recovered from a bad spot in my eye due to improper sungazing, I've decided to post some of the breakthrough events I've had, regarding the two techniques of Central Fixation, and Sungazing.

First off, my outlook on central fixation was wrong, and it took me close to a half year to realize it, after reading the chapter about CF in Bates' book. I was attempting to narrow my vision from my peripheries, to the center, but I ended up creating more of a stare, than bringing out the image. Now, I've realized that you must learn to see the object you are observing the best, even if it's blurry, and to think of the outsides of that object, as seeing them worse. When used with shifting, it helps promote CF, while eliminating staring. This helps develop a habit of knowing when you fixate, and when you stare, which are two different things.

At first, the area seen while fixating is very small. I soon saw after a couple weeks, that the area I focused on, would be clear, and I wouldn't even think about the peripheries. I then noticed that the area was clear way beyond my normal sight range. For example, when looking at the DL plates on cars in front of me, usually I cannot read the letters and/or numbers much farther than a couple car's lengths. Now, when I properly fixate, I can sometimes read the figures across while shifting, at greater than 4-5 car's lengths.

On to sungazing. At first my sungazing was bad. I strongly suggest getting the hang of central fixation before attempting to gaze, or else you might end up with a nice big spot on your eye for a few weeks. Keep it simple. Don't stare at the rising or setting sun. The sunlight is not as intense, and while you may think you have it, you are actually straining while looking at the sun. Then you get that nice spot I was talking about. When looking at the afternoon sun, the light is at its most intense point. This makes it almost impossible to fixate on while straining, thus helping you develop a way to eliminate strain while you gaze.

Now the relationship between CF and sungazing. I found that being outside during the afternoon was pretty bright, and it was not very productive to relax, as it was painfully bright. After a few weeks of CF, I've begun to notice that I am very relaxed outside in the same light, and it doesn't seem as intense. The sun doesn't seem as intense, and it's very easy for me to sungaze now. My theory, is that due to central fixation, we are training our mind, to not strain to see everything in our field of vision. We are narrowing that field down, so that we are taking in what we are fixating on. When that area of fixation is attained, the mind filters out the other areas we look at in our peripheries, and we don't see them as well. We see them worse. Now, the outside is bearable, because I'm taking in only the area I am fixated on. The amount of light my mind is processing is just for that small area, and not my entire field of view.

I'll leave this open to discussion, and see what anybody else has to say about my theory.

[otto]

I relate to your struggle with CF. It is kind of a zen koan for all folks relearning to see properly. Slowly, I'm getting it. Instead of trying to see a narrow spot clearly, I now am allowing myself to not have to see everything clearly at once. This is a kind of psychological relief and release that leads me to RELAXATION. Blinking, breathing, shifting, central-fixation, oppositional movement. They are all there when you are relaxing. Using mouse print has been very beneficial to me lately. I feel a leap forward in my vision is on the way.

[David]

Ben, I think you've got it. When you stare, it's like information overload. Too much to take in at once. So you freeze and lock yourself up as you do it, all at once, like you're defending against it, without realizing what you're doing. So the more you try to see by staring, without central fixation, the more you do the opposite of what you think you're doing. You block things out instead of taking them in. It's confusing, because people in this process either stare more and try to take in more by being "relaxed", or they stare at small points to try to see the small points better by sheer force. Both of which really amount to the same thing. But really by being patient and not trying to take in so much, they would actually take in more, open up and relax because they're doing it right.

Dave

[Mihai_alexandru]

Interesting. Well sun gazing in really helpful. At least for me, because every time I do sungazing I get temporary 20/20 vision.

Also I find that cloud gazing (a new Bates Method technique, ey? ) is very helpful for myopic people. Just trace the edges of the clouds using your central fixation. I find that after just about 15 seconds of cloud gazing I get immediate improvement. The more difficult part is to maintain the relaxation. :

[Ram]

In using the shifting method with central fixation, there is only a narrow range of shifting that is truly beneficial. If you try to shift between two points that are far away, you gain very little because it is easy to see A worse when looking at B. If the points A and B are too close that your current level of vision does not resolve the distance comfortably then you cant see B worse while looking at A. In this case you end up staring though you think you are shifting. The optimal distance between A and B to be used for shifting thus depends on a number of factors and is variable. Choose And B such that it is the least possible distance where you see B worse when looking at A and then B directly. Choose it large enough that you dont stare, choose it small enough so that the shift is beneficial for you.

I made the same mistake early on by thinking that smaller the shifting distance the better it is. I only ended up staring.