Monday, March 30, 2009

Eyesight and Glare

Recently I noticed that it’s hard for me to look at the distance. The problem is not just straining but because of the awful glare. It is probably caused by smog though the town is fairly small and the place is far from the freeway.

Thomas (my follower) who has good eyesight reported the same effect so I know it’s not just my eyesight but something in the air. The glare is so bad that sometimes I want to put on dark shades (and I don’t even have a pair).

The situation is so bad that sometimes it is almost painful to look out of the window. However, if I look from the inside, it’s all right. It’s not really painful but sometimes my eyes would tear and I actually feel tremendous strain. I wonder if it is the consequences of the “ozone hole”.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Bates Method Are Not Exercises

If there is one thing I want to impress on you about the Bares method is that this method is not about physical exercises. Quite the opposite, in fact. It is about maintaining and developing correct visual habits, the right way to use your eyes. Lots of people read his book and think all they have to do is perform certain exercises, and then they wonder why they don’t see any results. Well, Bates method is more like yoga in that respect. If you decide to master, say, Raja yoga, you don’t practice a certain set of exercises and expect to become an adept after a while. It’s more about developing your mind, mind control, things that can’t be developed mechanically. Things that can’t be taught in a book. It is the same with the Bates method.

Palming and sun treatment can hardly be called exercises, techniques maybe, that allow one to relax. Shifting and central fixation are actions that are performed all the time even by people with imperfect vision. They should become more aware of them.

Bates advocated the use of an eye chart but this chart is used more for a feedback rather than an actual tool. You don’t have to use a eyechart, you can use trees, pictures on the wall or whatever object you want. He encouraged practicing shifting with an eyechart because it’s quite easy to do. He never advocated exercises like “roll your eyes all the way to the left, then all the way to the right”, that are so popular. Admittedly, they won’t do any harm. But no benefits either.

Just look at all the misconceptions that are around and used by people “promoting” Bates method

They would talk about “weak” muscles that need strengthening, “just like any other part of the body”. Yeah, right. Eye muscles are not like any other muscle. They are certainly not weak, in fact they are in a permanent spasm. To relax this spasm is what Bates method is all about.

They would talk about eyechart that if you use the same eyechart, you memorize it and it won’t be effective. That is precisely the idea! The eye chart in Bates method is not used to test your vision, it is used to practice shifting, or, if your vision is good, to maintain it just by looking at it as a familiar object. I actually saw someone on internet selling one of the numerous Bates rip-off products the random eyechart generator. These people just don’t get it.

On a side note: the more I look on internet, the more I think that any info product that is sold there is an overpriced scam. Vision improvement products are just part of it. You certainly don't need to buy anything. The Bates book is actually cheaper than books of his followers.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Complete book of Eye Care

Dr. M. S. Agarwal is the son of Dr. R. S. Agarwal and was also an ophthalmologist wrote a book The Complete Book of Eye Care that is available on this site.


It’s a quick read. Here is my review of it.

Well, it is a very basic book. It starts with the invective against television and enlists the very simple Bates techniques. The part that I like is a chapter on yoga exercises that include postures (asanas) and breathing (pranayama). Yes, they are very basic but most people probably never heard of them. There is a chapter on mechanical contraptions as well that supposes to improve vision (like myopeter in Donald Rehm’s book, see my previous post). Another part that I like is a chapter on diet: though not really practical for American residents as it mentions Indian fruit and vegetables, it at least makes you aware of the importance of diet for the overall health.

Speaking about diet I can’t help recommending you an excellent book by Dr. Weston Price, who was in dentistry the same figure as Dr. Bates was in ophthalmology. Read that to find out the truth about why people’s teeth are bad. And as you have probably guessed by now it’s not lack of brushing. Here is a quick synopsis of the book as it is rather long and tedious. You can also read my article on diet.

So as it is a very quick read it’s worth the time. The book is not very well written (compared to Bates or even Dr. R. S. Agarwal) but if you are just looking for information, it fits the bill. There are tons of pictures too to show you how to perform asanas and also there are charts to practice central fixation.

The part that intrigued me most was about the Swami Arjundev who was using - 20.0 glasses and was completely cured by these methods (in the Opinions chapter). I could not find more info on this though I’ll definitely continue searching.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Perfect Eyesight by Robert Zuraw

Here’s another one of these New Age sites with alternative cures for the eyes. I’ve tried that a while ago so can’t give you fresh impressions. But here goes.

For some reason the info is found on the site of Mantak Chia, though the original author is Robert Zuraw. Exactly the same info. The old site evidently does not exist anymore. Where is Zuraw, you might ask? Good question. If you scroll to the very bottom of that article you will find his name. Well, I guess that's better than nothing.

