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.
Showing posts with label Bates method. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bates method. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Techniques for Improving Your Eyesight
So let’s get to the actual techniques of natural vision improvement. By now if you read my previous post you understand that there is no “mechanical” technique or exercise that will help you to restore vision if you do it regularly. If there is one, we are not aware of it. What we can do though, is practice certain techniques that were reported to alleviate tension and thus improve vision. It follows that other techniques of vision improvement can be developed, some of them might work specifically for you and no one else.
Here are the basic principles of treatment presented by Dr. Bates:
Palming. Palming is covering your eyes with your palms in a way that excludes all the light. Palming is very tricky as it is useless if you don’t have the right mental approach to it. First it calms down the nerves but on the other hand you might start thinking unpleasant thought while palming. You might want to try a combination of palming and yogic breathing (pranayama).
Swinging. Swinging is very useful as it is close to a regular physical exercise, it is excellent for the flexibility of spine as well as your eyes. The idea is to “let your eyes go”, do not try to see anything, in fact, you should strive to achieve illusion that everything is completely blurred due to the movement. And your swing does not have to be fast, go with your intuition. I found out that the best speed is medium.
Sun treatment. Sunning, as it popularly became known, is exposing your closed eyelids to the direct rays of sun. It is very relaxing but again, try to relax your mind. The good thing about sunning that unlike palming it almost forces you to relax mentally as well as physically.
Shifting. Shifting is the closest thing that comes to physical exercises for the eyes. It is also the main habit of good vision. Shifting can be practiced on the eye chart or on any other object. You look at one side of the letter than to the other and notice that the letter moved to the direction opposite of you glance. So you shift your glance to the left of the letter than to the right and so forth, from top to bottom and so on. The quicker you can do it and the smaller the letter you can do it on, the better the vision. People with good vision shift all the time unconsciously.
Central fixation. That is when the part of the object regarded directly is seen best. It is so because the retina has macula lutea or the area of the highest sensitivity. By shifting the eye with high speed we get the perception of the whole object. In fact shifting is so fast that people with good vision think they regard the whole object all at once when in fact the eye shifts from one part of the object to the other and it does that quicker than the brain has time to record the impression and make a perception of the object as a whole.
People with bad vision, on the other hand, do try to see the whole object all at once. It is, of course, impossible, but their retina loses sensitivity and their shifting becomes slow. The thing to do, then, is practice the correct visual habits of shifting and central fixation.
Here are the basic principles of treatment presented by Dr. Bates:
Palming. Palming is covering your eyes with your palms in a way that excludes all the light. Palming is very tricky as it is useless if you don’t have the right mental approach to it. First it calms down the nerves but on the other hand you might start thinking unpleasant thought while palming. You might want to try a combination of palming and yogic breathing (pranayama).
Swinging. Swinging is very useful as it is close to a regular physical exercise, it is excellent for the flexibility of spine as well as your eyes. The idea is to “let your eyes go”, do not try to see anything, in fact, you should strive to achieve illusion that everything is completely blurred due to the movement. And your swing does not have to be fast, go with your intuition. I found out that the best speed is medium.
Sun treatment. Sunning, as it popularly became known, is exposing your closed eyelids to the direct rays of sun. It is very relaxing but again, try to relax your mind. The good thing about sunning that unlike palming it almost forces you to relax mentally as well as physically.
Shifting. Shifting is the closest thing that comes to physical exercises for the eyes. It is also the main habit of good vision. Shifting can be practiced on the eye chart or on any other object. You look at one side of the letter than to the other and notice that the letter moved to the direction opposite of you glance. So you shift your glance to the left of the letter than to the right and so forth, from top to bottom and so on. The quicker you can do it and the smaller the letter you can do it on, the better the vision. People with good vision shift all the time unconsciously.
Central fixation. That is when the part of the object regarded directly is seen best. It is so because the retina has macula lutea or the area of the highest sensitivity. By shifting the eye with high speed we get the perception of the whole object. In fact shifting is so fast that people with good vision think they regard the whole object all at once when in fact the eye shifts from one part of the object to the other and it does that quicker than the brain has time to record the impression and make a perception of the object as a whole.
