When doing the shifting, I start getting clear flashes in this way. I would feel something pulling my eyes followed by a markedly improved vision for two seconds( usually clear an extra line on the Snelen), then back to baseline vision, and then a few seconds later a stronger pull and improved vision. The process continues throughout my shifting session ( I get these same experiences with wall gazing too) and after I complete my routine ( which is typically fifteen minutes at a time) vision returns to baseline.
My question is sometimes I feel a stinging pain at the moment of improved vision and occasionally even get stomach cramps and even get nauseous. Is anyone else getting the samething? One day I had abdominal pain lasting all day long and heart was beating much faster too. I dont get these side effects on days I dont have these improved flashes. Could it be explained as a release of tension ( in the eyes and other parts) producing some unwanted side effects too?
when i have clear flashes sometimes while doing shifting i get the stinging feeling as well. I think it could be to do something withe the muscles of ur eyes?
A light pain or irritation during clear flashes has been discussed a few times on here, but I can't find where. Anyway, it's common but doesn't always happen, and I can only guess what it may be.
The best way to deal with it, I think, is to detach from it and don't fight it unless it becomes unbearable. You might find that the feeling lessens and disappears. You get into more and more trouble by trying to tell your eyes how to work or fighting every little change that doesn't appear initially to be for the better.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
this pain is simply blood, feeling and energy rushing to the contracted oblique muscles of your eye. that is, if it feels like a shooting star of liquid into your eye. trust me, I have felt it many times and will continue to bear with it until the goal is reached. only now are you just understanding how frozen your eyes truly were, all those years you functioned with it beneath consciousness.
one thing I have thought of a few times is why didn't Bates and other spreaders of the method include the detection and presence of pain in the path towards recovery? my only answer is Bates knew that people would have a hard enough time accepting his truths, without the mentioning of actual, physical (albeit temporary) discomfort that would result from the correct use of central fixation.
also there is another type of pain I have felt, not the instantaneous blinding type, but almost a brooding type of malignancy that makes itself known during the occasional shift, almost like a weight pressing down on the eye. mayhaps this is a realization of the strain the eyes have been laboring under, for so long with no respite in sight.
The pain is similar to the pain we get on looking at a bright object like the sun - sort of something is pulled in the eye. The difference is of course that looking at the sun may cause momentary blindness ( if it hurts to look at it) but in this case it is a moment of improved vision. It does not happen too common but I could not remember if Dr.Bates talked about a pain related to improved flashes. Maybe he did not want to discourage people by mentioning about the possibility of pain. I just wish there were an easy way to convert those momentary flashes into permanent ones...
My eyes were truly frozen no doubt about it what else explains this level of poor vision? I think even worse than being prone to staring ( which is essentially looking all over the area instead of looking at one small spot at a time) the myopic mind does not pay enough attention to what it sees. We have seen in films like the Sherlock Holmes how he is able to spot things which most others miss inspite of being able to see. The myopic eye has this problem to a higher degree than a normal eye. I have observed that calming the mind with fresh ( or godly thoughts), breathing deeply and looking attentively( of course without staring) creates a temporary improvement in vision. For some reason, a person with defective vision equates attentive looking with staring at what he sees ( and expects to see better) which is just the opposite of what one should do. Looking attentively is loosening the hold on vision and giving into the natural seeing. We always end up doing opposite of what we wanted to achieve. Even if i try to stare forcibly( different from natural staring of the myopic eye) I have seen my vision improve, because we tend to get opposite results of what we strive to do.
I still get a mild stinging sensations during (partial) clearings and this is accompanied by eyewatering. Neither are as profuse as a few months ago. I think it is the release of accumulated strain and I have accumulated more than my fair share over the years! While it can be a mild nuisance I welcome it as a sign that I am on the right track and making progress - or at the very least that something is happening. Occasionally it feels quite uncomfortable and the only way I can describe it (and I have thought about this for a bit) is to compare it with throwing up, in an ocular sense. It's like there is strain there that I am better off without but I can't always bring myself to release it without a fight. Actually, it's a bit like letting fizz out of a lemonade bottle, you can sometimes let a little bit out gradually and other times it wells up and can get a bit uncomfortable.
I have a much clearer idea of the strain in recent days (or, at least, of a big element of it) and am catching myself, often in the evening, really straining through my thoughts, like trying to get through routine tasks as quickly as possible like a battering ram. Then I just change the thoughts and it goes. It's funny how it goes, it's really quite plain but you have to let all the dust settle before you can really see what's happening.
Finally, I have noticed a pleasant cool feeling over my eyes very recently, just like a cool draught blowing on them. Yesterday I closed the doors and windows, but nope, it was still there and it's here now as I write this. I'm taking this as a good sign.
For clear flashes in general, whether accompanied by a stinging sensation or not, the best thing you can do is to notice the absence of effort you're putting into your eyes to see. If you get a clear flash without doing anything, be it practicing shifting or anything else, it shows you that you don't have to DO anything to cause or maintain a clear flash. But regardless, how ever it comes, if it's a real clear flash you should notice how you aren't doing anything at all to cause it - you're doing less than the things you were doing before that actually prevented it. It's actually much harder (infinitely harder) to prevent clear vision, or stop a clear flash, than it is to get a clear flash or keep clear vision.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
What is the best thing to do when you have a flash of improved vision?
I notice that I get them when you start to shift the eyes in a particular way, but when you do get the flashes it is neither possible to hold it by force or loose it any means. But very often I notice that if I continue the exercises ( like shifting) the flash disappears. I have often wondered if you should discontinue the exercise for sometime to allow the flash to persist for a longer duration. ( probably by closing the eyes?)
What are others doing when they get flashes? Bates does talk about doding the flashes, but it does not appear to be that simple.
I think its to ignore the clear flash and ur eyes. U could possibly cause strain trying to maintain the clear flash? But i suppose there could be a better way.