Anyway, the information is pretty good, I was really into it for a while. Unfortunately I never got any kind of results from practicing the exercises. No wonder, now that I got deeper into Bates, I see that it’s basically stretching muscle exercises that do not involve muscles that are really responsible for focusing. It never ceases to amaze me why they keep comparing eye muscles to the muscles of your body in an athletic sense. I think muscles responsible for focusing are more like our inner muscles. You can’t control your stomach muscles unless you are an advanced yogi adept. But it does make more sense to me that the eye muscles are too tensed instead of being atrophied “for the lack of use”.

So we have all this “ancient” wisdom and a wide variety of exercises with mysterious names like “Egyptian Eye Dot” technique, “Sun Gazing”, etc. Acupuncture and massage are also thrown in.

Well, like I said I have not noticed any benefits. It does give good advice on performing close work. Some techniques are fun to perform and the article make you more aware of your eyes in general. And that is a good thing.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Back to Bates

So I’m afraid it’s back to Bates. The good thing about these Shaolin techniques is that whoever invented them came up with an ingenious method of shifting: counting leaves. I think it’s better than so-called sketching: normal eye shift, you can feel vibrations or shifting inside.

Tracking is also good: follow the bird in its flight or cars driving by.

Interestingly, near-far swing is not from Bates but everybody recommends it and in this case I agree that this one is beneficial. Definitely unsurpassed in eliminating near-point stress. But remember to keep your eyes relaxed while looking at the distance.

Update. I noticed recently that for myopia it’s the “far” part that really matters. The first phase is just to look at the distant object without straining. How do you eliminate staring? One good method is to start blinking often while still looking at the distance. Another one is while you are looking at something, keep shifting, for example if you look at the tree shift from one branch (a peak in the outline) to another all the way to the top.

Bates methods are not exactly exercises but rather correct visual habits. Some of them can be regarded as exercises but the thing about them is that they can be practiced anytime and anywhere. You don’t need an eye chart, you don’t need glasses, you don’t need anything. You can practice shifting, for example on any small object. You don’t need to set up special time to perform them. The idea is to develop good visual habits, like shifting, blinking and central fixation.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Shaolin Eye Techniques

This one is interesting. On one site I found some exercises that are called Shaolin Eye Techniques. They are not Bates techniques but Chinese Chi Kung.

View the Shaolin Eight Eye Techniques here (scroll down to answer 4).

Well, I looked around and the reviews of these techniques are surprisingly good. So let's have a closer look, shall we?

I still don't quite know what to make of them. I've been practicing them for a while now but since my vision is pretty bad to start with I don't expect quick results.

Since I wrote this post I also began to study Qigong in more depth. The main idea behind Qigong is that physical movement is just an outside form. The real thing is the mind control: mind directs energy (qi or chi) to whatever part of the body you want it to direct. This simple concept is easy to understand but is difficult to realize and actually implement so the movements would become effective.

So the techniques are these:

Counting leaves (just like it sounds: count leaves on a distant tree) encourages shifting. Be sure to stand close enough that you can actually see the leaves. The green color of the trees also seems to be soothing for the eyes. I have a nice fan palm growing right under my window. I don't see the leaves very well but I can clearly distinguish the ends or middle parts.

Rolling stars: roll the eyes in big circles, this one is similar to the muscle stretching exercise that are promoted in virtually all over the internet sites that have anything to do with vision improvement.

“Angry” eyes (not an apt description): close eyes tight and then open them as wide as possible. It would seem like a good way to cause strain in the eyes according to Bates. I tried it and actually it seems to alleviate tension.

Near-far swing (look at the close object, than at a distant object). I like this one a lot. This and the next one are the only focusing exercises and they are good.

The most debated: the stare (focusing one): you are supposed to “gently stare” (another inept choice of words) at some object. It goes rather against the Bates' idea of relaxation. The argument runs like this: staring is what caused your bad eyesight in the first place. Breaking the habit of staring is the first habit to develop. The opposite of staring is shifting and blinking.

Well, it got me thinking and now I think what they call stare is the same one that I call long distance viewing, because that is what it is. This is the only technique with which I noticed any improvement and temporary (so far) flashes of improved (not perfect) vision. I do recommend that you relax you eyes and blink naturally while doing this as it seems to work towards improvement.

I think it's because the ciliary muscle that controls the lens gets relaxed when eyes are focused on a distant object. I know that Bates said that lens has nothing to do with accommodation. But I think it does and this experience confirms it.

I am convinced that long distance viewing is great for myopia. I wrote another post about it.

By the way, that’s how you can easily tell if a person has bad eyesight, even if they wear contacts or had Lasik: they still stare. And that’s the main reason that Lasik is temporary, these people will have their sight worse in a few years provided they’ve got no other nasty side effect from this terrible operation.