People with bad vision, on the other hand, do try to see the whole object all at once. It is, of course, impossible, but their retina loses sensitivity and their shifting becomes slow. The thing to do, then, is practice the correct visual habits of shifting and central fixation.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Dr. R. S. Agarwal
I previously mentioned that Bates teachers are usually just fans of the method who more often than not do not quite understand the concept of the Bates method themselves and talk about “exercises” and what not. But there is one exception. There was a doctor who not only fully understood the principles of Dr. Bates but also integrated them into his practice. Like Bates himself and unlike Bates teachers he happened to be a Doctor of Ophthalmology. He also happened to be a follower of a famous yogi Sri Aurobindo. The name of this remarkable man was Dr. R. S. Agarwal.
Dr. Agarwal founded The School of Perfect Eyesight as part of Pondicherry Ashram in India and he had a phenomenal rate of success. He cured many seemingly hopeless cases that traditional doctors gave up on. Oh yes, and he did not charge for the treatment.
I did some research on Dr. Agarwal on internet and was surprised to find out that there was no information about him. You’ll find a few of his book for sale and that’s about it. Not even an entrance in Wikipedia.
I read Yoga of Perfect Sight and I think this book comes pretty close to Bates. It is actually a collection of essays on vision, kind of like the book of Dr. Bates is a collection of essays from Better Eyesight Magazine, that are put together in a book. Even the style is somewhat similar: lots of case histories and cases of remarkable cure. As a bonus there are also letters of Sri Aurobindo (nothing really to do with vision improvement, but a curious read anyway). This book is very different from "traditional" Bates teachers.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Vision Changes All the Time
One of the main concepts of the Bates theory is that he discovered that vision changes all the time. Nobody has perfect eyesight all the time. There are periods when our vision gets better and other periods when it gets worse. This applies to everyone with no exception. Periods of improved vision are usually experienced when a person is happy, relaxed and in familiar environment. If the person is tired, fatigues, stressed, in unfamiliar environment his eyesight is often worse than usual.
The difference is usually not extreme for people with normal vision but it may be drastic for people with bad eyesight. Probably all of us noticed a tremendous improvement during days of bright sunshine.
This, according to Dr. Bates, proves that vision is not static but dynamic. Muscles contract and relax all the time. If it is possible to relax the muscles surrounding the eyeball for a second, it should be possible to relax them for longer periods of time as well, until the eyesight becomes perfect…
The difference is usually not extreme for people with normal vision but it may be drastic for people with bad eyesight. Probably all of us noticed a tremendous improvement during days of bright sunshine.
This, according to Dr. Bates, proves that vision is not static but dynamic. Muscles contract and relax all the time. If it is possible to relax the muscles surrounding the eyeball for a second, it should be possible to relax them for longer periods of time as well, until the eyesight becomes perfect…
Thursday, December 4, 2008
A Curious Site (R.I.P)
A while ago when I was searching for any kind of information to improve myopia I came across a site that became recently defunct (no longer exists). It advertized the new method of curing the eye defects, especially myopia and astigmatism. The improvement would be quite noticeable. The effect is supposed to be cumulative. The author who called his outfit King Kelly Publishing never came to actually putting his book for sale but in his Frequently Asked Questions he put this curious information:
I believe that Bates was right in his conclusions, but his Method to achieve good eyesight is not, as far as my experience goes, the most effective. The system I developed appears to be much more powerful. It consists mainly of a pattern that you run and after running the pattern for a little bit of time, you look around and notice that your vision has improved. This happens each and every time and the improvements add up quickly. Without effort, the pattern causes the eyes to see better.
So quick sun-up: we have this mysterious “pattern”. His method also involves some object “that can be found in any house” but it is not really necessary and you don’t have to have it. His method involves no effort: that is good and in accordance with Bates. It takes only two minutes to perform, you notice the improvement immediately and the effect is cumulative. The more you do it, the quicker is the improvement. If you already have good vision, according to his claims you can develop super vision (how about seeing the moons of Jupiter?)
I was thinking that it might have been near-far swing: you need a pen or pencil but you can just use your finger. It is the only method I am aware of that produces some noticeable improvement immediately but unfortunately the effect is not cumulative. So it must not be it.
Well, it would be great to find out what it is but I suppose he took his secret to his grave, I mean disappeared from the face of the internet. As far as everything goes it might have been a scam but he was fairly modest and said things like “it seems to work for everyone”, etc, he never said that his method guaranteed a perfect vision. His so-called pattern takes two minutes to perform. His ambition was to put doctors and glasses salesmen out of business. A worthy endeavour, no doubt, but a little overambitious. It takes more than one person to shatter this kind of bureaucracy.
