How to Work with an Eyechart

First of all, let me tell you that I don’t like eyecharts. I think they are boring. I much prefer to look at the trees. But they certainly have their use.

I noticed that whenever I look at an eyechart as a chart trying to see how many letters I can make out I can almost never can make any. On the other hand if I just glance at it like an object (just something to look at) without trying to make letters I have some glimpses of improved vision. Sometimes if I just look at the eyechart for a few seconds the letters would come into focus but that does not usually last. The psychological switch is very subtle though and I cannot always get into the required state.

Another point is that eyecharts are different. Different eyecharts have different impacts. I like the one I made myself (just printed some letters on a sheet). I made several others too but they did not seem to be as good.

Actually the worse thing about the eyechart is its falsehood. People usually treat eyechart like a way to test their vision. Virtually every advice on the eyechart includes something along the lines to look at it until you can see a letter (or a line) clear (or clearer). Well, in my experience, if you can see one line or letter clearly, all of them become clear (except the very small ones, and sometimes even they are clear).

So I recommend you print your own eyechart. Don’t even bother with small letters, you can always print another chart with smaller letters when your vision becomes better.

For those of you who just want to print eyecharts and don't want to make your own, here's an excellent resource.

The main point to keep in mind is that you should be able to relax while you look at it. And if you remember the letters and are able to imagine them, it’s even better, I think that is what Bates called memory and imagination as an aid to vision.

By the way I am not good at memory/imagination thing myself but Bates reports some amazing stories. There is a case of a doctor who was cured when he was able to imagine that the printed letters were perfectly black.

Glasses and Anomaly of Refraction

I read something in Dr. R. S. Agarwal’s book that I want to share with you. It is the fact that correlation between the degree of abnormality (dioptria) and your glasses (contact) prescription is not linear. Or rather the distance at which you are able to see a certain line on the eyechart is not directly related to your prescription. Two people might have the same anomaly of refraction, e. g. 10/200 and one is corrected by -3 D glasses while another need -5 D. This is certainly very interesting. I can tell from my experience of clear flashes that sometimes they get almost clear. I had a perfect flash once about 5 years ago but it only lasted for a split of a second. Of course if the flash is that short it is possible that we might never become aware of it.

The point is that vision improvement is not necessarily a gradual process but rather comes in jumps. It depends how well you are able to relax your muscles.

I think this is the reason why glasses/contacts should be discarded if you are serious about eyesight improvement. It is not always possible but it would be the best way. You might be able to recover very quickly but every time you wear glasses you lock into you bad vision again.

On the other hand I know how frustrating it is to move around without the vision aid. I still think one should remove glasses whenever possible, for example moving around house, going for a walk, etc. And it is a good idea to read without glasses.

Caution on Sun Treatment

Sun treatment or sunning as it is popularly known is a famous technique advocated by Bates. I read that some people promoted sunning with open eyes. Not only that but they also recommend using magnifying glass. I do not recommend it. It’s very easy to burn your retina and the consequences will be tragic. It also takes precise distance from the eye to magnifying glass that is hard to calculate. The afterimage of the sun may be long lasting too and might be a contributing factor to floaters.

I heard that members of an Indian sect that look directly at the sun eventually go blind. In India it’s considered a sign of spiritual devotion or something like that. But the fact is that they lose their sight.

Bates himself claimed that some people can look directly at the sun without any harm. There is even a picture in the original book (see online version) that shows a woman and a child supposedly looking at the sun. And they are not even squinting! I find it hard to believe that people with normal sight would look at the sun and not squint. For this very reason the passage was removed in later edition.

Come to think of it, there are probably people who can look directly at the sun. But my guess is they are in minority and as rare as people with, say, 80/20 vision. Bates, like others in the similar circumstances, picked up cases that illustrated his point without indicating how common they were. All the “instant cure’ cases belong to this category too.

The people promoting open eyes sunning technique report no ill effect. Well, some people can swallow nails without any harm too. It does not mean that we should follow them.

Here’s another good one. On one of the eyesight forum somebody recommended eyewash that contained cayenne pepper as one of the ingredients. Hmm… I don’t think I am going to try this one.

So take any advice with a grain of salt and exercise caution. Not everybody out there is an expert. And what works for one will not necessarily work for another.

Research Proposal

I’d like to find a method that would help everyone to cure any degree of myopia. For that I propose that a group of volunteers will be sent to some island in the tropical climate (warm weather is good for sunning) and perform distant viewing. They will practice traditional Bates techniques. In addition to that they will have to spend 2 or 3 hours on top of the hill gazing at the distance. Reading will be allowed but all computer work will be eliminated. Needless to say, they will all have to discard glasses but other than that they can do pretty much what they want: swimming, laying on the beach, bicycling, yoga. The stress environment should be eliminates so they should not worry about the money.

And this is what I think will happen. My idea is that looking at the distance for hours will eventually eliminate the myopia. So there are 3 phases to that.

Phase 1. A person just looks at the distance consciously trying to relax while doing so. According to Bates myopia is caused by straining to look far so the point here is start looking at the distance without straining. In order to relax while looking at the distance one has to blink frequently and shift constantly.

Phase 2. After the habit of staring is broken, a person should start noticing considerable improvement in his/her vision. At first the flashes will be very brief and rare but eventually they will become prolonged flashed and their quality will be improved.

Phase 3. Once these flashes become normal, one can produce prolonged flashes of clear vision at will. When one flash ends just start another. Eventually your body will get what it is you want and your vision will become perfect or almost perfect. The improvement will be permanent. But just to keep it safe be aware of Bates techniques and keep practicing them. And don’t forget to keep your eyes relaxed.

Update. Perhaps one should also add pranic healing to the activities in this imaginary (as for now) retreat. Heck, why not, we should use any method that can help.