The next technique sounds very similar to pranic healing: imagine energy flowing into your eyes. Not as complicated as Leo Angart describes it: just imagine energy flowing into your eyes. It sounds like it might help. I also like to imagine flowing energy that squeezes your eyeballs and brings them back to round shape.

You might also want to employ Daoist or reversed abdominal breathing while performing this technique as it helps to direct the energy to the eyes.

Point massage (acupressure). Leo Angart also recommends it. This is considered traditional Chinese method. I had to read a few books on Qigong in order to discover proper points. I don't thing the acupressure alone will improve your vision but it might help in combination with other techniques.

Heavenly Drum: that’s when you cover your ears with your palms and drum with your fingers on the back of your head. This Heavenly Drum is mentioned in Tai-Chi books as well.

These Shaolin Eye techniques have outrageous claims that they will restore your eyesight. Hype aside, I read several very good reviews about them. They are not exactly Bates but in a way the approach is more systematized, more technical (you are actually doing something rather than "imagining" which in my experience is not easy) and they are easy to perform.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Methods to Improve Vision. Part 3

Ok, now let’s have a look at psychological and mental approaches to improve vision

Bates method is the king here. It can yield amazing results, it’s easy to practice (if you know how), it’s harmless even if it does you no good.

Pranic healing. That’s Leo Angart’s favourite. It’s easy to perform but it requires mental focus that he might be naturally good at. I did not notice any results with this method. But give it a try, it won’t hurt.

Hypnosis. Leo mentioned that one too. The story goes that a man was progressed back into his childhood before he started wearing glasses and then brought back to present with his ‘early’ vision. The part that they usually don’t tell you is that the results didn’t last.

Let’s skip chanting mantras and affirmations as I think they are just stupid. Sorry, but I don’t think they work.

EFT. Emotional Freedom Technique. That’s a good one. The idea behind the method is that all the diseases (including impaired vision) are caused by some emotional trauma that usually happened in the distant past. The method consists of in tapping yourself on certain parts of the body thus releasing… well, something. Yes, sounds ludicrous but some people reported success with this method. I tried it for a while but can’t say I noticed any improvement. You can find basic information free on the FFT site and I consider that a sign of quality: at least they want to help people and are not just after their money. Anyway, it’s quick and easy to perform and it won’t hurt.

There are also rumours on internet that you can become rich by doing EFT. The unscrupulous people will try to sell you this information that is available for free on this site.

Convex lenses. That’s the one where you wear reading glasses if you are nearsighted. The reason I put it here is because you wear them for certain period of time until your vision becomes perfect. I haven’t tried them as I am not convinced by the theory behind the method and I haven’t found any positive reviews about this method. And of course I don’t want to aggravate my myopia even more.

Tratak (and similar) method. This one is from yoga. This is really strange. The method consists of gazing or rather staring at the flame of a candle. Without blinking. Like, for 5 minutes or as long as you can stand. Sounds the opposite of everything that Bates said and it’s clear just from description that it will cause tremendous strain on the eyes. Do not confuse it with reading fine print in the candlelight, that one is good. Thomas Quackenbush shares the same opinion with me about tratak (it’s just to show that I am not the only one who is puzzled by this yogic method for eyesight improvement.

I was surprised to read about methods similar to tratak used in visualization techniques, in a way that they involve hard staring. They are probably supposed to make your mind more focused, who knows. They seem to do the opposite of what they claim.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Methods to improve vision. Part 2

Ortho-K-lenses. These are hard contacts that you wear while you sleep. They reshape your cornea but the effect lasts for only a day. So it’s basically night contacts. I have not tried them myself but the idea seems sound and they don’t cause permanent damage to the eye. I’ve read in Leo Angart’s book that hard contacts are worse than day (soft) contacts because they rub off layers from your cornea. Also the risk of infection is greater and they are not as comfortable. I bet they are expensive too.

Ortho-C-lences (orthoculogy). The idea behind them, well, I don’t know exactly as I never got the book promised by the author, John Yee. The claim is that they help you reshape the eye by causing certain muscles to relax (???). How or why these muscles get relaxed is not satisfactorily explained. From description it seems that they are basically hard contact lenses that you wear only for 10 minutes a day. It sounds like a rip-off scam to me. Notice the total absence of any reviews about this method. I would stay away from these. The price is too high to give them a try.

Pinhole glasses. They work on mechanical principle of eliminating most slanted rays so that just direct light rays from the object reach your eye. They improve your vision… but not very well, not enough to move around comfortably. The only use for them I can think about is watching movies. Reading in them is absolute nuisance. Also, wearing them encourages staring which is a habit that should be broken. Not recommended.

These are mechanical contraptions I could think of. In the really old days they used to wear a monocle: it's like glasses, only you pop it in one eye (one-eyed glasses). It looked cool! Below you can see an example of somebody wearing a monocle (ripped-off from Wikipedia!)