On the other hand… he has disappeared. And now his site has disappeared too. Hmm…
I believe that Bates was right in his conclusions, but his Method to achieve good eyesight is not, as far as my experience goes, the most effective. The system I developed appears to be much more powerful. It consists mainly of a pattern that you run and after running the pattern for a little bit of time, you look around and notice that your vision has improved. This happens each and every time and the improvements add up quickly. Without effort, the pattern causes the eyes to see better.
So quick sun-up: we have this mysterious “pattern”. His method also involves some object “that can be found in any house” but it is not really necessary and you don’t have to have it. His method involves no effort: that is good and in accordance with Bates. It takes only two minutes to perform, you notice the improvement immediately and the effect is cumulative. The more you do it, the quicker is the improvement. If you already have good vision, according to his claims you can develop super vision (how about seeing the moons of Jupiter?)
I was thinking that it might have been near-far swing: you need a pen or pencil but you can just use your finger. It is the only method I am aware of that produces some noticeable improvement immediately but unfortunately the effect is not cumulative. So it must not be it.
Well, it would be great to find out what it is but I suppose he took his secret to his grave, I mean disappeared from the face of the internet. As far as everything goes it might have been a scam but he was fairly modest and said things like “it seems to work for everyone”, etc, he never said that his method guaranteed a perfect vision. His so-called pattern takes two minutes to perform. His ambition was to put doctors and glasses salesmen out of business. A worthy endeavour, no doubt, but a little overambitious. It takes more than one person to shatter this kind of bureaucracy.
On the other hand… he has disappeared. And now his site has disappeared too. Hmm…
Friday, November 28, 2008
What Are Correct Visual Habits?
The Bates method is about relaxation, mental and physical. It is all about how to use your eyes the way nature intended them for us to use. Seeing is like hearing or smelling. You do not try to taste something, right? And also unless you are going deaf, you are not trying to hear something that is said to you. At least you should not. By the way it seems that widespread deafness and loss of hearing that we see around nowadays has exactly the same causes as the bad eyesight. People lose the ability to use their sense organs effortlessly, the way they were designed to be used.
Saying that the Bates method does not involve any exercises. No doubt you know the type I mean. Look all the way up, then down, right and left. While they probably won’t do any harm, you won’t get any benefits from them either. It seems like a different groups of muscles are involved in accommodation.
In any case, if there were any mechanistic approach that worked for sure, we don’t know about it yet. No method has 100% success rate.
Bates method is mental. His idea is you have to relax mind first and that will automatically relax your tight muscles. It’s all in the mind. Yet he also came up with very definite techniques how to achieve mental relaxation. Will they work for everyone? No such luck. But they are beneficial and will cause no harm.
Saying that the Bates method does not involve any exercises. No doubt you know the type I mean. Look all the way up, then down, right and left. While they probably won’t do any harm, you won’t get any benefits from them either. It seems like a different groups of muscles are involved in accommodation.
In any case, if there were any mechanistic approach that worked for sure, we don’t know about it yet. No method has 100% success rate.
Bates method is mental. His idea is you have to relax mind first and that will automatically relax your tight muscles. It’s all in the mind. Yet he also came up with very definite techniques how to achieve mental relaxation. Will they work for everyone? No such luck. But they are beneficial and will cause no harm.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Meir Schneider
No list of Bates teachers would be complete (not that mine is) without mentioning the name of Meir Schneider. He was born with cataracts and other serious vision problems, had operation on one eye that left him almost blind. He became desperate and started looking for measures to restore his eyesight. He found about Bates method and started practicing with utmost diligence. In about 2 year he was able to read fine print. After a while he could drive without glasses. His vision is not perfect due to scars but around 20/80 which is still fairly decent.
On a site about him there are two great pictures:
Meir Schneider was issued a blindness certificate in 1970 in Tel Aviv which is marked “Valid Permanently”. Right next to it is his current California driver’s license which has “No Restriction”. He admits though that he has been palming for hours right before he went to pass his visual test. How about that for proof that Bates method can work?
