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.

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.

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.

I am back.

Buenos Dias!

It's been a while. I have moved to a town in Southern California. Now I am quite settled but still looking for a job. But you probably don't want to read about my adventures...

Ok. How about this view from my window?

Personal Message

Personal message to my readers: I will be moving in the next week to a new location so this blog won't be updated for about a week.

I also want to tell you that I am practicing distant vision and I am glad to report that I see some results. I will be working on refining this technique and will let you know how it goes.

What is Far and Close?

Another important point to remember is to realize that far and close are subjective and not absolutes. They are different for people with impaired vision. 10 inches is considered close distance for normal or presbyopic person. If I can’t see clearly at 10 inches, is 10 inches far? In order for me to strain to see close the book should be very, very close to my eyes, uncomfortably close. I don’t want to do it because I am convinced that there is something going for near-point stress theory and I don’t want to make my lens thicker than it is. I want to make it flatter and the only way to do it is to look at the distance.

So What Is It: Fine Print or Horizon?

Dr. Bates says that straining to read fine print alleviates myopia and causes or worsens hyperopia. Accordingly, straining to see distant objects causes or aggravates myopia and alleviates hypemetropia. But then he mentions that reading fine print in dim light is especially beneficial for presbiopia, which is a form of hyperopia. So it naturally follows that looking at the distance should be beneficial for myopia. And in my experience it is. Curiously enough, Bates himself never mentions it as a possible cure. Could it be because he himself suffered from presbiopia?

It's curious that it's the opposite of the theory but I think I know the reason. Here it is. People with myopia don’t strain to see close. They automatically relax. Besides, they became nearsighted by looking at the close object for hours on end. Remember that vision is mostly mental. The opposite is true for people with hypemetropia: they strain to see close and automatically relax when looking at the distance. So myopic people can’t strain when looking at the close but they can relax when they look at the distance.

What Can You Do if You Have High Myopia

Ah, my favourite subject. You’ve practiced Bates, you’ve tried just about everything you could find out about it but still see no progress. So what can be done for high degrees of nearsightedness?

I found out that 3 things work really well for me. Mind you, none of them gives me perfect vision but I can feel some degree of improvement and even control. The thing to do is to develop the abilities to control flashes of good vision. If you can do that, the rest is easy.

So, the first thing is swinging. I like to swing as I noticed it let go of tension immediately. It does not improve vision but I can often get rid of eye ache if I happen to have one.

The second thing is sun treatment. I noticed that my vision is always better in bright sunlight. I can even read at distances longer than usual.

The third one is my own discovery. It is the opposite of what Dr. Bates recommends but I can’t help it. It is the only technique that when I perform it I notice some improvement of vision.

It is looking at the distant object. Yes, just looking in the distance, preferably while your eyes are relaxed. I am somehow convinced that if we could spend a few hours a day looking at the distance, out vision would improve dramatically. Pity no one has tried it. Notice I say hours. Measly 10 or 30 minutes are not going to do it.

Just imagine… instead of spending your time in front of computer monitor you consciously spend your time looking at the distant objects. Vast landscapes with distant mountain would be the best. Sailors are famous for having good vision.