After that he founded School for Self-Healing in San Francisco, read numerous lectures and seminars, wrote a few books. His approach helps to implement Bates method as he offers a guided relaxation scripts along with actual techniques. That makes it easier for some people.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Mirzakarim Norbekov
A very interesting character. Norbekov is a Russian who specializes in alternative medicine and “mind-stuff”. He believes that a patient cures himself. He wrote a book in Russian that can be translated like One Fool’s Experience or the Way to Vision. It’s a curious read, lots of motivationl talk. He is a big believer in visualization, affirmations and other so-called new age techniques. He is also adamant that an empty form like a physical exercise is useless without a mental focus. Which is all true and good. But here’s the rub:
He likes eye exercises of roll up and down type, left and right. While there might be something to them, usually the response is negative: they are useless as far as vision improvement goes.
Norbekov also came up with his own version of palming and sunning but he never credits Bates. Not even once. I would be cautious in accepting his word. Everyone even superficially acquainted with Bates method knows that he is the one who came up with palming and sunning and invented the terms. No doubt techniques existed before but Bates introduced them to the general public. I don’t think it’s wise for Norbekov to take credit for that.
One more thing. His approach “mental attitude is the primary factor” implies that you can bully your eyes into good vision. I am sorry to say that it’s not so. If it were that easy we would all have excellent eyesight. He is a charismatic person and he probably helped lots of people who conversed with him personally. His method of improving eyesight is very similar to Bates’. While Bates’ focus was on complete relaxation, Norbekov’s is on positive mental attitude.
His book is worth reading though, there are some good ideas there. He does go over the top sometimes with this positive attitude but he also tells amusing stories.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Leo Angart
In my opinion, Leo Angart is one of the best modern Bates teachers. I read his book and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of information presented. He explains the usual techniques for Bates method but he also introduced something completely different. I’m sure it’ll be new to most readers.
It is pranic healing.
The idea is that our bodies are comprised of energy and every part of the body that suffers from some kind of disease or anomaly has some kind of energy misbalance, most commonly the lack of prana or energy in that particular organ.The idea of pranic healing was introduced by Choa Kok Sui. He wrote several books on the subject and he gives a good intro into pranic healing.
So the thing to do is to perform special exercises with your hands in order to fill your eyes with energy. I know, we are getting here into advanced mind stuff but Leo Angart reports that one of his pupils was able to improve her myopia by 3 diopters in 3 days only by doing these exercises. They are easy to perform but they do require mental focus or concentration. You also have to visualize certain coloured flows of energy.
What's more, Leo himself credits his restored vision to these energy "exercises" (let's call them that for the lack of better word). While he likes Bates and his method he considers that pranic healing is one of the primary factors in restoring good eyesight.
Leo wrote a book Improve Your Eyesight Naturally
that you can check out on Amazon.He is not big on motivational staff, which is a good thing, too much of that already. His book is packed with techniques that you can start applying right away. There are also funny cartoons on every page. In a way, he is the man to go to for Bates method simplified concept.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Janet Goodrich
While we are on the subject of Bates teachers I’d like to introduce to you one more Bates teacher: Janet Goodrich. her book is called Natural Vision Improvement. It is much shorter and her style is lighter and easier to read than Quackenbush’s but her work suffers from the same two flaws mentioned above: she likes sketching (again, nothing wrong with it but remember that it is not Bates) and too much psychological mish-mash. However, her book is full of cartoons, tips and techniques, especially for vision defects other than myopia.
On the side: Myopia, in my opinion, is the most difficult anomaly of refraction to get rid of, if you can do that… well, you are the one.
There is no ground breaking information there. But overall, it is a good book and I recommend it.
On the side: Myopia, in my opinion, is the most difficult anomaly of refraction to get rid of, if you can do that… well, you are the one.
There is no ground breaking information there. But overall, it is a good book and I recommend it.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Margaret D. Corbett
The first book I read on Bates method was a double book which included “Perfect Sight Without Glasses” by W. H. Bates and “Help Yourself to Better Sight” by Margaret Darst Corbett. While the style of writing is totally different they both deserve a read.
The Bates book is all about theory and concepts behind the vision. The book by M. Corbett is more focused on practical approaches to help you develop correct visual habits. Margaret Corbett became interested in the Bates method when her husband lost his eyesight, found out about Bates and decided to practice his principles. That started her off to helping people. She ran “School of Eye Education” in Los Angeles teaching the Bates method. Of course the grand medical establishment could not allow it: how come? You got real results? Close them down. They filed a complaint against her for practicing without a license. She won because she had many witnesses who testified on her behalf and also for the fact that she did not represent herself as a doctor but rather as an instructor in good eye habits.
Among her pupils was the famous Aldous Huxley who wrote “The Art of Seeing”, another book that gives lots of tips on developing good visual habits and also touches on mental side of vision.
The Bates book is all about theory and concepts behind the vision. The book by M. Corbett is more focused on practical approaches to help you develop correct visual habits. Margaret Corbett became interested in the Bates method when her husband lost his eyesight, found out about Bates and decided to practice his principles. That started her off to helping people. She ran “School of Eye Education” in Los Angeles teaching the Bates method. Of course the grand medical establishment could not allow it: how come? You got real results? Close them down. They filed a complaint against her for practicing without a license. She won because she had many witnesses who testified on her behalf and also for the fact that she did not represent herself as a doctor but rather as an instructor in good eye habits.
Among her pupils was the famous Aldous Huxley who wrote “The Art of Seeing”, another book that gives lots of tips on developing good visual habits and also touches on mental side of vision.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Near-point Stress
To be fair, the theory of near-point stress seems to have some valid points too. This theory explains that myopia develops due to the constant stress on ciliary muscle. Using the eyes for close work for prolonged period of time makes the lens in the eye to accommodate, forcing it to change the shape. Wearing glasses not only locks this tensed muscle condition but actually becomes worse and worse as no doubt everyone with myopia experienced. After a while the change becomes permanent. The proponents of these theory claim that if you never wear glasses and keep good posture while doing close work your eyesight should never become worse than -3D which is bearable.
Either way we have locking of the muscle due to stress and glasses. Only in the Bates theory the strain is produced by straining to see in the distance while in near-point stress theory the main culprit is doing the close work.
Who is right? To be honest, I don’t know. According to Bates, it follows logically that reading the small print decreases myopia. According to the other theory just looking in the distance decreases myopia.
So here’s the tip for you to implement in your daily work: whenever you perform any close work every 15 minutes or so glance in the distance, preferably through the window, if that is not possible, around the room. Close your eyes and imagine yourself looking at some scenery with distant objects like trees.
Either way we have locking of the muscle due to stress and glasses. Only in the Bates theory the strain is produced by straining to see in the distance while in near-point stress theory the main culprit is doing the close work.
Who is right? To be honest, I don’t know. According to Bates, it follows logically that reading the small print decreases myopia. According to the other theory just looking in the distance decreases myopia.
So here’s the tip for you to implement in your daily work: whenever you perform any close work every 15 minutes or so glance in the distance, preferably through the window, if that is not possible, around the room. Close your eyes and imagine yourself looking at some scenery with distant objects like trees.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog on the Bates method of natural vision improvement. This method is based on relaxation, both physical and mental. My aim in creating this blog is, first, to introduce people to the Bates method as I have not seen similar material on the net, second, to promote methods of natural vision improvement.
In this blog I am going to introduce to you tips and techniques that allow your eyes to relax and see better, sometimes in minutes.
I have been studying the Bates method for years and I have not seen anything similar to the concept that I have in mind and I am going to introduce on this blog. I am going to publish articles on the Bates method, recommend certain books and give you my own ideas about the methods and techniques involved.
Of course the techniques will not be limited exclusevely to Bates but he is the founder of the feast. We'll deal with anything that relates to natural vision improvement.
So if you came to this blog looking for the ways to improve your vision and are not familiar with the Bates method, than welcome aboard. I am going to take you for the ride that will leave a lasting impression.
In this blog I am going to introduce to you tips and techniques that allow your eyes to relax and see better, sometimes in minutes.
I have been studying the Bates method for years and I have not seen anything similar to the concept that I have in mind and I am going to introduce on this blog. I am going to publish articles on the Bates method, recommend certain books and give you my own ideas about the methods and techniques involved.
Of course the techniques will not be limited exclusevely to Bates but he is the founder of the feast. We'll deal with anything that relates to natural vision improvement.
So if you came to this blog looking for the ways to improve your vision and are not familiar with the Bates method, than welcome aboard. I am going to take you for the ride that will leave a lasting impression.
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